Sixth mass extinction

Maria and Sofia are watching a documentary about the northern white rhino. - There are only two females of the northern white rhinos still alive, which means that this type of rhino is very nearly extinct… - Maria, what does “extinct” mean? - Extinction means that all the animals or plants of one type, have died. - But… why? There are many reasons why species of animals or plants become extinct. It happens all the time: in fact, 99.9% of all species that ever lived on Earth no longer exist! Sometimes species go extinct over very long periods of time. But sometimes, huge numbers of species go extinct very quickly.

This can happen when something changes in the environment and makes it unsuitable for life. This type of extinction is called a mass extinction. In the past, some of the mass extinctions were probably caused by massive volcanic eruptions or asteroids hitting the Earth. It was probably an asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs! Mass extinctions have happened only a few times in hundreds of millions of years.

But the most recent one, is happening right now: the sixth mass extinction. So what is causing it? The leading cause of the mass extinction happening right now, is human activities. The number of people on Earth is increasing and we’re using more and more natural resources. One of them is fertile land, that is needed to grow food for us and livestock.

To grow more food, people are for example, cutting down large areas of forest, where hundreds of thousands of different species live. Forests are cut down so people can start growing crops there. But these crops aren’t what the species that used to live in the forest, need to survive. The problem is also that a large amount of food grown in these areas is meant for animals that we eat, not for people. Other resources that are needed more and more are minerals and fossil fuels, like oil and coal.

Drilling and mining for these destroys large areas of wilderness. Even worse, fossil fuels are especially harmful when burned. Then, they release gases, which can cause changes in climate around the world. We might not be aware of these changes all the time, but for some species, even minor changes can mean extinction. But what can we do?

Well, think a little about what you eat: the more fruit and vegetables you eat, the less habitat will need to be destroyed for animal farming. It might seem like a small thing, but the more of us do it, the bigger the difference it will make! Talk to friends about extinction and the human activities that cause it. Even though the situation might seem hopeless, together we can make a difference.