Humans and the Enviorment

In the past 150 years humans have been polluting the earth with toxic materials. We have done considerable damage to the world around us. The big question is for how long will we be around. We must remember that on earths time line we only encounter a tiny blip. There are no guarantees that humans will thrive on this planet for the rest of time. Some might say that our end as human beings is near an end. What cant be done to ensure we stay a little longer on this planet? Everyone doing the little things can help conserve the environment and lessen our impact. Turning off the lights when your not using a room, and taking the time to recycle. How far should we take our efforts? It has been suggested that our diet could effect the environment. To produce meat has an effect on the environment, next time stopping by the local burger joint should we indulge in a salad instead of a big fatty burger? It seems that people are much more scared of global warming after witnessing Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. Al Gore cares about the environment, although he flies his own personal private jet which has considerable repercussions on the environment. Should he think about flying couch next time he takes to the air? One thing i wonder is the trend in the past 50 years of humans impacting the environment. I also wonder if we have decreased our impact since global warming has reached a world stage? I hope that efforts are being made to find an alternative to oil. I have heard of such energy source where in one house there would be a bio tank that could fuel the house. How close are we to this energy source being commercialized. Of course these alternate energy sources need to be affordable. Then there is the question of job placement. If we were to abandon oil where would those people work? Would this problem be solved by the creation of new energy sources? As apparent there a lot of questions when it comes to humans and the environment. The underlying truth is that it will require the efforts all peoples in order to live on this planet for a little longer.