Initial Reaction: "The Sixth Extinction"

            When I first read the assigned excerpts from “The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History” by Elizabeth Kolbert I was shocked, dismayed, and surprised. I had never heard about most of what she wrote about. I had never heard of the “Big 5” extinctions or that we were in the middle of the 6^th. I had heard about the extinction of the dinosaurs but had never heard it been called one of the “Big 5”. The extinction of amphibians is happening today, yet I had heard nothing about it. Honestly, it scared me. As humans we are damaging the environment so much that we are one of the main causes of the sixth big extinction. We are destroying the planet and with that ourselves.