An advertisement for a new series asks if this is the beginning of the end. What an interesting question when we see what is going on with global warming.

            Today’s news was forest fires in the Western states, flooding in Omaha, heat waves in the east and west, depressions in the Atlantic that might become hurricanes, and recovery from previous floods in the Eastern states.

            The international news covered the fires in Italy, Greece, and Siberia. There was a brief replay of the recent floods in Germany and North Korea. The international temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere were still extremely high and those in the Southern Hemisphere which is supposedly in winter are barely cool.

            We have known for decades burning fossil fuel was causing the world’s climate to heat up but greed and some inconvenience has prevented stopping the rise. The Republican Party is still trying to obstruct the science from being dispersed by firing scientists and disbanding departments that release the facts. It may be too late but they are protecting industries pumping more CO2 into the air.

            Eighteen of the last twenty years have been the hottest on record. Imagine how hot the next 50 can be. If it is too late to stop the rise then we may be turning Earth into an uninhabitable Venus!

            What will be the dominant species on this planet in a few million years? A few little mammal species survived the last extinction when the dinosaurs lost their position as the top of the heap. The first dominant creatures were aquatic, then reptilian, now mammalian, and then what – insects?

            Why wonder about what will replace us? We are destroying this planet with global warming. If we can’t get it under control in the next few years most animal species won’t exist. Cockroaches have always been the presumed survivor after a nuclear war and they like warm areas.

            If we can’t cut the increase and turn it around, Earth will become superheated like Venus. Venus used to have a climate similar to ours before the volcanic activity put gases into the air. They heated the oceans putting lots of moisture into the air causing more heat to be trapped. Does that sound familiar? Our CO₂ is acting like the volcanic gases and our atmosphere is carrying an increasing amount of moisture. We call Venus’ condition “runaway global warming”. Could we be in the early stages of the same condition?

            The time to act was decades ago when the problem was easier to correct. It now will demand greater and more abrupt changes in our behavior. Are too many people and businesses more concerned with politics and greed than saving all life? Is it already too late for all life to exist in another thousand or so years?