The Sixth Extinction Journeys Among the Lost and Left Behind Terry Glavin
Download As PDF : The Sixth Extinction Journeys Among the Lost and Left Behind Terry Glavin 
The Sixth Extinction is a haunting account of the age in which we live. Ecologists are calling it the Sixth Great Extinction, and the world isn't losing just its ecological legacy; also vanishing is a vast human legacy of languages and our ways of living, seeing, and knowing.
Terry Glavin confirms that we are in the midst of a nearly unprecedented, catastrophic vanishing of animals, plants, and human cultures. He argues that the language of environmentalism is inadequate in describing the unraveling of the vast system in which all these extinctions are actually related. And he writes that we're no longer gaining knowledge with every generation. We're losing it.
In the face of what he describes as a dark and gathering sameness upon the Earth, Glavin embarks on a global journey to meet the very things we're losing (a distinct species every ten minutes, a unique vegetable variety every six hours, an entire language every two weeks) and on the way encounters some of the world's wonderful, rare things a human-sized salmon in Russia; a mysterious Sino-Tibetan song-language; a Malayan tiger, the last of its kind; and a strange tomato that tastes just like black cherry ice cream. And he finds hope in the most unlikely places---a macaw roost in Costa Rica; a small village in Ireland; a relic community of Norse whalers in the North Atlantic; the vault beneath the Royal Botanical Garden at Kew; and the throne room of the Angh of Longwa in the eastern Himalayas.
A fresh narrative take on the usual doom and gloom environmentalism, The Sixth Extinction draws upon zoology, biology, ecology, anthropology, and mythology to share the joys hidden within the long human struggle to conserve the world's living things. Here, we find hope in what's left the absolute and stunning beauty in the Earth's last cultures and creatures.
The Sixth Extinction Journeys Among the Lost and Left Behind Terry Glavin
This book is challenging and thought provoking .....taking the reader into areas not normally considered when thinking about extinctions and conservation.....culture....agriculture....language etc as well as the more traditional branches of biological sciences. A wonderful book for those on a quest with an open mind. Informative, accurate and surprising it weaves a rich tapestry.Product details
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The Sixth Extinction Journeys Among the Lost and Left Behind Terry Glavin Reviews
When Rachel Carson penned "Silent Spring" in the early 1960's she essentially gave birth to the environmentalist movement in the United States and around the world. And for the most part this was a good thing. She correctly alerted the public to the sad fact that the use of certain pesticides was decimating and even wiping out numerous species of birds all over the world. "Silent Spring" was a clarion call to action that resulted in new laws regulating many of those chemicals and helped spawn a plethora of new environmental organizations that would become advocates for clean air and clean water. For the past half century these organizations have for the most part served humanity very well. But as we enter the 21st century there are a whole host of other issues to ponder when we consider enviromental matters. In "The Sixth Extinction Journeys Among the Lost and Left Behind" author Terry Glavin challenges us to look more broadly at these problems and to consider the consequences of the policies we choose to deal with these important issues. It turns out that there is a lot more at stake here then merely the well-being of birds and wildlife.
What is new and different about "The Sixth Extinction" is the way Glavin links the fate of wildlife, foods, cultures and language. Glavin points out that multinational corporations continue to invade more and more remote areas of this earth with their hybrid fruits and vegetables. As a consequence of this invasion the world is rapidly losing thousands of varieties of plants and a frightening number of species of birds and other wildlife. For example, consider the apple. 100 years ago there were over 7000 varieties of apples in North America. Today only about 15 varieties are considered commercially viable. Unfortunately, a large percentage of those 7000 varieties appear to have been lost forever. And as Glavin reminds us we are losing something else just as precious. Perhaps a few lines from page 219 will help me to explain "Like the loss of language, all it takes is a single human generation to stop cultivating an old crop variety for two or three seasons, and it's gone forever. Its charactoristics are forgotten. Its distinctive strengths and various uses are forgotten. Its taste is forgotten. The stories associated with it become extinct. The techniques of cultivating and harvesting it become obsolete, and the myths and songs that grew up around it become extinct." I now understand why my wife is so adamant about planting an heirloom variety of string beans that has been handed down from her grandather's family. She guards those seeds like they were gold. And I guess they are.
Likewise, Glavin talks about the conflict between the environmentalists and those like the Lofoteners from Norway who seek to continue to hunt minke whales like they have for thousands of years. Radical environmentalists are absolutely adamant that no whaling should take place anywhere in the world. There seems to be no room for compromise in their position. Lofoteners and other cultures like them argue that minke whale populations are not threatened at all and that they need whaling to make a modest living and to survive as a people. It is this tug of war that is really at the heart of "The Sixth Extinction". Terry Glavin argues passionately that we must also consider the fates of people, cultures and language when considering such problems. For it is every bit as tragic when these things are lost as it is when another species of wildlife becomes extinct. And the sad fact is that these things are being lost at an alarming rate and few people seem to care.
