I'll repeat what I just said in response to George Dillard's optimism.

Ask everyone, "What are humans contributing to the future of their places?"

The absolute best our so-called "leaders" have to offer is "we are slowing the rate of acceleration of destruction." We haven't reduced consumptionism at all because that would mean collapse of every financial plan in the world. Every single plan is based on maintaining the belief that we can steal money from and enslave an ever-increasing projection of future people without caring about the dirt under our roads and cities.

Global burning is just one symptom of The Economy of Stupid.