Save Earth? That's Pretty Funny

I understand where conservationists and environmentalists are coming from, but I've always found the idea of "we need to save the Earth" to be pretty hilarious not to mention arrogant.

Earth doesn't need US. We need IT.

There is only a tiny range of temperatures that humans can reasonably live within. We need a lot of water every day and the exact combination of gases to breathe. We're very high maintenance.

Earth on the other hand, has existed for billions of years and supported all kinds of life, without any help from humans. It will "survive" just fine whether we're here or not.

When people talk about taking care of the Earth, they really mean we need to preserve the delicate balance of conditions that allow us, the human race, to survive on this planet. We have only been alive as a species for a tiny fraction of Earth's history. See that teeny tiny sliver of time right at the end of Earth's historical timeline? Yeah that's us.

Geology is a fascinating field of study. We can look into Earth's past and "see" many of the lifeforms that have lived and died along the way. We live in a moment when a consensus of scientists from different fields have warned us that we are putting ourselves in danger of extinction. We are influencing the atmospheric conditions on Earth - and not in a good way. But with a lot of effort and coordination, we can start to help ourselves.