I think unless we start blowing up Earth with nuclear weapons on purpose, it will be fine.
If humans are gone today, the CO2 levels will go back to normal pretty quickly with plenty of animals surviving all over the place.
What we care about is us, humans. When we say "save the planet", what we mean is "save the ecosystem that's letting us live here, and enjoy that life". If we break things and die as a result, sure, something else will live. But we don't care about that something else, we care about us.
It's a stupid shorthand, but for some reason people appreciate the fake humility of saying it's about Earth, not about us.
I'm so tired of hearing this empty phrase being used. Sure it was fun as a punchline but move along already. It's such a derailment of the discussion. It doesn't state what we mean by "earth" - is it the rock, the ecosystem, life itself? And it implies that the "earth" that is fine is the one that we actually should care about. I have no idea, because the way it's used is not really falsifiable and it's not really anything but a rhetorical trick.
Regardless, when I say Earth, I mean the rock and likely ecosystems that currently exist and might develop on it. I think these things cannot be easily separated that's why Earth is used.
Well if that's part of "Earth" then "Earth will be fine" is a lie.
But dinosaurs clearly are not.
> I think unless we start blowing up Earth with nuclear weapons on purpose, it will be fine.
What you think is not so important. What the worlds scientists specialising in that field think is important. If you feel that short of nuclear global destruction our impact is negligible then that contradicts just about all peer reviewed research.
> If humans are gone today, the CO2 levels will go back to normal pretty quickly with plenty of animals surviving all over the place.
That does not align with my understanding of the word 'fine', but seems to imply a rather apocalyptic ending for the human race, something that we might do better to avoid.
"Meh, dinosaurs have come and gone. The Earth will be fine."
"...To combat this, we need budget. Starting this year, your tax will increase by five percent."
"Murder! Fire! Revolution! How dare you!"
...happens all the time.
If we go, all vertebrates go too. At least all cat and bigger sized.
Life will survive, but I would not call if "fine". Is it still fine if it's only microscopic life? When it stops being fine?