Because you are a human being, and the human species is on a cosmic Death List.

There is little doubt left (in the minds of professional Biologists) that Earth is currently faced with a rapid and shocking loss of species.

This increase is massive and historic— an exponential loss, already rivaling the five great mass extinctions of the geological past.

As long ago as 1993, Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson estimated that Earth is losing 30,000 species per year — three species per hour! That rate is increasing daily.

The human species is on that list somewhere— but where?

Anthropologists, being human, are in pre-panic mode. And Conservation Biologists now believe that this biodiversity crisis — this “Sixth Extinction” — is coming at us fast and hard.

You think they are over-reacting? You wish. (We both wish.)

Anthropologists have identified five great extinctions in the past history of life on our planet.

The major global biotic turnovers were all caused by physical events— events outside normal climatic (and other physical disturbances) which species, and entire ecosystems, experience and usually survive.

What caused these five earlier deadly events? This causality is the HUGE difference in the Sixth Extinction.

Why? Because the previous five mass extinctions were catastrophes with natural causes— the sixth is very unnatural.

Let’s take a quick look at the first five—

• First major extinction (c. 440 mya): Climate change (relatively severe and sudden global cooling).
• Second major extinction (c. 370 mya): Many species gone forever.
• Third major Extinction (c. 245 mya): Bolide impact similar to the end-Cretaceous event. 54% of families lost.
• Fourth major extinction (c. 210 mya): Major global event at the end of the Triassic Period.
• Fifth major extinction (c. 65 mya): Asteroid or volcanic and seismic events destroy dinosaurs and 90% of all life on earth. Lucky for us… paving the way for mammal life and eventually humans to proliferate.)

So, how is the Sixth Extinction different from previous events?

The world’s top Conservation Biologists say that the current mass extinction is caused by us, by humans. Almost all Anthropologists agree.

You may argue that humans are natural events on Earth. But we humans have CHOICE.

And here are the choices that Conservation Biologists and Anthropologist identify, that have brought us to the Sixth Extinction—

• transformation of the landscape
• overexploitation of species
• pollution
• the introduction of alien species

We are bringing about massive changes in the environment. Anthropologists divide the Sixth Extinction into two discrete phases:

• Phase One began when the first modern humans began to disperse to different parts of the world about 100,000 years ago.
• Phase Two began about 10,000 years ago when humans turned to agriculture.

Humans began disrupting the environment as soon as they appeared on Earth.

• They disrupted ecosystems by overhunting game species, which never experienced contact with humans before.
• And perhaps they spread microbial disease-causing organisms as well.

What fan we do? The world’s ecosystems have been plunged into chaos, with some conservation biologists thinking that no system, not even the vast oceans, remains untouched by human presence.

That cause, in the case of the Sixth Extinction, is ourselves — Homo sapiens. This means we can continue on the path to our own extinction, or, preferably, we modify our behavior toward the global ecosystem of which we are still very much a part.

The latter must happen before the Sixth Extinction can be declared over, and life can once again rebound.

DO YOU WANT TO TAKE PART IN THE ATTEMPT TO SAVE OUR WORLD?

If your answer is YES!, then Anthropology and Conservation Biology are two major fields for you to investigate.

Anthropologists study the origin and the physical, social, and cultural development and behavior of humans.

Biophysical anthropologists research the evolution of the human body, look for the earliest evidences of human life, and analyze how culture and biology influence one another.

Physical anthropologists examine human remains found at archaeological sites in order to understand population demographics and factors, such as nutrition and disease, which affected these populations.

Conservation Biologists study the impact of the past, and the potential of the future.

They have determined that Earth can’t sustain the trend in human population growth. That Earth is reaching its limit in carrying capacity.

Here’s what Conservation Biologists and Anthropologists believe, extrapolated from their knowledge—

• at most there were 10 million people on earth 10,000 years ago.
• There are now over 6 billion people.
• The numbers continue to increase logarithmically — so that there will be 8 billion by 2020.
• The upper limit to the carrying capacity of humans on earth — of the numbers that agriculture can support — 13-15 billion human beings.

Anthropologists find support for these numbers in the fossil record, proof of human destruction of ecosystems. It shows that wherever early humans migrated, other species became extinct.

Is there hope? Conservation measures, sustainable development? Stabilization of human population numbers and consumption patterns?

The life force is resilient and adaptable. In past extinctions, life obviously has recovered.

But life has only recovered after the CAUSE of the extinction event is gone. In this case, that cause is us— us HUMAN BEINGS!

Can anything save us from ourselves? Can conservation measures stop the Sixth Extinction? Can knowledge?

It’s up to you, future graduates. You can work to point out the path we have taken as a species. And you can help design the path we must take to survive.

Only 10% of the world’s species survived the third mass extinction. Will any survive this one? Will you take the challenge to find a way out of this coming collision— this human-generated doomsday event called the Sixth Extinction?

You Conservation Biologists of the future, you are one hope.

You future Anthropologists are another.

The future belongs to you. What will you DO with it? Only your knowledge can save our world, your world.

Educate, educate, educate!