Xu 1 Xu 7 The Sixth Extinction In the book, The Sixth Extinction, Kolbert challenges the general unawareness of historic disbelief in mass extinction that has been talked about prior to the late 1700s, a period which the scientific communities failed to reason, let alone envision living in a planet with a powerful force capable of wiping out life in a massive scale. According to her, the unbelief fosters ideologies that no natural force can be powerful enough to trigger the extinction of species on a massive scale because of the threats that human post on Earth to the species. Therefore, she uses scientific research references to argue that the behavior of human species is disrupting the balanced and interconnected Earth's systems to the possibility of causing extinction not only of non-human species but to humans as well. Such behavior includes burning fossil fuels. Some of the significant areas likely to cause mass extinction due to unprecedented human behavior are the global atmosphere, the heat absorption by the sea, the water cycle, and the acidity of the ocean, effects on soil moisture and the extension of drought conditions. The Sixth Extinction presumes that unless checked, there is eminent destruction of plant life by pests and unmanageable heat stress due to problems in heat regulation, among other related challenges. To be precise, Kolbert makes it clear that in the current century, manmade activities will lead to the elimination of up to 50% of species that currently live in the earth. In explicating the argument that Kolbert puts across in her book, The Sixth Extinction, this paper seeks to examine the organization of the chapters, as well as, how the information in these chapters explains the disruption of the Earth’s system, as a threat to creatures that live in sea and land. This is done when noting any strengths and weaknesses in the argument to determine the credibility of the stance that Kolbert takes in her book. The book is generally arranged into 13 chapters. The chapters are topically denoted and begin with the first chapter laying ground for her belief in the possibility of mass extinction. The subsequent chapters give historical as well as scientific backing of her conviction. These include The Mastodon’s Molars in chapter two; The Original Penguin; The Luck of the Ammonites; and Welcome to the Anthropocene in chapters three to five respectively. The chapters following these backup chapters are used by the author to point at apparent areas directly or indirectly affected by human behavior threatening extinction. These include the sea (chapter six and seven), and land (chapters eight to twelve). In the concluding chapter 13 (The Things with Feathers), focus is on the efforts taken to facilitation promotion of conservation and preservation of species on land and sea. However, she ends with a rather definite fact that whichever the actions taken by humanity, the evolutionary pathways are fully drawn on which sp.

1. Xu 1
Xu 7
The Sixth Extinction
In the book, The Sixth Extinction, Kolbert challenges the
general unawareness of historic disbelief in mass extinction that
has been talked about prior to the late 1700s, a period which the
scientific communities failed to reason, let alone envision living
in a planet with a powerful force capable of wiping out life in a
massive scale. According to her, the unbelief fosters ideologies
that no natural force can be powerful enough to trigger the
extinction of species on a massive scale because of the threats
that human post on Earth to the species. Therefore, she uses
scientific research references to argue that the behavior of
human species is disrupting the balanced and interconnected
Earth's systems to the possibility of causing extinction not only
of non-human species but to humans as well. Such behavior
includes burning fossil fuels. Some of the significant areas
likely to cause mass extinction due to unprecedented human
behavior are the global atmosphere, the heat absorption by the
sea, the water cycle, and the acidity of the ocean, effects on soil
moisture and the extension of drought conditions.
The Sixth Extinction presumes that unless checked, there is
eminent destruction of plant life by pests and unmanageable
heat stress due to problems in heat regulation, among other
related challenges. To be precise, Kolbert makes it clear that in
the current century, manmade activities will lead to the
elimination of up to 50% of species that currently live in the
earth. In explicating the argument that Kolbert puts across in
her book, The Sixth Extinction, this paper seeks to examine the
organization of the chapters, as well as, how the information in

2. these chapters explains the disruption of the Earth’s system, as
a threat to creatures that live in sea and land. This is done when
noting any strengths and weaknesses in the argument to
determine the credibility of the stance that Kolbert takes in her
book.
The book is generally arranged into 13 chapters. The chapters
are topically denoted and begin with the first chapter laying
ground for her belief in the possibility of mass extinction. The
subsequent chapters give historical as well as scientific backing
of her conviction. These include The Mastodon’s Molars in
chapter two; The Original Penguin; The Luck of the
Ammonites; and Welcome to the Anthropocene in chapters three
to five respectively. The chapters following these backup
chapters are used by the author to point at apparent areas
directly or indirectly affected by human behavior threatening
extinction. These include the sea (chapter six and seven), and
land (chapters eight to twelve).
In the concluding chapter 13 (The Things with Feathers), focus
is on the efforts taken to facilitation promotion of conservation
and preservation of species on land and sea. However, she ends
with a rather definite fact that whichever the actions taken by
humanity, the evolutionary pathways are fully drawn on which
species to spare and which one to extinguish. The arrangement
is systematic and makes it easy to follow her exploratory
journey from the prehistoric theories of extinction to the
modern day events precedent to the sixth extinction. Although
none of these chapters offers a solution to the highlighted
problems in environmental management, the storyline is rhetoric
and the answers to this rhetoric are generated based on the
freedom of individual understanding rather than a collective and
subjective position.
From the account of the interdependence between terrestrial and
marine life, Kolbert considers that terrestrial creatures are
threatened by the ever-changing water cycle, the effects of
human activities on soil moisture, and the extensive drought
conditions facing land. In all these, the bottom line is the

