I do not want to seem like an alarmist here, but there are some very troubling trends in the world right now:

• flooding in Pakistan is responsible for thousands of deaths already;
• torrential rains and resulting landslides have killed tens of thousands in China;
• drought has caused such severe wildfires in Russia that citizens of Moscow are wearing face masks to protect themselves from ashes;
• a record-breaking heat wave has afflicted the East Coast of the US;
• an ice mass four times the size of Manhattan broke off from the Petermann glacier in Greenland recently;
• the Petermann glacier has retreated 13 miles in just 10 years and is putting out more icebergs at an accelerated pace.

According to NASA, 2010 is on track to be the hottest year ever recorded. And the last decade—from 2000 through 2009—was the hottest recorded decade since worldwide record-keeping began more than 100 years ago.

Ironically, there are still people in this country who believe that global warming is a hoax perpetrated by scientists, that the environment is not changing at all, so there is no need to adjust government policies accordingly. What such people are really saying is twofold:

• my current fiscal status is more important than the future of the world, no matter how dire the impact might be on my children or grandchildren;
• if I play ostrich with my head in the ground, global warming will hopefully not affect me in my lifetime, and who gives a damn about future generations anyway?

It doesn’t work that way, folks. The climate is changing at such an accelerate rate that human civilization is in serious jeopardy. The giant reptiles ruled the Earth for 250 millions years. Neanderthals were the dominant species on Earth for 250 thousand years. Humans have only dominated the Earth for fifty thousand years, and already we are in danger of extinction. Sadly, we are taking thousands of other species along with us, which makes us perhaps the most dangerous species ever to live on planet Earth.

It would be tragic for us if we continue to ignore the consequences of our footprint on Earth and die out, as well as the species killed by our footprints, but planet Earth itself will survive, and likely be the better for it in the long run.