Moreover, human spoilage of the lush environments that nurtured us is not evidence of any singular ability to imperil all life on Earth. No single species in the past has ever threatened all the others. Any tendency of one kind to overgrow and despoil was kept in check by all the rest. Our evolution has unearthed hoarded organic treasures, such as coal and oil to power cars and heat homes. Wealth in the biosphere ultimately comes from the sun.
Organisms die, populations decline, and species become extinct.
But the biosphere gets richer. Human burning of fossil fuels, for example, is exploited by plant life. Plants incorporate carbon dioxide released from this burning into their bodies. This is not to say that the current industrial mode of human living may not be dangerous or lead to increases in global temperature. In the strange solar economy individuals die, returning their bodily wares to biospheric circulation.