3. irresponsible environmental exploitation and overstretched
pressure on natural resources. According to Kolbert, the threat
has emanated from direct human invasion of the natural habitats
of other creatures such as with the “Castello Aragonese”
(Kolbert, p. 74). This account brings to life the growing
competition for space between man and animals. It is common
to hear of human-animal conflict or fencing out animals to
protect neighboring communities. The result of this is the
encroachment into natural animal habitats to create space for
human survival. The question posed by Kolbert is whether
humans will end up self-destroying their own species as they
extinct other species.
It is also instigated by indirect effects of environmental
degradation. Her explanations help to point at a good example
such as the recent trend at exploiting energy from beneath
theearth.Very little has already been done yet to ascertain the
possibilities on existence as a result of such exploration.
Further, the continued destruction of forests such as the
“Silman’s plots” and other forests has the prolonged chance of
destroying carbon and heat sinks in the environment (Kolbert, p.
95). This goes beyond the talks about global warming but the
direct effect on creatures depending on these natural habitats.
The story implicitly shows that much talk about global warming
has not yielded any meaningful change in the manner in which
the environment is handled. Instead, terrestrial creatures are
daily subjected to harsh and polluted environment. This was
best emphasized in the story of the golden frogs that were fast
dying with no one (even scientists) coming to their rescue.
In the sea, the greatest threat is the increasing acidification of
seawater. This is shown by Kolbert to have direct effect on such
sea features as coral reefs that also form natural habitats for
numerous marine species. Other than the continued acidification
of the sea, there is the increasing amount of salty water. This
means that the amount of wholesome water for consumption by
creatures is continually getting depleted. The result of this
would be death of not only the marine life but also of the

4. terrestrial creatures depending on underground and surface
water sources. Further, human invasion including ‘development’
of residential and recreational sites have led to extinction of
most marine animals including the sea birds.
In chapter seven, Kolbert mentions the ease that would be there
if one wanted to destroy vulnerable species such as the nesting
sea birds (Kolbert). This particular story reminds curious
readers of the story of the oil spills that have destroyed
thousands of helpless species in the sea yet oil continues being
transported in the same risky manner. In Kolbert’s eye, it is
possible to see the position of man in the sixth extinction story.
Man bears the key to destroy the creatures by virtue of the
capabilities. However, it is also possible to see in her tone that
man bears the key to salvage such vulnerable species in their
natural habitats.
Kolbert began her story with the account for the endangered
amphibian species and the growing scientists’ concern about the
diminishing species. This part offers the needed link between
the prehistoric theories of extinctions of species and the modern
fear of the sixth extinction. By the fact that scientific backing is
used to back up her early assumption, explaining the sixth
extinction makes her other back up expeditions more relevant
and significant on the fears of extinction of terrestrial and
marine life under the watch of human beings.
The fifth chapter, Welcome to the Anthropocenebest, explains
the overall crisis, which our species is causing. In the
explanations given in the chapter on the extinction of
graptolites and the clades explain several interlinked global
phenomena such as glaciation and global warming as means for
extinction. For instance, there is an explanation of how
continued and uncontrolled release of carbon dioxide in the air
increases the air temperatures and through melting of
mountainous ice, the sea levels also rice. Therefore, the chapter
shows how human activities and behavior serve as agents for
changes in the chemistry of the air, water and land hence
threatening extinction of creatures from the earth.

