Forget Global Warming. Global 'Overheating' is what is now taking place, and it probably will destroy civilization as we know it by the end of this century. What we incorrectly have been calling 'global warming' is part of a natural cyclic phenomenon that has happened dozens of times during hundreds of thousands of years that modern humans (Homo sapiens) have existed. We've been able to survive and adapt to these natural severe warming and cooling climate changes because they occur slowly and almost imperceptibly - talking about 100,000 years to complete one cycle. Large natural climate shifts are caused by continuous twisting of the orientation of Earth's axis - changes in its axial tilt - and changes in the shape of our elliptical orbit about the sun. Our earlier human ancestors such as Australopithicus, had to deal with hundreds of environmental changes associated with major global warming and cooling cycles that have occurred since humans first evolved almost five million years ago.

At present, our planet is in the latest phase of a natural global warming trend that began 18,000 years ago when the most recent Ice Age ended. The current natural warming phase is expected to last another 2,000 years before leveling off and starting to enter the next cooling phase. Natural global warming's slow rate of rising temperatures allows humans plenty of time to adjust to warmer ocean waters that produce more powerful destructive Katrina-like hurricanes, and to rising sea-levels (from glacial melting) that cause coastal flooding and permanent submergence of land areas dozens of miles inland - and for shifts of major food-growing areas toward the poles. Slow climate-change rates would allow scientists, engineers, politicians, and people to learn to work together willingly, effectively, and hopefully peacefully - to prepare for the sea-changes in environmental conditions that humans will encounter. Two thousand years just might be enough to enable humanity to deal with the daunting problems that natural global warming will bring.

Global Overheating however, is much more serious. It will shorten the time (from two millennia to a few decades) before the really catastrophic changes in living conditions that humans will face are upon us. Rapidly rising temperature will not allow sufficient time to prepare for the long-lasting droughts some areas will experience, or for tremendous increases in heavy prolonged rainfall and extensive flooding that will occur in other parts of the world. Global Overheating is a product of human activities such as: destroying rainforests, and other vital CO2-asborbing vegetation - excessive burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) wood, and even (in primitive regions) huge quantities of cattle dung - all of which produce enormous amounts of carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor and other greenhouse gasses which trap solar heat (infra-red) rays near Earth's surface. Human-induced Global Overheating confronts humans with infinitely greater and probably unresolvable problems that may result in our extinction along with billions of other plant, animal, and micro-organism species that constitute the voluminous panoply of inter-connected life forms living on Earth today, often in symbiotic relationships with each other. Humans can't survive without plants, animals, and decomposing bacteria, but they can certainly do without us!

Thus far, 20th and 21st century humans have not shown that we have the willingness, capability or moral fiber to stop Global Overheating. It is, after all, a product of human ignorance, greed, grubbiness, carelessness, thoughtlessness, vanity and poor judgment. The human animal - vain, unreasonable and selfish, evolved physically and mentally, (but not morally or ethically), from less-capable simian ancestors whose species have already crossed, or are right now teetering on, the brink of extinction.

There are small, important, simple steps or minor changes in lifestyles and habits that we could take to allow or delay the worst aspects of Global Overheating, such as: using dishwashers and clothes-washers and dryers only when a full load has accumulated, -turning off unneeded lights when leaving a room, turning down thermostats and using sweaters by day and blankets by night to remain comfortably warm in winter, by using energy-efficient electric fans instead of air-conditioners (or at least turning up the cooling thermostat a degree or two) in summer, by using energy-efficient lights instead of wasteful incandescent ones. by curtailing all unnecessary driving by carpooling when possible and by combining local shopping trips, and by using energy efficient appliances and lights. Can you think of any others? If millions (billions?) of other individuals were to follow suit, wouldn't there be a slight chance to succeed?