Extinction explored at the Natural History Museum

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Art, Mass extinction, Museums, UK

London’s famous Natural History Museum is currently running a major temporary exhibition on the subject of extinction.  Extinction – Not the End of the World opened in February, and aims to explore issues around biotic extinctions; the scope of the exhibition includes the five previous mass extinction events which have punctuated the evolution of life on Earth, and the current sixth mass extinction, precipitated by human influence.

I was discouraged by the irony of UK environment minister, climate sceptic and general anti-environmentalist Owen Paterson (who has just approved the controversial UK badger cull) speaking at the exhibition launch.  Nonetheless, I’m looking forward to visiting the exhibition.  It’s good to see high-profile debate and information about extinction issues, and I’m interested to see how this important subject is presented by the museum.

I’ll be writing more about the exhibition once I’ve actually seen it.  Meanwhile, I recommend the short animation, Early Birds by Suki Best, which reflects on the beauty of birdsong and the decline in bird populations, and which features in the exhibition.  It can be watched here.

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The end of the world….?

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Mass extinction

Unsurprisingly, the world didn’t end yesterday, despite all the hype about the “Mayan Prophecy” which is derived from the end of a cycle of the Mayan calendar.  It’s been interesting to see how this idea, in common with many an apocalyptic prediction, has successfully and widely entered public culture.  There’s an uncomfortable irony that people will talk, often jokingly, more easily about ideas such as the Mayan doomsday – for which there is scant evidence – than about the slow, seemingly inevitable slide towards real crisis which is unrolling in the biosphere, and for which evidence exists in grim abundance.

It’s possible that catastrophic events have led to extinction events in the past – for example, the KT Extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs at the end of the Mesozoic is often attributed to an asteroid impact, or extreme volcanic activity.  It’s clear the the current mass extinction, however, is a cumulative process, more death-by-1000-cuts than guillotine.  Although gradual, it’s alarmingly fast, with the species extinction rate estimated to be between 1000 and 10,000 times the “normal” background rate.  This (along with climate change, which contributes to biodiversity decline) is the real crisis in the natural world.  It’s a shame so few people are talking about that.

The attention drawn to the Mayan civilization by the current doomsday chat, however, is instructive.  In their day, they were one of the most impressive and stable civilizations on Earth, but their civilization collapsed in a relatively short period of time.  Most scholars attribute this to a complex of factors driven by overwhelming environmental stresses; that’s worth pondering amidst the talk about the “end of the world”.

DUSBSPUGHX7Y

Street art on the extinction crisis

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Art, Campaigns, Frogs, Mass extinction, Panama, UK

I’m not aware of much street art which highlights biodiversity depletion, so it’s refreshing to discover London artist Xylo.  His interesting and provocative work addresses a number of subjects, but species extinction is a particular focus.

The Critically Endangered Panamanian Golden Frog (Atelopus zeteki) symbolises the extinction crisis for Xylo, and has appeared in various guises in London streets…..

This species is an all-too-appropriate choice as an icon of the looming Eremozoic.  It has long been seen as a rare symbol of good luck in its native Panama, and is a popular symbol there, appearing on lottery tickets, for instance.  The animal itself is running low on luck, however, and it’s likely that the golden frog is now functionally extinct in the wild; it is sobering to reflect that there might now be more of these frogs painted on walls in London than there are living free in Panama.

Xylo’s other recurrent image in response to biodiversity depletion is his extinction symbol, which is reproduced in the sidebar of this blog.  The idea is that the simple symbol can be freely copied and re-interpreted to spread awareness of the mass extinction; some interpretations have been shared in an online photo-sharing group.  This simple but potent concept is an imaginative approach to increasing consciousness of the issue.

Xylo has also brought his work into the aisles of supermarkets, with several cheeky interventions…..

It’s good to see a street artist addressing biodiversity in novel settings and through a variety of creative approaches. The slide into an Eremozoic future, though arguably one of the most pressing issues of the 21st Century, remains poorly recognised or discussed in general culture, and Xylo’s imaginative tactics are a welcome intervention.

Why “Into the Eremozoic”?

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E.O.Wilson, Mass extinction

This blog takes its name from a word coined by the biologist E.O.Wilson, who suggested “Eremozoic” as a suitable term for the next era of the Earth’s development.  Scientists have divided the immense timescale over which living organisms have evolved into three eras – the Paleozoic, (“ancient life”), the Mesozoic (“middle life”), and the Cenozoic (“new life”).  It is this last era in which we are now live, a period characterized by a great increase in biological complexity and diversity.

There have been a number of mass extinctions throughout geological time, the fifth having ended the Mesozoic age around 65million years ago.  Most biologists agree that we are currently in the throes of a sixth mass extinction event, this time uniquely due to the activities of a single organism – Homo sapiens.  If this is indeed true, it is reasonable to suggest that the Cenozoic era is drawing to a close, and we are entering a new era for life on earth, fittingly called the Eremozoic (“lonely life”).

The human hammer having fallen, the sixth mass extinction has begun. This spasm of permanent loss is expected, if it is not abated, to reach the end-of-Mesozoic level by the end of the century. We will then enter what poets and scientists alike may choose to call the Eremozoic Era — The Age of Loneliness. E.O.Wilson, “The Creation : an appeal to save life on Earth”, 2006.

This blog will aim to consider the crises facing biodiversity – and therefore, inseparably, humanity – as we stand on the brink of the “age of loneliness”.