Some Geological Realism about Environmentalism

From Keith Humphreys at The Reality-Based Community: 

If humankind succeeds in raising carbon concentrations in the air and the oceans to the point that we kill ourselves off, the planet would not mind a bit. Indeed, if it had an opinion, it would probably be delighted that such a damaging species has gone the way of the Dodo. It may take 10,000 years to undo the atmospheric damage, but that is but a heartbeat to a 4.5 Billion year old planet. Selling environmentalism as a kindness we are doing “Mother Earth” is inaccurate: It’s actually an effort to save our own hide.

Aurora Borealis Over Norway

Today's The Daily Telegraph's website has a gorgeous video of the Northern Lights, taken from a Norwegian island. I then found an even better video on YouTube, which is embedded below, with the perfect accompaniment of Beethoven's "Moonlight" sonata.