Introduction
Ecocide is a “neologism that refers to the act of intentional destruction or degradation of the environment” (Broswimmer 1). In other words, ecocide is the collective sum of ecocidal actions that have led to the current, disastrous loss of species worldwide. Richard Leakey and Roger Lewin refer to the current loss of species as Sixth Extinction. The ongoing global obliteration of habitat has significant impacts on humanity. Thus far, the principal value of the planet’s enduring ecosystems remains affronted and under-studied. Today, humanity is yet to identify a big part of the projected multiplicity of life. Some scientists claim that there are at least 5 million species globally. Other researchers contend that the number of species ranges between 30 million and 50 million. Scientists are yet to agree on the estimate of the number of species. Despite the disagreement on the number of species, the scientists agree that the Earth is losing its species at an alarming rate. Broswimmer posits, “The standard trickle rate of extinction has become a gushing hemorrhage as 100 species, or more disappear every day” (1). The present trend of destruction is paralleled only by the three great catastrophic mass extermination of the far-off ecological past.
The Phases of Mass Extermination
The Earth has witnessed three phases of mass extermination of species. The first phase of mass annihilation occurred 250 million years ago and had devastating effects on both the land and shallow water environments. The crisis marked the end of the Permian era (Brisman and South 63). Being the oldest phase, many people have little knowledge of this period. Hence, a majority of its repercussions are yet to be resolved. Paleontologists argue that this crisis came as a result of alteration of sea level and climate change that arose during the merger of the continents. The tectonic forces that led to the detachment of the continents led to the annihilation of over 90% of the earth’s species (Renner 132). The massive extermination swept away a majority of the land and living marine species. The extermination brought to an end a “200 million-year-long evolutionally history that geologists have named the Paleozoic era” (Brisman and South 65).
The second phase of the extinction happened 200 million years ago. The crisis occurred after the global bionetworks reordered themselves into a chain of stable earthly and aquatic communities. Before the colossal extermination, the land fauna comprised “some mammal-like reptiles, gigantic crocodile-like animals, and a variety of evolving dinosaurs” (Brisman and South 66). A majority of these animals “vanished from the planet, together with many shelled ammonites and coral reefs” (Brisman and South 67). A chain of environmental calamities that occurred in close succession is blamed for this massive extermination. One of the calamities was the collision between the Earth and a huge meteor, which led to the death of many dinosaurs. The crash resulted in a volcanic eruption and subsequent lava flows that led to the death of the land-living animals.
The third immense mass annihilation occurred 65 million years ago. The cataclysmic phenomenon resulted in the extermination of the terrestrial dinosaurs together with many land and marine species. Like the past catastrophes, this event came as a result of numerous factors. The factors include sudden alteration of sea level and climate changes. Nevertheless, the conclusion of this mass annihilation, “and by far its most dramatic element, took place when a giant, 6-mile-wide asteroid or comet crashed into the surface of the Earth near the Yucatan peninsula” (Broswimmer 2). The crash resulted in a fire explosion that gutted a big portion of the face of the planet. Immense volumes of toxic gas and massive tidal waves accompanied the crash. The comet’s impact resulted in the darkness that engulfed the planet for a couple of months. Massive tons of extraterrestrial and earth debris blazed “upward and blocked the sunlight, producing an endless ecocidal night” (Broswimmer 2). Many plants died both in the ocean and on land. A majority of the animals that relied on these plants for food were left hungry, leading to their death. More than 50% of the creatures on Earth died.
In the past 65 million years since the last mass extinction happened, the animals that survived the extermination and their offspring have reproduced to levels of diversity unobserved in the previous eras (Broswimmer 6). However, with the onset of behaviorally contemporary beings, a latest major calamity of mass annihilation came up. The adversity has been ongoing for millennia, and it is discernible without sophisticated computer modeling or urbane imagery. Even though man has been on the Earth for 130,000 years, he has caused immense devastation on the planet’s biodiversity. It can take between “10 million and 25 million years for the natural process of species evolution to rectify the devastation” (Bryant 81). The human-triggered changes to the world ecosystem are unparalleled. They include the global disturbance of biochemical cycles, extensive desertification, colossal soil erosion, and brisk climate change.
The Human Social Evolution
The Human Odyssey
One cannot understand the current ecocide without having a historical background of how humanity evolved. The human’s ability as a “social species to transform nature dramatically increased during the early phase of human social evolution due to the development of language” (Broswimmer 12). The establishment of language and the analogous growth of human’s social and symbolic organizational capabilities served as an essential turning point in the social and biological advancement. During this period, humans became a major threat to the survival of a majority of the species. The period marked an era of humanity’s global expansion. Besides, humanity took control of all vital ecosystems and began to innovate (Lytton 75). Farming and gardening later followed the evolution. The interaction between humans and animals changed tremendously. The contemporary humanity of the late Pleistocene gained unparalleled knowledge as a game hunter.
