The Next Great Extinction: It’s Now (Tom Ashbrook, On Point)

Over millions of years, life on Earth has seen great waves of life – species – come and go.  Coming into being takes a long time.  Going, going extinct, can be fast.  As fast as an asteroid collision.  Right now the planet is in one of those rare and terrible waves of extinction, says my guest today, Elizabeth Kolbert.  It’s big and its fast – and this time, humans are the asteroid.  The cause and calamity.  Huge chunks of life, headed toward oblivion.  This hour On Point:  the sixth extinction of life on Earth.  And we’ll look at the death of Kentucky snake handler Jamie Coots, and the culture of snake handling. / Tom Ashbrook

Interview:
http://onpoint.wbur.org/2014/02/18/extinction-humanity-society