Genius! I have actually heard something along those lines before.
Yeah, I've heard that (and thought it) before, too.
It's interesting to me that humans both (a) have such a profound impact on their surroundings and (b) so profoundly care about it. We are not the only species that impacts the global environment. For example, trees have an enormous impact in that they produce oxygen on a massive scale - one that is great for the current dominant forms of life, but one that is detrimental to countless billions of anaerobic organisms. "Saving the planet" in it's current state is a goal that, in my opinion, we probably will be unable to accomplish. Life on Earth has undergone numerous significant changes brought about by (if current scientific theory is correct) large-scale impacts from meteors. The global impact of humans on the planet pales in comparison to such an event, and it's highly probably that such an event will occur again prior to the complete destruction of the planet - although humans may long be gone before that happens.
In my opinion, one of our largest shortcomings as a species is that we tend to not treat other forms of life with the respect that I believe they deserve. The needless suffering and death of other animals (I haven't yet progressed enough to include plant life in this discussion) pains me. Different people have different thoughts about where to draw the line regarding what is "needless."
Sorry, this didn't fall into the humor of this thread. Back to the cows!
