--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We can't say that when x happens we get a…" description: "\"We can't say that when x happens we get a mass extinction. To the extent we understand mass extinction, one has been caused by glaciation event, one ha..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2cf/elizabeth-kolbert-7570_asteroids_we-can-t-say-that-when-x-happens-we-get_2719716.png" --- # We can't say that when x happens we get a mass extinction… ![“We can't say that when x happens we get a mass extinction. To the extent we understand mass extinction, one has been caused by glaciation event, one has been caused by a massive climate change, and one has been caused by an asteroid. These events turn out to have no precedent.” quote by Elizabeth Kolbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2cf/elizabeth-kolbert-7570_asteroids_we-can-t-say-that-when-x-happens-we-get_2719716.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2cf/elizabeth-kolbert-7570_asteroids_we-can-t-say-that-when-x-happens-we-get_2719716.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2cf/elizabeth-kolbert-7570_asteroids_we-can-t-say-that-when-x-happens-we-get_2719716.png) > “We can't say that when x happens we get a mass extinction. To the extent we understand mass extinction, one has been caused by glaciation event, one has been caused by a massive climate change, and one has been caused by an asteroid. These events turn out to have no precedent.” [Elizabeth Kolbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kolbert/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Mass extinctions are rare, each caused by distinct, unprecedented events, making future predictions uncertain. **In simple terms:** Extinctions are rare and caused by unique events. Key Takeaway Study past events to inform climate action. Themes environment history science uncertainty policy Mood concerned urgent Type educational persuasive When to use this quote - climate policy - educational curricula - public awareness campaigns - risk assessment Key Concepts Earth system science geology anthropogenic impact Questions to Reflect On - What lessons from past extinctions can guide today’s policies? - How can societies prepare for unprecedented environmental changes? A Different Perspective Predicting future extinctions is difficult due to complex interactions. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Asteroids](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/asteroids/) [Caused Glaciation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/caused-glaciation-2872479/) [Change](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/change/) [Climate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/climate/) [Climate change](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/climate-change/) [Events](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/events/) [Extinction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/extinction/) [Extinction Caused](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/extinction-caused-2204888/) [Extinction Extent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/extinction-extent-2872481/) [Glaciation Event](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/glaciation-event-2872480/) [Happens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happens/) [Has beens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/has-beens/) [Mass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mass/) [Mass extinction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mass-extinction/) [Massive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/massive/) [Precedent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/precedent/) [Turns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/turns/) ## Related quotes > [It is so hard for an evolutionary biologist to write about extinction caused by human stupidity. Let me then float an unconventional plea, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/it-is-so-hard-for-an-evolutionary-biologist-to-write-about-extinction/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [Many scientists would argue that we are now in what is called Extinction, and it's caused by this perfect extinction storm: climate change, habitat…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-corwin/many-scientists-would-argue-that-we-are-now-in-what-is-called/) [Jeff Corwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-corwin/) > [“During a mass extinction, vast swathes of the tree are cut short, as if attacked by crazed, axe-wielding madmen.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kolbert/during-a-mass-extinction-vast-swathes-of-the-tree-are-cut-short-as-if/) [Elizabeth Kolbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kolbert/) > [Our planet is currently undergoing a mass extinction of species called the Anthropocene - the Age of Man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louie-psihoyos/our-planet-is-currently-undergoing-a-mass-extinction-of-species/) [Louie Psihoyos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louie-psihoyos/) > [The early Triassic was a period when the planet was recovering from the worst mass extinction it had ever known - that was the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annalee-newitz/the-early-triassic-was-a-period-when-the-planet-was-recovering-from/) [Annalee Newitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annalee-newitz/) > [“The epitaph for humanity does not yet have to include the tragic indictment of having engineered the sixth major mass extinction in earth history.