Are We Mass Murderers? Earth's 6th Mass Extinction - Part 3: Implications

The third and final entry in my discussion on whether or not we are entering a 6th mass extinction event. In this post, having got all the complicated stuff out the way, I will be discussing the societal implications of the 6th Mass Extinction as a concept and also the message we need to be taking away from this research, regardless of a definitive 'yes' or 'no' answer to the question. I hope you've enjoyed the journey and I would be really interested to know if your opinion on the 6th MEE has changed throughout it, let me know in the comments :)

If you missed them, check out Part 1 and Part 2!

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The results of the poll that you, my lovely readers, have been partaking in over the last few weeks show that really, we're all a bit confused about what's going on but we know it's something significant. To be fair, I think that quite adequately sums up how the academic community feel as well. There are a lot of big unknowns and uncertainties in the data, as discussed in the previous post, which have led to a lack of definite answers about extinction rates and extinction magnitude. Some of this can be improved by collecting more data on currently understudied groups, especially invertebrates - reminder that only 1% of bivalves have been assessed by the IUCN! However, there are many, many unsolvable issues with fossil data as every good palaeontologist knows, we can extrapolate and model and adjust for bias to our hearts content, but there are some species we will never know about and we will never know exactly what happened to them and their relatives. There are inherent problems with comparing data gathered in completely different ways and from animals in different states of existence, so perhaps the question is simply one we cannot easily answer. I pose a new question to you - does this actually matter? Does it matter that current extinction rates don't quite fit with the technical definitions of a mass extinction? We are well aware from the data of the abnormality of current extinction rates in comparison to natural variability through time, and well aware that we hold the majority of the blame for this. Do we need a dramatic title for it?

Your votes! Homegrown data.

In some ways, the answer is yes. It's a kind of depressing yes. If you Google "6th Mass Extinction", you will be greeted by a plethora of sensationalist news articles claiming that the 6th MEE has begun , and more importantly, will humans survive it?! Humans tend to care more about things when humans are involved, as we have demonstrated time and time again throughout history. If we look in the comments on some of these articles, readers actually don't seem to be getting the message that we need to change our collective behaviours. See the enlightened comment below from a Daily Mail reader, sporting the 2nd highest amount of up votes on the article:

"Whatever changes the climate may experience, the consequences will pale into insignificance compared to the catastrophe resulting from massive unrestrained population growth in the developing world. Open borders will make this our problem too"

Bringing it back to humans, with a hint of UKIP. Daily Mail readers aside, if you ask anyone in the street, they would probably say that of course they are aware of humans causing extinctions, but do they understand the extent of the problem? Probably not. Education, if you can call it that, through sensationalism is one way to get the message to the wider public. However, as the above shows, we need to be doing this in a more effective way. If scientists did agree on a technically defined or supported 6th MEE, then perhaps it could be something that got more serious journalistic attention and much needed political attention. Social scientists have suggested that "inadvertant envrionmentalism" is the way forward, as often there is a gap between our values, however sincere, and our actions. They advocate that government policies, such as limiting deforestation in this instance, as they have the power to change behaviours without the need for values. This is one way in which mainstream attention to a dramatically definite 6th MEE has the power to help. If we want to be more optimistic and think about changing values via awareness, Racing Extinction and the #StartWith1Thing campaign is great example that again relies on the sensationalism associated with the 6th MME (The working title of the film was 6!).

Sensationalist and melodramatic representation of the 6th MEE, could it be useful?; Source.

In others, the answer is no. In light of the sheer numbers of species lost, and the potential there is for that to increase in coming years, what we need to be thinking about are urgent conservation measures. As multiple papers have highlighted, the extinction rates and magnitude is likely to increase as years, and harmful anthropogenic practices, continue. In particular, Barnosky et al. highlight the destructive potential  for synergy between co-occurring environmental factors such as atmospheric composition and unusual climate dynamics, similar to how co-occurrences of bolide impacts and flood basalt volcanism have interacted dangerously in the past. Without mitigation of these unnatural factors, particuarly pollution and CO2 levels, extreme ecological stresses will be placed upon most living species, especially given the feedback of individual stressors. Ceballos et al. point out that, in human timescales, the loss of these species and the ecosystems services they provide would be effectively permanent. They argue, as do Barnosky et al, that avoiding a biodiversity crisis (regardless of what it may be called) requires rapid and greatly intensified efforts to alleviate pressures on endangered species and protect them from exploitation. Many of the pressures are intrinsicly related to population growth and economic inequalities, and have the potential to threaten humans alongside other species.

Are we going to run ourselves into the ground? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!; Source.

In summary, it is debatable whether or not the 6th Mass Extinction being confirmed matters, but there is one thing that isn't debatable, and I will leave this as a closing thought for you:

The window of opportunity to act is rapidly closing and with the COP21 talks starting in under a week, it is imperative that we are mindful of the extent to which we have affected global biodiversity and will continue do whilst CO2 levels continue to rise and corporate greed is placed above moral concerns.