For me, "The Sixth Extinction Journeys Among the Lost and Left Behind" served to put a lot of these important issues into some kind of perspective. This is a well written and thoughtful book that serves to challenge much of the conventional wisdom out there. Highly recommended!
It's no longer news that the human species is now considered an "outbreak" in the sense that we are an epidemic like AIDS or SARS. We are an organism that kills other life. Our methods are more subtle than some diseases. We don't often kill off whole species directly, but our lifestyle destroys the habitat they need to survive. Given how much attention we demand our medical services give to those other outbreaks of infectious organisms, it's still perplexing that we pay so little heed to our own destructive nature. According to Terry Glavin, it doesn't take much to see the result. He's done a great deal of observing our influence on other life, and in this excellent series of essays, he shares what he's found. With penetrating insights imparted in the finest story-telling manner, this book is a needed adjunct to the growing list of environmental works.
Unlike so many books covering the human devastation of our planet, Glavin doesn't overwhelm us with numbing numbers. This is, as he declares in the subtitle, "The Age of Extinctions" - the worst since an asteroid took out the dinosaurs and many other forms of life. There are some body counts, along with lists of which other animals have survived our depredations. The threat, however, is ongoing. In recent years we've seen the fish stocks - cod, tuna and salmon were once common fare on our tables - decline or disappear. Plant species, upon which many of our medicines depend, are being swathed away. A quarter of the mammals which ultimately led to us after the dinosaurs were taken out are threatened with following them. How many can we truly afford to lose?
Glavin's title is indicative. At a Costa Rican reserve, where he was assured the glorious Macaw was a regular visitor, he was forced to wait until just before leaving. He and his wife waded down a stream for a better viewing spot, only to climb out to be greeted by a sign warning them of crocodiles. He's visited many places in his survey, meeting people who could describe plentiful stocks of fish present a generation ago that are now gone. Whaling, which takes up a major segment of the book, is examined carefully. The question arises "What is a 'sustainable' catch?" The answer lies in still better observation in the field and not in more pronouncements from distant bureaucrats. Glavin isn't a withering environmentalist. He understands the needs of people. He visits little villages, conversing with those who depend on the wild stocks and who understand what habitat means to them. And to us. We are the ones who must better understand our impact on our surroundings. He stresses that the loss of these creatures is our loss.
In the final analysis, of course, we are also the sole species with the power to cure the infestation. Various suggestions have been forwarded as the means to prevent further extinctions. Managed wildlife reserves is one idea, the "breeding zoo" is another. These and other proposals are desparation measures, in Glavin's view. They are an artificial means of "keeping the numbers up" while ignoring the fundamental question of how wildlife fits into the environment. It is the loss of habitat on which we must focus our attention and apply solutions. And that's something we aren't doing enough of. He notes that instead of our vaunted technologies and education systems increasing what we need to know, we are losing knowledge with every passing generation. It is up to us to reverse that trend, not only to help the wild species survive, but to accomplish our own survival. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
To be honest, I am still reading the book. The good news is that the book strikes me as well written, empirically accurate (as far as I can figure out without retracing the author's footsteps, credentials, etc.). The bad news is that if Mr. Glavin is correct, we are doomed as a species by the end of the 21st Century. There are at least three books with the title THE SIXTH EXTINCTION. 1. A non fiction book by Elizabeth Kolbert, getting a lot of attention at the moment. A similar non fiction book, by Terry Glavin, being reviewed here, but getting much less attention. And finally, a fictional thriller by James Rollins.
I can't believe that Ms. Kolbert and Mr. Glavin are not aware of each other's books, as they complement each other so well, but neither makes a reference to the other book in their book.
The other question that comes to my mind (speaking as a person who is very close to being a non-violent psychopath), is if our species is heading for extinction, should we care? What difference does it make, considering what an unattractive and perhaps evil species we are, perhaps it would be a matter of "Good riddance?" In the unlikely event anybody else reads my premature review, I would be interested in reading your defense of the human race and argument for keeping us alive.
Will be planting heritage seeds in my garden and yard from now on.
This book is challenging and thought provoking .....taking the reader into areas not normally considered when thinking about extinctions and conservation.....culture....agriculture....language etc as well as the more traditional branches of biological sciences. A wonderful book for those on a quest with an open mind. Informative, accurate and surprising it weaves a rich tapestry.
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