Holocene Extinction
The Holocene extinction is the ongoing sixth mass extinction event in Earth's history, characterized by the rapid loss of species and the degradation of ecological systems during the Holocene epoch, and accelerating dramatically since the Industrial Revolution. Unlike previous mass extinctions, which were driven by natural phenomena such as asteroid impacts and volcanic eruptions, the Holocene extinction is primarily driven by human activity. The rate of extinction is estimated at 100 to 1,000 times the background rate, and the total biomass of wild mammals has declined by approximately 82% since the rise of human civilization.
Drivers
The primary drivers are the same as those identified in Biodiversity Loss: habitat destruction, overexploitation, invasive species, pollution, and climate change. The Holocene extinction is the aggregate name for the phenomenon that Biodiversity Loss describes in systemic terms. The distinction is useful: Biodiversity Loss emphasizes the ongoing process and its mechanisms, while Holocene Extinction names the historical event.
Historical Parallels
The five previous mass extinctions — the Ordovician-Silurian, the Late Devonian, the Permian-Triassic, the Triassic-Jurassic, and the Cretaceous-Paleogene — each eliminated 60–90% of species. The Permian-Triassic extinction, the most severe, eliminated approximately 96% of marine species and 70% of terrestrial vertebrates. Recovery from each extinction took millions of years. The Holocene extinction is on track to match or exceed these events in rate, though not yet in total magnitude.
The Anthropocene Framing
Some researchers propose that the Holocene extinction marks the beginning of a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene — an epoch defined by the dominance of human activity as a geological force. The Anthropocene framing is not merely a geological claim; it is a claim about the scale of human impact. If human activity has become a geological force, then the extinction it causes is not a biological problem but a geological one, and the solutions must operate at the scale of planetary governance.