Global warming? What about me?

Humans are undoubtedly the most invasive species to ever live on Earth. In just a few thousand years they have appropriated more than a third of the landmass, occupying it with cities, fields, pastures, industries and leaving behind quite the disaster: devastated grasslands, razed forests, drained aquifers, toxic waste, chemical pollution, mass extinctions. If they could, the other species they share the Earth with would kick them out with no second thought. Upton Sinclair once wrote: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it." As a matter of fact, if we imagine that all human beings suddenly stopped working, consuming and plundering resources and were deported to a re-education camp in a distant galaxy, it is very likely that the Earth, left to itself, would do just fine: fields and pastures would go back to being grasslands and forests, the air and water would be purified of pollutants, and roads and cities would turn to dust. "The sad truth is, once humans get out of the picture, the outlook starts to get a lot better," argues biologist John Orrock. When we planned this humorous collection we wanted to help raise awareness by ironically inducing our fellow human beings to adopt virtuous behaviors and support politicians whose priority was to "save the planet." Eventually we realized that things are not quite what we thought and that it is actually not the Earth that needs "saving." As George Carlin said, "the planet is fine. The people are fucked."