'I hope you are in the minority in your attitude toward the carbon footprint. '

I doubt Hasbeen would have any chance of matching Tim Flannery, Al Gore or Bob Brown with his carbon footprint no matter how hard he tries. Hypocrisy does often go with religion and gw is no different.

A more accurate analogy would be to argue that the NSW farmers should not be using so much water because the SA farmers might need some in twenty years time.

Absurd isn't it?

matching Tim Flannery, Al Gore or Bob Brown .
runner,
Only the wealthy enough can out-do each other with their Carbon footprints. The simple consumer as polluting as he may be is no match to the Jet-setting crowd or the super rich Arabs with their fleets of aircraft & all sorts of other pollution creating toys. What about car racing then ? If you really want to reduce Carbon emission then you have to target those who pollute but because they're so wealthy or powerful they'll never be pulled up.
Are humans needed ? Yes, but only the thinking ones. Those three aforementioned hypocrites are not of that kind.

It's an interesting, if superficially bizarre question. I have to admit, I was surprised to find that Davidf. Posted it; which I guess highlights the dangers of judging or categorising others.
I believe that just as an individual can have a mission -”if they choose to accept it”- the race as a whole could have a purpose, and could arguably be 'needed' -by Earth Based Life (EBL).
Indeed, I believe we have already proven we are up for the task.
To be 'needed' suggests purpose. I would suggest the only purpose EBL has ever exhibited has been to 'Go Forth, and Multiply'. In this sense, amphibians were 'needed' to colonise the land (not wanting to get into the more intricate 'chicken and egg' discussion of which species was first...)
Over the eons there have been any number of pioneering species, of plants, fungi, insects fish and animals.
But so far, only one species has demonstrated the capacity to continue to Go Forth and Multiply, even after this planet is full.
A number of cosmologists, exobiologists and (a possibly even greater number of) sci-fi writers have suggested the colonisation of other planets will begin as it did on this planet, with -engineered- bacteria and micro fauna and flora.
And Humanity will be 'needed' to perform the deed.
It's quite possible, and not I think unprecedented, that if we do not assume this responsibility we will become extinct, and EBL will languish and die on this one lonely rock.

I see you have not yet tweaked it Grim.

We are actually the cockroach's work force. We build their habitat, provide their means of transport for them to spread world wide, & produce the food for most of them.

Once we have helped with their dominance of earth, they will have little use of us, although they may, hopefully, keep us as pets.

With their size they will require much less use of resources for then to spread out through the galaxies, conquering in the sideways manner they use here, as they go.

Perhaps, with luck, they may actually take some of us with them, if they can't find such useful idiots, else where.

So there you are, we are needed, but only for so long.

Actually Has, I would suggest that grasses are a far more likely candidate as the human dominator.
Consider the millions of hectares of forests we've cut down for our favourite grass; wheat, corn, oats, rye, rice...
Billions of gallons of water conserved, redirected, stored...
For centuries we've favoured grasses over all other species, and that's just the edible varieties.
Consider how much time and effort and money your average suburban householder spends tending his beloved lawn.
Could be a little embarrassing, when the aliens land and ask: “take me to your leader”...