Betty Kuo
Alex Giardino
EWRT 1A
16 March 2015

Animals Are Struggling To Survive
Imagine what our lives be like if the majority of species disappeared tomorrow. Five major animal extinctions have happened on Earth. These five major mass extinctions caused at least twenty to forty percent of species on Earth to go to extinct (Endangered Species). Signs now show a sixth extinction, mass extinction of animals, is happening. There are some important factors that contribute to mass extinction; they are habitat destruction, pollution, and population. The world is losing about 975 animal species that include reptiles, invertebrates, mammals, birds, and fishes (Animal Time). Habitat destruction as a result of profiteering, pesticides, and overpopulation are key factors leading to the sixth mass extinction. People destroy animals’ habitat to fulfill human profits, which forces the animals to leave their habitats. Leopold describes humans’ values in his essay when he talks about, “[People] did not include soil, plants, or birds in their ideas of mutuality. The dividends of such a balanced economy were too modest. They envisaged farms not only around, but in the marsh. An epidemic of ditch-digging and land-booming set in.” (Leopold 269). From Leopold’s study, it shows that humans are selfish that they only see the economic values of land. People tend to think the possibilities of how much money they will be able to make and ignore other animals that are sharing the same piece of land. Leopold uses “epidemic” in his study to show that this is now an era where people want to make profits from the land and it is spreading like an epidemic. This leads animals to go to extinction since they don't have anywhere to go. With people only focusing on their profits, an expert states that, “The motto of the economics of extinction is profit over all—even if it means the loss of most of the world's species of plants and animals and the ecological functions they perform” (Maser). The phrase of “profit over all” is showing that people care about economical values more than natural values. Destroying animals’ home is a necessary process if people want to build monuments for economical purposes. People are willing to do anything to nature in order to make a profit, but they didn't consider what the consequences would be in the future. If the animals go on extinction, it will impact heavily on human life. An example of an animal that is going on extinction due to habitat destruction, “the Florida panther…now survives in a tiny area of South Florida representing just 5 percent of its former range. It was listed as an endangered species in 1967 because of habitat destruction...” (Biological Diversity). There are only a few panthers left in Florida, which shows that if human keeps on destroying habitats will only lead to more serious animal extinctions. Panthers help recycle the nutrients in the ecosystem. Even though profiteering destroys animal’s habitats, using pesticides can lead to killing animals and their habitat.
Using pesticides is one of the causes that lead to habitat destruction. As an expert on animal extinctions describes how, “…harmful chemical or physical constituents into the environment, which substances substantially harm individual species metabolisms, or which strongly and rapidly alter a stable historic ecosystem composition” (Hogan). Farmers use pesticides on their crops because the crops will be in a condition that consumers will be more willing to buy their crops. Pesticides that are used on farm crops have direct connection to ill animals. Pesticides are poisoning the land that animals used to live. This causes animals unable to live in the area due the reason that their body couldn't handle pesticides. Pesticides affect the surrounding lands that cause animals to die; their bodies can’t process the chemicals that humans use on their crops. As species die out, it will impact people’s living style and people’s ability to survive in this world. In one of the researches that Carson found and she states that, “In a joint report, the British Trust for Ornithology and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds described some 67 kills of birds—a far from complete listing of the destruction that took place in the spring of 1960. Of these 67, 59 were caused by seed dressings, 8 by toxic sprays” (Carson 372). The pesticides that farmers are using can lead into further extinction of other animals. There is a food chain that exists in this world where one species eat other for survival purposes. If the bird species die out, then the predators will eventually die out too. Since predators will be lack of food for them to survive. Pesticide use is not the only cause of animal extinction; overpopulation also leads to habitat destruction.
Overpopulation of human is affecting the habitats for animals, which leads to animal extinction. From an interview, Elizabeth Kolbert explains the results of destroying animal’s habits, “So when people talk about the dangers of habitat fragmentation, on the one hand, a big animal that needs a large range can't survive in a small patch. But it's also smaller animals that don't need that much space become vulnerable to the dynamics of small populations” (Plumer). There is a relationship between lands and animals that show how the land spaces are directly affecting animals that live in the area. If humans continue destroying animals’ home, then it will lead to extinctions. If animals go extinct, it will affect humans in many different ways. Another study that proves overpopulation is causing habitat destruction, “The world’s forests, swamps, lakes and other habitats continue to disappear as we make way for agriculture, housing, roads, pipelines …” (Evan). As human population grows, the spaces that human needs will also increase. The demand for space will increase due to an increase of human population, but, there will not be enough lands to provide homes for humans and animals. An example of how overpopulation is also affecting marine life, “the western Atlantic bluefin tuna that spawns in the Gulf of Mexico and has declined by more than 80 percent since 1970 due to overharvesting” (Biological Diversity). With the supplies and demand, human tend to harvest more than they need; there is usually more demand than supplies. Tuna is an example of how overpopulation can lead to marine life extinction. Tuna plays a significant role in the ecosystem because they prey on other fishes; this helps the ecosystem cycles. Human simply doesn't take other wild lives into consideration because they believe Earth is all for themselves to manipulate. Earth functions like a cycle so there is a direct relationship between land and marine life; when one species fails to survive then the others fall too. When people start to build more housing and roads for themselves, it causes animals to die out since they don't have enough space for themselves.
Habitat destruction is caused by human actions that include satisfying people’s avaricious desire, using pesticides, and overpopulating. The major cause of animal extinction is habitat destruction; there are studies that show we are on the path of sixth mass extinction. Society needs to realize how important is it for people to take other animal lives into consideration. When the sixth mass extinction happens, it will lead to many disasters for humans. People should be informed about the issues that we are facing right now and we need to let them realize what are the consequences of habitat destructions. We need to save animals that are suffering from habitat destructions. Together we can make the world into a better living environment for both humans and animals.