Oreo Cookie Book Club: The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert

We reviewed the book The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert. The author gives us a litany of mass extinctions in the history of our planet, with the notion that Man is precipitating another one at an increased rate of speed that, eventually, will include all of us. There are many sources of destruction, but the main culprit is the use of fossil fuels that induce climate change and increase the amount of CO2 in the oceans that lead, in turn, to greater acidity of the seas. This will kill off many species.We discussed the cows excretion of methane gas as a worldwide problem of serious consequence.
The cost of using less fossil fuels for energy verses the environmental gain was considered, not in specifics but as a general rule. We did not come up with any solutions to save our planet, but eating less beef in order to cut down on the cow population, would be a good start. The next book to be discussed will be Justice by M. Sandel, a philosophy professor at Harvard and Rich Schwartz will host the meeting on the third Wednesday of September.
—Norton Schwartz