What is to Be Done?: climate change for beginners

TO REPAIR THE DAMAGE

Intelligence of the human species can be defined with good precision: it is high enough to fatally damage its natural habitat, but too low to repair the damage.

THE ANTHROPOCENE

Welcome to the Anthropocene. It’s a new geological era, so take a good look around. A single species is in charge of the planet, altering its features almost at will. And what more natural than to name this new era after that top-of-the-heap anthropoid, ourselves?

SUCH AN EVOLUTIONARY FEAT

Rome fell when Romans lost their faith in themselves as Romans. That is how socialism fell, as well. And that is how our entire civilization may fall in not so distant future. But can a whole species fall by its individual members losing their faith in themselves as members of the species? I believe a fall of this kind is possible, but I do not believe thehuman species is capable of such an evolutionary feat. (... A species whose members could lose their faith in themselves as members of the species would have to be much more advanced than our species, biologically speaking. Evolutionary dead-ends would have to fall well within the grasp of its members.)