5. Although she made an effort at giving plain explanations to
scientific jargon, Kolbertmainly focuses on the negative aspect
of human relationship with the land and sea creatures. For
instance, based on the interviews with scientists and her own
exploratory research, she estimated that by the beginning of the
22nd century there would have been a flora and fauna loss of
between 20 and 50 percent of the living creatures on earth. Only
mildly does she emphasize the conservancy efforts made by
people. Because of this, she makes her writing to ignore or treat
with contempt he individual as well as collective input of
human species in sustaining preservation of endangered species
as the case was with the incredible frog hotel. She instead offers
no possible remedies to the highlighted problems.
It is generally observed that Kolbert is out to make rhetoric of
the issue she investigated. However, leaving her findings in this
form subjects her findings to a rather open and risky guessing of
the possible paths to take. Using rhetoric would be best applied
if the audience is not only responsive but in resonance to her
views and findings about the ecosystem. This means that the
novel was not intended for program implementers but for
researchers and the speculative general public. However,
looking at the gravity and urgency in the facts presented leaves
the audience wondering when a solution to the highlighted
problem would come forth.
The observations and research data presented in the book depict
the apparent violent collision going on between human
civilization and the ecosystem of the earth planet. Citing such
natural habitats as the Andes; the Amazon forest, or the
renowned Great Barrier Reef, the author examines how human
activities and behavior have accelerated climate change hence
causing what biologists are now calling the sixth mass
extinction. What is apparent from the researched data is that the
current plant and animal loss literally threatens elimination of
between 20 and 50 percent of the living species within the 21st
century alone. While Kolbert’s argument has some major
strength in reference to employing a scientific approach to

6. explain her position, she also presents major weaknesses when
making her argument know. In this case, the credibility of her
argument leaves room for further interpretation, thus the need to
cautiously interpret her argument as an ultimate perspective to
the concern she explored.
Reference
Kolbert, E. (2014). The Sixth Extinction: An unnatural history.
New York, NY: Henry Holt & Company.
Project Management Case
You are working for a large, apparel design and manufacturing
company, Trillo Apparel Company (TAC), headquartered in
Albuquerque, New Mexico. TAC employs around 3000 people
and has remained profitable through tough economic times. The
operations are divided into 4 districts; District 1 – North,
District 2 – South, District 3 – West and District 4 – East. The
company sets strategic goals at the beginning of each year and
operates with priorities to reach those goals.Trillo Apparel
Company Current Year Priorities
· Increase Sales and Distribution in the East
· Improve Product Quality
· Improve Production in District 4
· Increase Brand Recognition
· Increase RevenuesCompany Details
Company Name: Trillo Apparel Company (TAC)
Company Type: Apparel design and production
Company Size: 3000 employees
Position
# Employees
Owner/CEO
1
Vice President
4
Chief Operating Officer

7. 1
Chief Financial Officer
1
Chief Information Officer
1
IT Department
38
District Manager
4
Sales Team
30
Accountant
12
Administrative Assistant
7
Order Fullfilment
45
Customer Service
57
Designer
24
Project Manager
10
Maintenance
25
Operations
2500
Shipping Department
240
Total Employees
3000
Products: Various Apparel
Corporate Location: Albuquerque, New MexicoTAC
Organization Chart

8. District 4 Production Warehouse Move Project Details
The business has expanded considerably over the past few years
and District 4 in the East has outgrown its current production
facility. Because of this growth the executives want to expand
the current facility, moving the whole facility 10 miles away.
The location selected has enough room for the production and
the shipping department. However, the current warehouse needs
some renovation to accommodate the district’s operational
needs.
The VP of Operations estimates the production and shipping
warehouse move for District 4 will provide room required to
generate the additional $1 million/year product revenues to
meet the current demand due to the expanded production
capacity. Daily production generates $50,000 revenue so a week
of downtime will cost $250,000 in lost revenues.
The move must be completed in 4 months.
Mileage between the old and new facilities is 10 miles.
Bids have been received from contractors to build out the new
office space and production floor and have signed contracts for
work as follows:
Activity
Company Providing Services
Total Contract
Supplies
Time Needed
Pack, move and unpack production equipment
City Equipment Movers
$150,000
n/a
5 Days
Move non-production equipment and materials
Express Moving Company
$125,000

9. n/a
5 Days
Framing
East Side Framing & Drywall
$121,000
$125,000
15 Days
Electrical
Sparks Electrical
$18,000
$12,000
10 Days
Plumbing
Waterworks Plumbing
$15,000
$13,000
10 Days
Drywall
East Side Framing & Drywall
$121,000
$18,000
15 Days
Finish Work
Woodcraft Carpentry
$115,000
$15,000
15 Days
Build work benches for production floor
Student Workers Carpentry
$112,000
$110,000
15 Days
Production workdays are Monday through Saturday. The actual
move must be completed in 5 days for as little disruption to
production activities as possible. All contractors are on other

