It doesn't matter who is "right" in the argument (maybe we should make that "arguments") about global warming. In the end, the Earth will decide. And once the Earth decides, the petty squabbling of humans won't much matter.

If you think this means I subscribe to the notion that human activity can't change the reality of life on this planet, you're wrong. There would be no people today if single-celled organisms didn't spend the first three billion years (give or take) of life on Earth slowly changing the composition of our atmosphere. Life inescapably alters the planet. It's just that the planet is infinitely more powerful than any form of life that inhabits its surface.

Will we have a Day After Tomorrow moment, some sort of massive cataclysm? Or will we simply evolve to fit our ever-changing surroundings? Or will our surroundings change too quickly for people to adjust?

Yes. One of those, certainly. Maybe all three, by the time the Earth has its way with us.

Look at the Iceland volcano. All that ash has virtually shut down air transportation in Europe. Remember what life was like in the U.S. post-9/11? Imagine that, except with more than two times as many people. What a mess. And all it took was one volcano. The Earth can do so much more than that.

One volcano can shut down air travel in Europe. For days. That's impressive.

I remember the Mt. St. Helens eruption. The ash fell on Kansas City a few days later. I thought it smelled (and tasted) like the fried green peppers we got with our stir fry. This light dusting of ash (much less than a day's worth of tree pollen during high season) was still startling. It seemed almost miraculous. The earth spit something out a couple thousand miles away, and it landed on our car. That's cool.

The Earth is hardly fragile. We cannot destroy it. All we can do is make the Earth uninhabitable for human beings. I don't think we're close to that--yet--but we ought to pay attention. We've got enough problems dealing with run-of-the-mill natural disasters: earthquakes, tropical storms, fires, blizzards and volcano eruptions. We shouldn't make it harder for people to live on this planet. We should try to make our existence easier.

So in the spirit of Earth Days to come, take a moment to do something nice for the planet. Plant a tree. Or a bush. Or a single plant. Drive a little less. Hang your laundry instead of using the dryer. Use less electricity in general.

Using less energy means we don't have to rip up quite so many mountains to pry out the coal, for starters. I think everyone can agree that more mountains and less strip pits are a good thing.

I'm not religious, but it's not hard to recognize things that are greater than me. Our planet is one. We don't need to worship it, but we ought to do our damnedest to take care of it. I think that's the point of Earth Day.

And, if you like, take a moment to ponder the plume of ash that is covering a good part of Europe. It's almost incomprehensible in its size and scope. And yet there it is, and we get to deal with it.

The same goes for the Earth. It's here, and it is what it is. And we get to deal with it. The sooner we accept that fact, the more likely it is that humanity will stick around for a while.

Jon Worley thinks lava is cool.