The recent awareness of the effects of global warming have been hailed as a 'wake up call' for those who still deny the effects of human activity. It is that. However, there is a more profound effect upon those of us 'inside' the environmental movement.

Whether you believe global warming will change the climate tomorrow, a year from now, a century from now, or that it already has begun, it changes how we, as environmentalists, must focus our activities.

Global warming is proof that there is only one eco-system that runs from pole to pole and all the way around the equator. We can no longer divide our efforts among 'preserving' some local eco-sysyem or species. What is the point of saving a species or habitat if climate change will alter it soon? How can we 'save' polar bears if the pack ice is gone?

As I see it, there is now only one issue and only one Earth. We must, as group, protect it all, or lose it all.