Kolbert takes a quote from Jonathan Schell about how futurology has become a respectable field on inquiry. Then she transitions into how liquid nitrogen is now being used to preserve the cells of animals and eventually bring them back from extinction. She tells us that it is our role as human beings to save ourselves and the organisms around us from extinction, or at least delay it. Before this the book seemed fairly negative and it focused on how humans are negatively affecting the world. However, chapter 13 takes a twist and Kolbert begins to show us how positive actions are being taken. Kolbert states, “Such is the pain the pain loss of a single species causes that we’re willing to perform ultrasounds on rhinos and hand jobs on crows.” Connecting the theme of humans altering natural systems, we can do as much good as we do bad. She points out how humans are going to such extremes because they know extinction exist and they’re taking it very seriously. A big take away for me this chapter was when Kolbert said “If you want to think about why humans are so dangerous to other species, you can picture a poacher in Africa carrying an AK-47 or a logger in the Amazon gripping an ax, or, better still, you can picture yourself, holding a book on your lap”(266). Me completing this assignment and finishing up these last words for the journal entry has made me realize it is easier to be destructive than constructive. We are all apart of the problem and we have to realize that our actions are the root to our own destruction. “In pushing other species to extinction, humanity is busy sawing off the limb on which it perches.”-Paul Ehrlich
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