Homo sapiens began to isolate particular species that they used as food. One of the food historians alleges, “big game hunting was history’s first, but not last war on subsistence” (Tattersall 102). Humans came up with unique material culture and inventively designed tools for hunting. The tools included fish gorges, harpoons, and bows, and arrows. Moreover, Homo sapiens invented pit traps, an arrow poison, and deadfalls to facilitate hunting. The Homo sapiens became socially organized to the extent that they could kill and share the carcasses of large mammals like wooly mammoths. Besides, they could surround a vast number of animals and force them to go over a precipice. As a result, they would kill so many animals and fail to consume all of them, resulting in wastage.
The annihilation of the megafauna during the Pleistocene period is regarded as the initial precursor of the extended transformative abilities of contemporary humans on the Earth’s ecosystems and species. The word “megafauna” refers to big herbivores like mastodons, cave bears, mammoths, wooly rhinoceros, and huge ground sloths, among others (Dudley and Woodford 589). Moreover, it refers to carnivores that preyed on the herbivores like saber-toothed cats and dire wolves. This pre-industrial ecocide served as an overture to what was to follow under the auspices of the present industrial period.
The Problematic Society
The changeover from hunting and scavenging to farming is one of the significant phenomena in human history. The transition resulted in remarkable changes in the correlation between people and nature. The difference is referred to as the Neolithic revolution and encompassed numerous changes that occurred in different regions and times. The scarcity of wild animals led to humans adopting an intensive and sedentary mode of farming (Foster 36). By assuming a sedentary mode of agriculture, humans began to change the ecosystem in ways that would eventually prove more devastating than megafauna’s extermination and just as irrevocable. A contemporary observer could not have “perceived the destructive potential of small groups of people settling in one place to cultivate species of plants that would come to be known as crops” (Foster 39). Initially, people tried to domestic plants in small ventures and were not successful. By the time people embarked on large-scale farming, the human-governed system had substituted an expansive strip of natural systems in Asia, Europe, and America (Lytton 78). The human-directed system is also referred to as an agro-ecosystem. The course of crop domestication through farming resulted in “the destruction of the environment through habitat dislodgment and intensified predation” (Foster 39).
The Contemporary Attack on Nature
The beginning of the sixteenth century saw the growth of capitalism as a new model of social organization. The rise of capitalism led to the emergence of technological and scientific theories about the world that promoted the abuse of the ecosystem. The civilization period saw the environment as the lifeless and perfunctory world, a stance that made people see ecological units and their inhabitants as sheer assets for human exploitation (Meiksins-Wood 37). Technological manipulation “took the center stage in the process of removing plants, minerals and animals from their natural habitat with an aim to comprehend the principle behind their behavior” (Meiksins-Wood 37). The rise of technological and scientific philosophy intensified the commercial exploitation of various species. It resulted in unparalleled environmental effects on humans. The demand for fur resulted in the overexploitation and annihilation of fur animals. Besides, capitalism and growth of commercial activities resulted in massive slaughter of the America’s bison (Greider 117). The emergence and proliferation of industrial whaling led to a significant decline of marine species. In other words, the growth of capitalism resulted in the hastening of biodiversity loss. The world saw a transition from commercial overexploitation of land and aquatic creatures to extensive habitat destruction.
The Earth as a Sacrifice Zone
From the seventeenth century, humans instigated legal and political maneuvers that led to the enclosure of public land. The move resulted in changes in economic relations between people and the ecosystem, therefore opening a room for urban and industrial growth. The rich people started to exploit the poor (enclosure movement) and dislodged them from their lands (Athanasiou 22). The enclosure movement gained popularity across the globe. From Oceania and Australasia to Africa and the Americas, aboriginals were displaced from the ancestral lands through lawful and unlawful maneuvers. People ceased to fear and revere biodiversity and started to perceive it as a collection of exploitable resources. “The privatization and commoditization of the Earth elevated humanity from servant to sovereign and made nature an object of pure commercial exchange” (Athanasiou 24).
