Natural resources are getting finished at a rate faster than nature can restore, and still we continue to live as if these resources were limitless. The human race is faced with a great risk of extinction, and no amount of faith or willpower can save us from the extinction that threatens our existence. Natural resources such as oil have continued to reduce over the years and have led to the loss of certain species on earth such as dinosaurs, and there are numerous concerns that mankind will face the same fate in the future (Drake). The human race is on the blink of an environmental collapse which we will be unlikely to survive as demonstrated by the characters in the book the zone, in which exceptional characters adopt new ways to survive and yet they are defeated by the zombie apocalypse leading to the extinction of mankind.
Humankind is faced with an imminent danger towards their existence, and no amount of human intervention can save our planet from what is coming our way. In Colson's book 'zone out,' an explicable plague of zombies which targets human beings invade the earth and attack anyone in sight. The systems in the society collapse following this disaster. The few survivors who are left are found in groups and other are on their own. These survivors spend many years evading these walking dead creatures which threaten their existence. Behind the walls of New York, a new form of government is formed which tries to restore a state of normalcy in the society . The new government sets camps for most survivors and after a long time, people are given hope that they will survive the zombie apocalypse. The new army sets off to clear of most of the zombies which are within their proximity. For a moment, it seems as if the human race will survive the zombie apocalypse. A summit is organized in New York which gives the human race for civilization. These hopes are later scattered when the walls collapse and all the hideouts by the survivors are discovered causing the survivors and the new state of order to fall apart. The human race adapts to natural disasters and changes on the planet in an attempt to survive these obstacles, but these strategies are no match for the extinction that threatens the existence of human beings. Marc Spitz and two other characters in the book are turned into soldiers fighting for survival (Ness). Survival forces these characters to learn how to kill the zombies that are a menace to their existence. The characters go about survival by setting up a block which keeps the zombies or the skels away from them. Despite numerous efforts by Marc and his friends, all the hiding places are eventually discovered and the wall behind which they find refuge collapses leaving them vulnerable to the skels (Whitehead). The characters in the book Marc, Katlyn and Gary have the perfect characteristics to deal with the catastrophe, and yet they fail (Duncan). Marc is a B-average, which is a strange facility when compared to the rest of the people. Marc is a mediocre man and it turns out that these traits possessed by the character are the perfect characteristics needed to deal with a zombie apocalypse. Kaitlyn is a natural leader who is elected twice and is a fearless character who is seen wiping the gore on her knife after using it to get rid of the zombies. These characters are exceptional and handle themselves extremely well during the zombie apocalypse, and yet they failed to succeed.
The sixth extinction is first approaching and the survival of the human race against the event is blink. The survival of the human race has been put in question. These extinctions are caused by factors such as climate change, ice age, volcanoes, and the smashing of the space rock on the Gulf of Mexico among other events . Such events have seen life on earth wiped out close to five times already. The level of extinction has doubled over the years, with most species running the risk of becoming extinct before they are even discovered by man. Concerns have been raised as to whether the human race will be part of the sixth extinction. Human beings are however responsible for most of these factors which are likely to lead to the sixth extinction through activities such as global warming. The human species consumes more of the natural resources when compared with other species on earth. The previous five mass extinctions have taken the earth millions of years to recover . Mankind should not expect that in the case of such an event, they will survive. Even if human beings were to survive such an extinction life would be different.
Natural resources which support the existence of mankind are vanishing rapidly putting the survival of the human race at risk. The prices of oil have continued to rise over the years, and yet no action is being taken to deal with this problem. Instead of focusing on the real issue people deny this reality and instead decide to focus on other things such as the increased prices, and the shift the depletion of oil reserves is causing to the stock market . Human beings continue to go on with their routines and are oblivious to the harsh reality that faces them. While the oil reserves continue to deplete, human beings continue to enjoy the numerous luxuries which are brought about by the diminishing oil reserves. Most people are unaware of these facts. The few who are aware assume that the oil reserves will go for many more years since oil extraction has not reached its peak . The reality is that mankind can only hope to extract half of the oil reserves on earth. The world will face a crisis even before the oil reserves deplete.
Natural resources are not being replenished, and alternative sources for these resources are not sufficient to sustain human life. No amount of denial or alternative measures is going to save mankind from the danger of extinction which threatens their existence. The new government makes a substantial amount of effort to return a state of normalcy to the society which they succeed to achieve at least for a while after many years. Life is, however, different for the survivors who are forced to live off camps as refugees without the comfort of their homes. The survivors are forced to become soldiers for their survival. Most of these people still long for the provisions they had in their previous life before the onset of the apocalypse. They still hope for what they used to have before the apocalypse and are nostalgic. Most survivors are tormented by the horrors of the apocalypse and suffer from the Post-Apocalyptic Survivor Syndrome, which causes them to be irrational and unpredictable . Even if the human race were to survive the sixth extinction life would be totally different and only few if any will adapt to these changes.
In conclusion, we continue to lead their daily routines while we ignore the harsh reality that threatens our existence with false hope. Past extinctions which took place on the face of the earth took the planet millions of years to recover. Current trends such as the increasing oil prices signify that natural resources are depleting rapidly, and they are not being replenished. Without resources such as energy, human life will be transformed, and most human beings will not be able to adapt to these changes. Transport, electricity and food production will be a thing of the past, and most people will be forced to find alternative means of survival. Mankind continues to assume that he will survive these changes, but this is far from the reality. Colson clearly demonstrates what is likely to happen in such an event. Mediocrity shown by Marc in the novel is no different from what those who are aware of the imminent danger which faces human beings are doing. Alternatives to these problems will not be enough to sustain human life and eventually human beings will be forced to live in a completely different world if they survive extinction.
Works cited
Drake, Nadia. "Will Humans Survive the Sixth Great Extinction." National Geographic 23 June 2015.
Duncan, Glen. "A Plague of Urban Undead in Lower Manhattan." The New York Times 28 October 2011.
Kaminski, Frank. A review of James Kunstler’s The Long Emergency 10 years later. 16 May 2016. Web. 25 May 2016. <http://www.resilience.org/author-detail/1007083-frank-kaminski>.
Kunstler, James Howard. "The Long Emergency." Rolling Stone Magazine 24 March 2005.
Ness, Patrick. "Zone One by Colson Whitehead- review." The guardian 13 October 2011.
Whitehead, Colson. Zone One. New York: Doubleday, 2011. Web. <http://www.ivampiresbook.com/Other_novels/Zone-One/1.html>.
