600 scientists and 620 expert reviewers from 113 countries make up the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC.) The journals they produce are some of the most reviewed scientific literature on Earth. The IPCC has stated there is no doubt that climate change is occurring, and it is more than 95% certain that the actions of human civilization are to blame. This level of probability is unheard of in most scientific research.

The carbon that is causing the greenhouse effect has always been here; until recently it was locked (sequestered) deep underground in vast deposits of fossil fuels or tied up in forests across temperate and tropical areas of the world. We have been burning fossil fuels for the last two centuries, moving that carbon into our atmosphere in incomprehensible amounts. At the same time, humans have nearly deforested 3 of the 5 major continents that had forests to cut, and are still deforesting enough tropical rainforest to cover Delaware almost every week. The use of wood for fuel releases carbon into the air and eliminates one of the Earth’s most effective means of sequestering carbon.

The science is real; there is no doubt. There are 600 million passenger cars on the planet, averaging 10 tons of carbon dioxide a year. An average American power bill produces about 8 tons of CO2 a year. An average cross country flight produces roughly 50 tons of CO2 and there are over 87,000 flights per day in the U.S. alone. It is clear we are producing carbon dioxide faster than the planet can absorb it.

The idea that we can destroy the planet is laughable. It will be here eons after we are gone. But we can make it unlivable, and we will unless we take steps to protect it.