10. projects but have been booked in advance. The contractors will
gain the necessary permits and schedule city and county
inspections but these tasks need to be identified separately due
to the length of time it can take. Permitting and inspections can
take from one to three weeks, depending upon schedule and the
flexibility of the inspector. The new warehouse is empty and
can be accessed immediately. Framing cannot start until the
permits are received. Electrical and plumbing can begin as soon
as the framing is finished. Drywall cannot start until the
electrical and plumbing inspections are complete. After the
drywall is completed, final inspections will be completed by the
county and city. After both the county and city have passed the
new construction, finish work can begin. Building the product
floor work benches can occur at any time before the move
occurs.
Chief Executive
Officer
Chief Operating
Officer
Chief Financial
Officer
VP Sales &
Marketing
Chief Information
Officer
Executive
Assistant
VP
Operations
VP Customer
Service
Inbound Call
Manager
Outbound Call
Manager
Outbound Call

11. Team (20)
Inbound Call
Team (35)
IT
Manager
IT Staff
(37)
Sales Team
(30)
Accountants
(12)
District2
Manager
District 3
Manager
District1
Manager
District 4
Manager
D1 Operations
(500)
D1 Operations
(650)
D3 Operations
(450)
D4 Operations
(900)
Administrative
Assistant
Administrative
Assistant
Administrative
Assistant
Administrative
Assistant
Administrative

12. Assistant
Administrative
Assistant
Order Fulfillment
(45)
Shipping
(50)
Shipping
(50)
Shipping
(50)
Shipping
(90)
Maintenance
(5)
Maintenance
(5)
Maintenance
(5)
Maintenance
(10)
Project Managers
(10)
VP
Design
Design Team
(24)
Trillo Apparel Company
Chief Executive
Officer
Chief Operating
Officer �
Chief Financial
Officer�
VP Sales &

13. Marketing �
Executive
Assistant�
Chief Information
Officer�
VP
Operations�
VP Customer
Service �
Inbound Call
Manager�
Outbound Call
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Outbound Call
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IT
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(37)�
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(12)�
District2
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Manager�
District1
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District 4
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D1 Operations
(500)�

14. D1 Operations
(650)�
D3 Operations
(450)�
D4 Operations
(900)�
Administrative
Assistant �
Administrative
Assistant �
Administrative
Assistant �
Administrative
Assistant �
Administrative
Assistant �
Administrative
Assistant�
Shipping
(50)�
Order Fulfillment
(45)�
Shipping
(50)�
Shipping
(50)�
Shipping
(90)�
Maintenance
(5)�
Maintenance
(5)�
Maintenance
(5)�
Maintenance
(10)�

15. Project Managers
(10)�
VP
Design�
Design Team
(24)�
Trillo Apparel Company
Sheet1INTROBODY 1BODY 2BODY 3BODY
4CONCLUSIONOrganizationLandSeaKolbert strong/not so
strongYou are reaching for agood jobgood job. The I think
you'rewonderfully complexCastello Aragonesevery thoughtful.
Note thatYou explain yoursaying that withoutexplanation of the
book--chapter, though, isocean water =/=praise and your
criticisma solution, K'ssome sentences needactually exploring
adrinking waterwellargument lacksrevision.natural phenomenon
credibility. Some(humans not to blame)stories have
unhappyendings, yes?0.80.91.751.752.750.6/1/1/2/2/3/1Writing:
free of distractingFormatting: as pererrors? Academic
voice?formatting sheet? this is your best work this semester.
There are some seriousBase verb tense in present?writing
issues, but your essay is thoughtful and interesting
throughout.10.05/12.5I would shorten a numberof sentences.
What doAll goodyou mean by "rhetoric?"book titles always in
italicsgood voice; try to stay /12.5in present (she
makes….)0.51/1.5/1/25
In the 5th century B.C., Herodotus tells us, the king of Persia
decided to attack the Greeks. All his advisors applauded except
a certain Artabanus who pointed to 2 problems: the land and the
sea. 2500 years later, a different form of attack is taking place:
the expansion of the human species as a whole and the takeover
by our species of the surface of the Earth. This is a process
very different from a military invasion but the results may be
far more devastating. Like Artabanus 2500 years ago, Elizabeth
Kolbert points to the land and the sea.

16. Describe Kolbert’s organization of chapters in The Sixth
Extinction. Describe the threats to creatures living on land.
Describe the threats to creatures living in the sea. What part of
The Sixth Extinction best explains to you the overall crisis
which our species is causing? Is there any way in which
Kolbert fails to make her case?
organization hard to follow in these 2 sections
Sheet2
Sheet3