If those predicting that humanity is heading for extinction (due to climate change) are right, you might think that that’s that. It’s all over for humankind.

Not necessarily. And I don’t mean that we’ll survive by physically colonising some other cosmic rock.

Those of you who have read some of Chris’s blogs will know that he had a much broader definition of ‘humanity’ than homo sapiens currently living on Earth. I have to admit that it took me a while to get that idea. But you may find it a useful one in assimilating what I’ll be saying here.

Whatever happens over the coming decades and years due to global warming (and whatever the causes of that), our species will become extinct at some point.

All things must pass!

So if the increasing number of scientists and pundits are correct and we have only 20 years to put our house in order to avoid catastrophic breakdown in our planet’s eco-systems, what does that mean in practice?

All it means is that we become extinct sooner rather than later. It just means our species’ lifespan has a few less zeros to it. The Mayan civilisation, for example, didn’t last for ever. Why should ours?

Actually, isn’t that we deserve? In this throw away, instant gratification society, wouldn’t it be somehow fitting if it were short-lived?

The dinosaurs died out because they could not adapt to the changing climate. We pride ourselves on being intelligent and adaptable and as we’re constantly being reminded, ‘we have the technology’. Let’s see if we’re really up to the job.

Personally I suspect that only by coming to terms with our impending extinction will we gain enough wisdom to prevent said extinction. What do you think?