Question

Read the excerpt from E.O. Wilson’s “The Environmental Ethic.” Species are disappearing at an accelerating rate through human action, primarily habitat destruction but also pollution and the introduction of exotic species into residual natural environments. I have said that a fifth or more of the species of plants and animals could vanish or be doomed to early extinction by the year 2020 unless better efforts are made to save them. . . . As the last forests are felled in forest strongholds like the Philippines and Ecuador, the decline of species will accelerate even more. In the world as a whole, extinction rates are already hundreds or thousands of times higher than before the coming of man. They cannot be balanced by new evolution in any period of time that has meaning for the human race. What message does the author convey in this excerpt

Answer 1

Humans need to take action to end further destruction of the natural environment.

The author gives some precise facts to appeal to the reader's ethic: we, as humans, have widely contributed to the high species extinction rate more than anything else in the world, but we also have the possibility to diminish the damage and we are responsible for doing so. The author aims to appeal to our environmental ethic with the purpose of conveying the message that we need to take action in the matter.

Answer 2

Humans need to take action to end further destruction of the natural environment.