Humans are going to extinctify themselves in the near future; that much is a fact, not a speculation. It isn’t a matter of if, but when. The only question is whether they take every other life form with them on their one-way train to extinction.

That nature has been willing to part with a great many incredible species of animals over the years leaves me no doubt that Homo sapiens will eventually join the long list of beings we bring down with us.

But people need to take a good, hard look in the mirror before we call other species “invasive”—all humans are invasive to this hemisphere, including those said to be “indigenous.” And there’s nothing noble about setting fires and driving herds off cliffs. That’s a part of our past which we’d understandably want to forget. (It was the beginning of the sixth mass extinction event—man’s greatest achievement, and now his legacy.) Yet to acknowledge human nature is to understand why the Earth has grown tired of us as a species.

The thought that, thanks to anthropogenic climate change, our planet may become uninhabitable for humanity within our lifetimes may seem unfair unless you stop to think how humans have taken advantage of and mistreated Mother Earth when she’s so generous.

In the end, whether she will forgive us or resent us for all time is perhaps debatable.