Overview

Everybody knows that at the rate humans are going, our race will not survive without a dramatic turn of events. We are due to reach carrying capacity in the next 100 years, and the driving forces behind the earth are starting to dysfunction at a rate that will take a huge toll on agriculture systems and water availability. What will kill us first? Will it be overpopulation which will lead to a shortage of resources and put the human race below ground, or will humans be able to keep up with the fast pace changes of the environment?

Over the course of the next few weeks, I will be researching the extinction of specific species which have resulted from changes in global cycles. The aim of this research is to see if there are any common links between the way that previous species have become extinct and humans, and to analyse whether humans could be susceptible to the same events. The species that I will talk about won’t have become extinct as a direct result of humans (eg. Poaching, hunting), however some may be an indirect result of human actions (eg. climate change). I don’t expect to find answers of course, however I do believe it will be interesting to investigate how the changes amongst earth systems have led to the extinction of some, and whether or not humans could follow a similar path.