The industrial revolution intensified the rate of world ecological destruction. Indeed, industrial revolution signifies a landmark in the account of environmental and ecocide degradation. The industrial revolution culminated in the industrial arms race. In return, industrialization warfare surfaced as a socially and environmentally injurious institutional characteristic of civilization (Miley 42). People began to use mechanized warfare to protect commercial interests. The arms race resulted in the environmental holocaust that had distressing impacts on the ecosystem. Environmentalists allege that the armed forces are the leading agents of environmental pollution. They contribute to over 10% of the global environmental pollution (Joksimovich 147). Every aspect of war preparation entails ecological harm. Today, most militarized areas in North America and Central Asia are inhabitable. Researchers of ecocide argue that population growth contributes to the decline of species. The increase in population has resulted in immense pressure on the ecosystems. Increase in food production and deforestation is rendering many areas biologically unproductive. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization warns that if this trend continues, the entire planet will be made barren in less than 200 years (Karlinger 62).
Ecocide and Globalization
The current chapter of ecocide aligns with the official conclusion of the rega age of capitalism. The developed states have embarked on “a neo-liberal program of world marketization and deregulation referred to as “globalism”” (Steger 187). Globalism has led to the emergence of global mega-corporations that are quite autocratic and unaccountable. The mega-corporations wield a lot of power such that they engage in ecological activities that are exceedingly damaging. The activities of the mega-corporations have brought the planet to the verge of environmental and social crumple. The corporations evade and violate the environmental conservation policies, therefore hastening the obliteration of the biodiversity and ecosystems. Neo-liberal globalization has left a majority of the people in the global south in abject poverty (Schnaiberg 79). The high level of impoverishment has resulted in environmental dilapidation and ecocide in the region. Poor people have embarked on unsystematic food production and livestock rearing leading to the loss of numerous species.
Conclusion
The current rate of environmental depletion is alarming. The Earth is losing a big number of its land and marine species at a high rate. The world ought to take action to stop the extinction of species before it is too late. The Earth’s continued existence has become vague that no species, not even humanity is assured of the future. A majority of the factors that have contributed to the current level of environmental degradation are man-made. The introduction of farming and sedentary agriculture contributed to the loss of a significant number of megafauna. Moreover, it led to climatic changes that had devastating effects on marine species. The onset of capitalism and the related technological and scientific reasoning led to commercial exploitation of both land and aquatic species. Capitalism led to the mass exploitation of fur animals and North American bison. The rise of the enclosure system led to humans seeing the ecosystem as a set of useful resources. The industrial revolution and production of military weapons intensified environmental degradation. The present neo-liberal globalization has led to the growth of mega-corporations that pose significant threat to the ecosystem.
Works Cited
Athanasiou, Tom. Divided Planet: The Ecology of Rich and Poor, Boston: Little, Brown, 1996. Print.
Brisman, Avi, and N. South. Green Cultural Criminology: Constructions of Environmental Harm, Consumerism, and Resistance to Ecocide, New York: Routledge, 2014. Print.
Broswimmer, Franz. Ecocide: A Short History of the Mass Extinction of Species, London: Pluto Press, 2002. Print.
Bryant, Peter. Biodiversity and Conservation: A Hypertext Book, California: University of California Press, 2003. Print.
Dudley, Joseph and Michael Woodford. “Bioweapons, Biodiversity, and Ecocide: Potential Effects of Biological Weapons on Biological Diversity.” Bioscience 52.7 (2002): 583-592. Print.
Foster, John. The Vulnerable Planet: A Short History of the Environment, New York: Monthly Review Press, 2004. Print.
Greider, William. One World Ready or Not: The Manic Logic of Global Capitalism, New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006. Print.
Joksimovich, Vojin. “Militarism and Ecology: NATO Ecocide in Serbia.” Mediterranean Quarterly 11.4 (2000): 140-160. Print.
Karlinger, Joshua. The Corporate Planet: Ecology and Politics in the Age of Globalization, San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1997. Print.
Lytton, Christopher. “Environmental Human Rights: Emerging Trends in International Law and Ecocide.” Environmental Claims Journal 13.1 (2009): 73-91. Print.
Meiksins-Wood, Ellen. Democracy against Capitalism: Renewing Historical Materialism, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Print.
Miley, Michael. “Against Nature: The Ideology of Ecocide.” Propaganda Review 11.1 (2004): 38-69. Print.
Renner, Michael. Fighting for Survival: Environmental Decline, Social Conflict, and the New Age of Insecurity, Washington, DC: Worldwatch Institute, 2006. Print.
Schnaiberg, Allan. The Environment: From Surplus to Scarcity, New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Print.
Steger, Manfred. Globalism: The New Market Ideology, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001. Print.
Tattersall, Ian. The Human Odyssey: Four Million Years of Human Evolution, New York: Prentice Hall, 2003. Print.