The Sixth Extinction: Journeys Among the Lost and Left Behind

"The world is experiencing massive extinctions, unseen in the 65 million years since the end of the Cretaceous period. In a book you won't want to read but should, journalist Glavin writes passionately about the loss of animals, plants, and human culture he documented on his travels to such places as Singapore, Costa Rica, and Russia. Alarms sound over loss of diversity, a phenomenon that not only serves as an antidote to blandness but also provides the gene pool necessary to survive life's calamities. Throughout, the reader is assaulted by unrelenting recitals of ravaged populations. This might be too distressing were Glavin not offering glimmers of hope in the sustainable whale-hunting practices of the Norwegians and the agriculture of remote Himalayan tribes, as well as in efforts throughout the world to maintain viable populations of threatened animals and plants. Well written and solidly researched—the notes are extensive—this work, first published in Canada as Waiting for the Macaws, is highly recommended for academic and public libraries."—Library Journal

 

"A Canadian writer cries out against the 'dark and gathering sameness' that is destroying species, languages and cultures throughout the world. An author and former Globe and Mail reporter, Glavin explores extinction in its broadest sense: We are losing not only species (one every ten minutes), but also human diversity (one language every two weeks), and the losses are very much related. 'The forests go, the cultures go,' he writes in this deeply personal book. In each chapter, he explores a different aspect of our losses; what, if anything, is being done to halt them; and why our lives are diminished in ways that go far beyond harm to the environment. Our very humanity is tied up with the diversity around us, says Glavin. Yet modern ways prompt loss everywhere. Indeed, biologists use the term 'living dead' to describe the rare and vanishing. In Costa Rica, where the scarlet Macau vanished and was then 'hand reared' back into existence, Glavin finds hope. But more often, he finds societal changes leading to loss: In Russia's Far Eastern rivers, fish stocks were plundered after the collapse of order following the fall of the Soviet Union; in Norway, the cultural and economic survival of distinct peoples is threatened as environmentalists seek to halt traditional and sustainable harvesting of minke whales. Often, local lives are shaped by decisions made elsewhere, he finds. The rise of global-market economies makes it no longer tenable to maintain old livestock breeds, domesticated plant varieties and even languages. Consider: In 1900, more than 7,000 commercial varieties of apples were cultivated in North America. By 2000, nearly all were gone. The U.S. crop today consists of Red Delicious, Golden Delicious and Granny Smith—and not much more. Traveling from Ireland to Singapore to the Himalayas, the author relays alarming stories of loss, giving a vivid sense of how extinction affects our lives. Sad and sobering."—Kirkus Reviews

"A startling new definition of extinction that includes not only loss of animal species but also disappearing aspects of the human condition. In prose that tempts the reader to linger over each word, he turns a book of science and natural history into an elegy to the world in which we live and so casually disregard, creating nonfiction with a poet's heart and a message of the utmost importance."—Booklist

"Five major epochs of mass extinction have marked the past 440 million years, but in this striking and original work, Glavin argues that the most devastating is today's 'sixth' extinction—in which the world is losing many of its cultures, languages and local traditions along with its wildlife. In a fresh and eloquent synthesis of diverse phenomena, Glavin describes some of the consequences. ...