You're right that the planet doesn't need humans and it bothers me when I hear 'deniers' say that humans can't destroy the planet so it's all okay. I invariably tell them that yes, the planet has existed for more than four billion years, humankind roughly 3.5 million /- and that yes, humans can and have affected the earth since the beginning of civilization. There were once towering trees known as the trees of Lebanon (cedars, I believe) that supposedly were used to build Solomon's Temple, the Temmple of the Hebrews. Those trees no longer exist. The Sahara Desert has steadily grown larger as people but trees along its edges to use for fuel, we're in the sixth age of great extinction, fisheries are being depleted, coral reef are dying, Miami and many coastal cities now use levees to keep the ocean from inundating them, the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic, which keeps most of Europe and the UK at moderate temperatures is slowing, the Artic is now ice-free earlier each year, the atmosphere is warmer than it has been in millions of years, the CO2 level is as high as it has been in three million years, and the increase occurred over the course of more than one thousand years, not one-hundred-fifty years. And either way, can humanity survive under those conditions? Not at all likely. We weren't around back then.

But Doom Sayers still bother me- yes, it's late in the game but that doesn't mean that nothing can be done- "the sky is falling, the sky is falling" attitude does no one any good at all.

If, and that's big IF, unregulated resource extraction of fossil fuels and ending the use of it for energy, which politicians will have to give up Petro-dollar donations to achieve, can force those changes would be critical to the goal, which means Americans and other Western, wealthy nations but especially Americans who are spoiled by cheap energy and the comforts that brings and we all will have to give up some of those unsustainable "shiny, new" things.

But are we ready to accept that or will we wait until a far worse future does it for us is the big question. The American form of capitalism is centered around short-term profits, the future be damned. That attitude must change, or we will all sink together into that "berserk" behavior you mention. I suppose I'm naive, but I don't believe in pointing out that the sky is falling is helpful but believe it's not too late, although many will still suffer. Many are suffering today, and it doesn't seem to bother the rich that billions will suffer as long as they don't lose their money and power and ridiculous playthings.