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-brannen/the-epitaph-for-humanity-does-not-yet-have-to-include-the-tragic/) [Peter Brannen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-brannen/) > [What is your personal carrying capacity for grief, rage, despair? We are living in a period of mass extinction. The numbers stand at 200…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lierre-keith/what-is-your-personal-carrying-capacity-for-grief-rage-despair-we-are/) [Lierre Keith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lierre-keith/) > [We are killing life on Earth, we're in the sixth mass extinction event and it's possible that human beings will go extinct. We're in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gail-bradbrook/we-are-killing-life-on-earth-we-re-in-the-sixth-mass-extinction-event/) [Gail Bradbrook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gail-bradbrook/) > [We find ourselves heading fully into an era of mass extinction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/severn-cullis-suzuki/we-find-ourselves-heading-fully-into-an-era-of-mass-extinction/) [Severn Cullis-Suzuki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/severn-cullis-suzuki/) > [If we are to save humanity and the planet from the worst mass extinction of all time, worse even than that at the end…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-lynas/if-we-are-to-save-humanity-and-the-planet-from-the-worst-mass/) [Mark Lynas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-lynas/) > [We torture and kill two billion sentient living beings every week. 10,000 entire species are wiped out every year because of the actions of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-wollen/we-torture-and-kill-two-billion-sentient-living-beings-every-week-10/) [Philip Wollen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-wollen/) > [“So we now know the formula for extinction. Something happens to increase global temperatures five to six degrees, which triggers a melting of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-hartmann/so-we-now-know-the-formula-for-extinction-something-happens-to/) [Thom Hartmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-hartmann/) > [ “It’s\] pretty clear that times of high carbon dioxide—and especially times when carbon dioxide levels rapidly rose—coincided with the mass extinctions,” writes University of… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-brannen/it-s-pretty-clear-that-times-of-high-carbon-dioxide-and-especially/) [Peter Brannen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-brannen/) > [The extinctions ongoing worldwide promise to be at least as great as the mass extinction that occurred at the end of the age of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-o-wilson/the-extinctions-ongoing-worldwide-promise-to-be-at-least-as-great-as/) [E. O. Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-o-wilson/) > [“There was a time in the ancient world - a very long time - in which the central cultural problem must have seemed an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-greenblatt/there-was-a-time-in-the-ancient-world-a-very-long-time-in-which-the/) [Stephen Greenblatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-greenblatt/) ## More by Elizabeth Kolbert > [“The size of the greenhouse forcing is estimated, at this point, to be 2.5 w/m2. A miniature Christmas light gives off about four tenths…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kolbert/the-size-of-the-greenhouse-forcing-is-estimated-at-this-point-to-be-2/) [Elizabeth Kolbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kolbert/) > [You've got to do everything, everything's got to be pointing in the same direction and you've got to really turn this whole economic engine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kolbert/you-ve-got-to-do-everything-everything-s-got-to-be-pointing-in-the/) [Elizabeth Kolbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kolbert/) > [Well in the scientific there is virtually no debate over certain things. For example, that we are changing the world. Humans are changing the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kolbert/well-in-the-scientific-there-is-virtually-no-debate-over-certain/) [Elizabeth Kolbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kolbert/) > [Humans will eventually become extinct. People treat that as a radical thing to say. But the fossil record shows us that everything eventually becomes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kolbert/humans-will-eventually-become-extinct-people-treat-that-as-a-radical/) [Elizabeth Kolbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kolbert/) > [“A sign in the Hall of Biodiversity offers a quote from the Stanford ecologist Paul Ehrlich: IN PUSHING OTHER SPECIES TO EXTINCTION, HUMANITY IS…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kolbert/a-sign-in-the-hall-of-biodiversity-offers-a-quote-from-the-stanford/) [Elizabeth Kolbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kolbert/) > [We have all this Paleolithic art that suggests that our ancestors really venerated animals and that they depended on wild animals to survive -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kolbert/we-have-all-this-paleolithic-art-that-suggests-that-our-ancestors/) [Elizabeth Kolbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kolbert/) > [“Crutzen wrote up his idea in a short essay, “Geology of Mankind,” that ran in Nature. “It seems appropriate to assign the term ‘Anthropocene’…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kolbert/crutzen-wrote-up-his-idea-in-a-short-essay-geology-of-mankind-that/) [Elizabeth Kolbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kolbert/) > [“Modern humans arrived in Europe around forty thousand years ago, and again and again, the archaeological record shows, as soon as they made their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kolbert/modern-humans-arrived-in-europe-around-forty-thousand-years-ago-and/) [Elizabeth Kolbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kolbert/) > [It seems that the Neanderthal DNA that modern Europeans and Asians (and also Native Americans and basically all non-African people) are carrying around is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kolbert/it-seems-that-the-neanderthal-dna-that-modern-europeans-and-asians/) [Elizabeth Kolbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kolbert/) > [What are the Chinese doing, what are we doing, what are - so we need, both the developed world and the developing