Climate change in particular will contribute to thriving wildlife, because, as Thomas establishes (p. Time will tell which of these are best adapted to the rapidly changing conditions on Earth but, to be sure, the number of species in most regions of the world is increasing, not decreasing. Since human action is part of nature and since in any case we cannot return to an arbitrarily defined, idealized past state of the planet, Thomas argues that we should embrace immigrant species, hybrid species and species created by humans, e.g. As a result of human behaviour, many new animal and plant species are, and will be coming into existence. But for Thomas, besides losses and threats of loss, there are also gains and further opportunities for gains. Thomas does not, however, deny that levels of extinction are high in our age and that there is a strong need for conservation. Intriguingly, his argument is that nature will be thriving in an age of extinction. Will human interference on Earth during the Anthropocene imply a massive amount of species going extinct and a serious loss of biodiversity, as we sometimes are being told? Do we need to act now to reduce the damage our descendants will suffer as a result of the loss of much of our natural heritage?Ĭhris Thomas investigates the human inheritance on planet Earth. How Nature is Thriving in an Age of Extinction. Can heritage be thriving in an age of extinction? Reading Chris D Thomas (2017), Inheritors of the Earth.
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