There is an old parable about a frog being cooked in a pot. According to the story, if the frog is placed in hot water, it will immediately try to jump out. However, if it is placed in water that is at room temperature and the water slowly heated, the frog will not notice the temperature change until it is too late and will be cooked alive.  Fortunately for the frog, this story is not true in reality; as the water temperature rises when it gets to the point where the temperature is no longer comfortable, the frog will jump out of the pot.

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Unfortunately for humanity, this parable seems to hold true. Most people focus their future plans on a very short-term horizon and ignore the long-term consequences of their actions; a clear definition of selfishness and immaturity.  Nature, however, does not operate on human time scales nor on human expectations – compared to a human life span things happen vastly slower and are extremely difficult to change course.

 

The earth is a big place, but even so, with humanity’s large numbers – over 8 billion souls at last count - and voracious appetite for resources to support that population.  When coupled with the powerful technologies now available, like it or not, humanity is dramatically changing the environment from which it evolved and is still dependent upon. These technologies, while incredibly useful, also make our civilization vulnerable in ways that we have never seen before.

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The changes may not be so obvious to many, but having lived as long as I have, I now notice some things that are very concerning to me. In winter, the average snowfall is now much lower than it used to be.  Rainfall is not as consistent as it used to be, the droughts in many places are now much more frequent and severe than they were when I was a young man, the average year-round temperature is clearly rising, and the rainfall when it does come is usually more severe and commonly results in flooding. (Crop destroying heat, droughts and flooding are the some of the major reasons that grocery prices are so high now.) Hurricanes and tornadoes are now more frequent and more destructive than in times past; all these phenomena that were very rare when I was much younger.

 

Nature does not pay attention to talking points by politicians or vested business interests (like big Oil).  Environmental changes have not gone unnoticed by many businesses whose primary product is to provide insurance for property owners that want protection for their assets. This is one of the  major reasons for the recent skyrocketing increases in the cost of property insurance (if you can even get it) or the additional requirement for adding flood insurance in many areas.

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Other common areas of likely increased expenses include:

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• Property damage and repairs: Climate disasters cause physical damage to homes, leading to costly repairs or increased insurance premiums.

• Energy costs: Rising temperatures increase reliance on air conditioning, pushing up utility bills, while climate disruptions can raise energy prices through supply interruptions.

• Food and transportation: Severe weather events can disrupt supply chains, raising prices for food and gasoline, adding to family expenses. Have you checked your grocery bill lately?

• Healthcare: Increased prevalence of climate-induced health issues elevates out-of-pocket medical costs.​​

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These are just additional indications of what intuitively we all know. Add them to crop destroying excessive heat, droughts or floods, devastating forest fires, declining glaciers that the supply the waters for many of the world’s rivers, melting sea ice, destruction of coral reefs that are major fish nurseries in the world’s oceans, spreading of diseases or pestilence that in the past were only common in tropical climates, rising sea levels and the destruction they imply and you start to get a picture of the global impact.  The latest United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization (WMO) report on global greenhouse gas emissions, looks extremely bleak with the concentration of CO2 spiking by 3.5 ppm between 2023 and 2024, the biggest increase since measurements began way back in 1957.

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All of these things are not something that can be left for some future generation to solve, they are happening now. Worse yet they all are interacting in ways that create positive feedback loops that accelerate the change in many related areas.  Unfortunately, many of those public and private institutions with vested interests are rolling back many initiatives, engage in disinformation campaigns, and are even actively pushing us in the wrong direction.

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Humanity has already reached the first climate tipping point, as evidenced by the widespread die-off and bleaching of warm-water coral reefs worldwide, marking irreversible ecosystem decline linked to global temperature increases. One such milestone, reported in October 2025, reflects a new climate reality where crossing the 1.5°C global warming threshold is imminent—likely within the next 3-5 years—and risks triggering multiple additional tipping points.

 

Early indications of approaching tipping points besides the massive coral reef mortality, include the irreversible melting of polar ice sheets, the dieback of the Amazon rainforest, and collapse of ocean currents which help steer global weather patterns. These changes will result in accelerated and irreversible impacts such as rising seas (These  U.S. cities – Miami Beach, Atlantic City, Charleston, Norfolk and New Orleans – will be experience regular flooding events by 2030), more frequent extreme weather, and increasing strains on food and water supplies.

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Urgent action to reduce emissions and promote green technologies is critical to avoiding further catastrophic tipping points and mitigating these profound changes to Earth's climate systems.  We must never forget that, as Chief Seattle, so wisely articulated over 150 years ago, “The Earth does not belong to us: We belong to  the Earth”. For the sake of all younger generations now living as well as our yet unborn progeny, and all living creatures on the earth, we all must take responsibility and do our part to reverse this potential extinction level predicament that we have gotten ourselves into. 

 

To find out how you can contribute to the resolution of this situation visit the “Resources Section" of our website  and scroll down to the section called “Ecosystems”.