The most recent predictions are that temperatures will rise by 4C and sea levels by 1m by 2100. That's nearly 5 generations from now and our grand children will be grand parents. Can you look back to the beginning of the 20th century and say that all the change is bad? Would anyone 1920 have foreseen where we are now? The truth is that what we envision for 2100 may be too high, too low, or irrelevant.

I have a much more optimistic outlook for mankind than Poirot, and see us here for many more millennia irrespective of what one generation leaves for the next. The green vision of leaving the planet as it is for the next generation is unlikely, climate change or not.

SM,

You may be interested in the following brief overview:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/03/2/l_032_04.html

You may be right - who knows? Man is both a master at adaptation and manipulation - but he is enthrall to his baser instincts as much as his intellectual prowess.....an intelligent species that fails to respect its position in the scheme of things and act accordingly will see its intelligence count for little in the long run.

Interesting article.

I believe that man is the cause of the mass extinction rate, and that this is unlikely to change for a while until the population stabilises.

I do however, believe that man's ingenuity would overcome most adversity.