world, really…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kolbert/what-are-the-chinese-doing-what-are-we-doing-what-are-so-we-need-both/) [Elizabeth Kolbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kolbert/) > [“As the effects of global warming become more and more difficult to ignore, will we react by finally fashioning a global response? Or will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kolbert/as-the-effects-of-global-warming-become-more-and-more-difficult-to/) [Elizabeth Kolbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kolbert/) > [As best as can be determined, the world is now warmer than it has been at any point in the last two millennia, and,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kolbert/as-best-as-can-be-determined-the-world-is-now-warmer-than-it-has-been/) [Elizabeth Kolbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kolbert/) > [I traveled really to amazing places. I went to the Great Barrier Reef, I went to the Amazon, I went to the Andes, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kolbert/i-traveled-really-to-amazing-places-i-went-to-the-great-barrier-reef/) [Elizabeth Kolbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kolbert/) > [“At the Biesbosch nature center, I met up with a water-ministry official named Eelke Turkstra. Turkstra runs a program called Ruimte voor de Rivier…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kolbert/at-the-biesbosch-nature-center-i-met-up-with-a-water-ministry/) [Elizabeth Kolbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kolbert/) > [“Darwin’s familiarity with human-caused extinction is also clear from On the Origin of Species. In one of the many passages in which he heaps…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kolbert/darwin-s-familiarity-with-human-caused-extinction-is-also-clear-from/) [Elizabeth Kolbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kolbert/) [Explore all 90 Elizabeth Kolbert quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kolbert/) ## More Asteroids quotes > [I've said multiple times that the world's first trillionaire is going to be the person who exploits the resources of asteroids, the natural resources…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/i-ve-said-multiple-times-that-the-world-s-first-trillionaire-is-going/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) > [But to carve the Grand Canyon, Earth required millions of years. To excavate Meteor Crater, the universe, using a sixty-thousand-ton asteroid traveling upward of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/but-to-carve-the-grand-canyon-earth-required-millions-of-years-to/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) > [There is enough material in the Kuiper Belt to build anything out there. We could gobble up all the little asteroids, filtering out all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alastair-reynolds/there-is-enough-material-in-the-kuiper-belt-to-build-anything-out/) [Alastair Reynolds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alastair-reynolds/) > [We could not wipe ourselves out with a nuclear war. I do not want so sound too positive. 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Thirty, forty years ago, we were still debating about what the future will be: communist, fascist, capitalist,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/think-about-the-strangeness-of-today-s-situation-thirty-forty-years/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) > [I only hope that we shall not wait to adopt the program until after our astronomers have reported a new and unsuspected asteroid moving…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wernher-von-braun/i-only-hope-that-we-shall-not-wait-to-adopt-the-program-until-after/) [Wernher von Braun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wernher-von-braun/) > [Asteroids are deep-space bodies orbiting the Sun, not the Earth, and traveling to one would mean sending humans into solar orbit for the very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rusty-schweickart/asteroids-are-deep-space-bodies-orbiting-the-sun-not-the-earth-and/) [Rusty Schweickart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rusty-schweickart/) > [Back in the day, I've heard, particularly with the near-Earth asteroids, there were some asteroid hunters that knew the names of every one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carrie-nugent/back-in-the-day-i-ve-heard-particularly-with-the-near-earth-asteroids/) [Carrie Nugent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carrie-nugent/) > [We want to build colonies on the Moon, Mars, the Moons of other planets, and even nearby asteroids. We want to make space tourism…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-goldin/we-want-to-build-colonies-on-the-moon-mars-the-moons-of-other-planets/) [Daniel Goldin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-goldin/) > [Consider that the overwhelming majority of those 40,000 near-Earth asteroids are small enough to fit on the parking lot at the mall. And while…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-shostak/consider-that-the-overwhelming-majority-of-those-40-000-near-earth/) [Seth Shostak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-shostak/) > [Mars could very well be a staging location for the resources of the asteroid belt. 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When they get bigger, things get complicated.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rusty-schweickart/asteroids-have-hit-the-earth-millions-of-times-we-can-see-them-as/) [Rusty Schweickart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rusty-schweickart/) [Browse all 144 Asteroids quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/asteroids/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We can't say that when x happens we get a mass extinction. To the extent we understand mass extinction, one has been caused by glaciation event, one has been caused by a massive climate change, and one has been caused by an asteroid. 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