checks and balances in our chemical world...

who's in charge here?... because i don't think humans are keeping up to their side of the agreement. the intrinsic state of the earth and its atmosphere is the supreme example of yin and yang. its "built in" creation and destruction mechanisms utilize and transform every single atom and subsequent molecules, organisms, and systems constantly and thoroughly-- never leaving waste behind that will not in turn be the catalyst for new life and development. so that even before humans there were catastrophic events that left destruction and sometimes extinction in their wake... but these were (and are) earth's way of integrating environmental changes and evolutionary needs..... keeping the balance.
now, it is impossible to distiguish what changes the earth is making in response to the "normal' ebb and flow of life on earth and the havoc that human beings are throwing up all over the place. unlike any other being on earth we seem to think that a symbiotic relationship isn't necessary--- that somehow we can just run the show when we were only introduced to the performance less than 200,000 years ago, well over 4 billion years after the planet earth made her debut.
clearly, we need to check ourselves. this lovely earth is trying so hard to maintain an equilibrium, to take responsibility for our careless actions. she does it out of love, but when are we going to drain her of her last capability to nurture us? if we keep taking from our mother she will have nothing left to give us.