The earth may be facing a major extinction in the near future, said Kenyan paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey in his lecture Monday afternoon in the Science Center Auditorium.
The lecture, titled “The Sixth Extinction: Patterns of Life and the Future of Mankind,” was the second of this year’s Littleton-Franklin lecture series.
Leakey, who was named one of “TIME” magazine’s 100 greatest minds of the 20th century, spoke to the crowd Monday about how the climate change the earth is facing will affect the planet.
“I think this climate change will bring about the end of the lifestyles we’re accustomed to,” Leakey said. “There will be fundamental differences in how we use resources in the next 30 to 50 years.”
Leakey joked the earth would be lucky if humans were to become extinct, but said he does not think that will happen because of technology, education and other causes.
He said he thinks climate change is still something we, as humans, need to address.
“I don’t think there’s any question if it’s something we should dismiss because we’re tiring of hearing about it,” he said.
The title of Leakey’s lecture comes from the five major extinctions in earth’s history, each of which brought about the extinction of more than 70 percent of life on the planet.
He said species are disappearing rapidly today for a number of reasons, and if people don’t begin taking action to stop the losses, the earth will face a sixth major extinction.
“We don’t need to address this problem as Americans or Kenyans, but as Homo sapiens,” he said.
Leakey suggested several ways in which he thinks people can help conserve the planet.
He said he thinks the world needs to change the way it looks at waste.
“The exploitation of resources is having a direct effect on climate change,” Leaky said. “I have a feeling if we could change the thinking about waste, it could have a significant effect.”
He said Americans have become more comfortable with wasting things.
“What matters is not the difference between a Hybrid or a Ford monster, but whether we’re going to throw it away in a few years because it has a scratch on the hood,” he said.
Leakey also said he thinks the six billion people living on the planet are more than it is able to support. He said he thinks the solution to the problem of overpopulation is education.
“Educated people with confidence in the future usually have smaller families,” Leaky said. “If you put children through school, they have a good life and it costs you money, you will hold it at two or three children, and the population growth rate will come down.”
Leakey also said he is concerned with the state of attempts at conservation such as national parks in the world.
He said the parks have become islands surrounded by human activity, and animals are not able to move in and out.
“In extinction patterns, islands are the first to go, and we have unintentionally put an enormous percentage of the world’s biological activity onto islands,” Leakey said.
Leakey said he thinks people should look into ways to secure species such as tissue freezing and special zoos.
“Otherwise, we’ll have no place to put these species but in books and film,” he said.
He said despite the problems the earth is facing, it now has an advantage it did not have in previous extinctions.
“It’s the first time we have a species who can do something about the problem,” he said.
Leakey has led in many conservation efforts, raising millions of dollars. As director of the Kenya Wildlife Service from 1989 to 1994, he led a movement to end elephant poaching in Africa that nearly eliminated international ivory trade.
Leakey has also written more than 100 books and articles and has been an active Kenyan political leader. James T. Bradley, chair of the lecture series, introduced Leakey.
“I think Dr. Leakey’s accomplishments and honors are enough to be lifetime achievements of several people,” he said.
Bradley said Leakey’s lecture and other lectures in this year’s series honor the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his book, “The Origin of Species by Natural Selection.”
Leakey, who also spoke at Auburn 15 years ago in the Littleton-Franklin lecture series, said he was pleased to be a part of the series.
“I’m one of those odd people who don’t have many heroes, but Charles Darwin is one of mine,” Leaky said. “I’m shamelessly in adoration of him.”
