November 9, 2015 - 06:06
My first reaction after reading Kolbert’s history tale
After reading some of her chapters, I got to realize some species that became extinct and human’s efforts trying to save the very species from extinction. I found it very interesting that the next extinction that we will be facing would be really different compared to the other extinctions that happened before because of us, human species, the intelligent ones- or the ignorant ones. It is difficult to define human species as one, since there are so many around the world. However, one thing for sure is that there are some humans destroying the nature using its fragility and abusing their intelligence and power among other less intelligent species; others, like environmental scientists or the ones who have the real intelligence, have guts to take real actions to save those species from extinction and appease to the great power of nature. One of the quotes that intrigued me was “If you want to think about why humans are so dangerous to other species, … you can picture yourself, holding a book on your lap.” (266) I wonder if Kolbert means by the dangerous nature of human comes from human’s intelligence or human’s ignorance or denial of taking into real actions even though humans are intelligent enough to hold books on their laps.