Chapter 6:The Sea Around Us

July 14, 2019

     

          In Chapter 6 of The Sixth Extinction, Kolbert goes into detail on the concept of Acidification and how high Acidification in the ocean is a negative aspect of marine life and diversity. She goes on by mentioning some facts on page 113 that "Since the start of the industrial revolution, humans have burned through enough fossil fuels--coal, oil, and natural gas--to add some 365 billion metric tons of carbon to the atmosphere"; thus, the general opinion and fact is that in the Anthropocene era humans are responsible for the devastation of the diversity in the environment. Moreover, I strongly support this claim, however, once in a while it is better to look from the other perspective. Human beings, like all other species, strive to survive and will use anything that will prove to be useful and resourceful. So instead of connecting it to the theme "Humans alter natural systems", I choose to connect it to the APES Theme: Human survival depends on developing practices that will achieve sustainable systems and management of common resources is essential. Common resources such as coal--fossil fuel are very important to human survival in the modern world, although it seriously damages the composition of the atmosphere and the ocean. As the author explains it, the ocean is part of Earth which is an interconnected system that balances out things for life on the planet. This can be seen in the cracks formed by tectonic plates where it produces carbon dioxide which is natural, but humans put too much carbon dioxide in the air for the ocean to absorb, killing the biodiversity on this planet. According to page 123, "If we were adding carbon dioxide to the air more slowly, geophysically processes, like the weathering of rock, would come into play to counteract acidification". [E] The general idea is humans are to be blamed for the destruction of the environment, so is many other dominant species, but it is some of what we do and more of how we do it so the slower we use fossil fuels, the better it is for the environment.