What is the Relationship between Human Activity and Species Extinctions? (original) (raw)

The ecological crisis is rooted in humankind's greed and refusal to practice good and faithful stewardship within the divine boundaries of creation."position statement from General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists 1 God's Word clearly articulates His expectation that we be faithful stewards of His creation. Thus, we should become broadly informed on issues that affect life on this planet and to proactively accept our responsibility to safeguard the well being of our cohabitants-the extraordinarily diverse microbes, plants, and animals that God created and repeatedly pronounced as good (Genesis 1). Today, many scientists believe we are confronted with one of the planet's greatest extinction events of all time, resulting in an ecological meltdown and biodiversity crisis. Unfortunately, many issues relating to this dire situation have become highly politicized, leading to polarization. Whereas some Christians seem unconcerned that we will be held accountable for how we manage the resources God provided with the original creation, others insist we should join the largely secular movement to preserve that which remains of the creation. To gain a better perspective on the relationship between human activities and species extinctions, we begin by summarizing the history of human-caused extinctions. We then describe three key lines of evidence that humans have precipitated an ongoing major extinction event that continues to gain alarming momentum. Within this context, we elucidate the primary anthropogenic (human-related) causes of species extinctions and biodiversity loss. We then conclude by revisiting the Christian's perspective on species extinctions, and urge a greater role in ameliorating the destruction of God's creation. History of the Modern Extinction Crisis Extinctions have featured prominently in earth history, as evidenced by abundant fossil remains from prior catastrophic events. Today, however, many scientists believe we are in the midst of a major extinction event driven largely by human activities. 2 Three distinct waves of human-caused extinction have been identified. 3 The first wave, occurring in prehistoric times, propagated with the spread of humans to previously uninhabited areas where animals that had never before encountered humans quickly succumbed to overhunting. On major continents, humans butchered the "megafauna" (large mammals), including the mammoths (genus Mammuthus), mastodons (Mammut), and bison (Bison) of North America. 4 However, the impacts were greatest on island ecosystems. As the Polynesians spread across the Pacific Islands, as many as 2,000 species of birds vanished. 5 On Madagascar, at least eight species of flightless elephant birds (family Aepyornithidae), two species of Malagassy hippopotamus (Hippopotamus), up to 17 species of giant lemurs (primates of suborder Strepsirrhini), the giant fossa (Cryptoprocta spelea, a large, cat-like carnivore), and