Save yourself, save the planet

"There is no degree of separation between the health of the environment and the health of us," said Jamie Rappaport Clark to a reporter from the Associated Press.
I was cruising the news reports on google regarding the Defenders of Wildlife, when I came across that quote and thought it was quite profound. Sure it's something I've heard and hopefully we have all heard thousands of times but the way it was worded here just seems to fit. Perhaps its the witty use of the word degrees when talking about environmental health in the age of global warming. Regardless of what it was that makes me like the quote, it also made me realize that even though people in certain crowds have heard this a lot for some people it's probably a first.
I feel a lot of people see environmentalists as out to save the earth and the animals, which I would hope they are, but what people fail to see is that if we don't, we die. I'm not really sure we should sugar coat it anymore, if our planet becomes uninhabitable we don't have anywhere else to go, resources run out and it's very likely to lead to the extinction of the human race. We talk a lot about going green to save the planet but there isn't really any focus on what happens if we don't unless you go out of your way to find it.
I hate to say it but no one gets scared when you tell them carbon levels are still rising. The idea that polar bears could go extinct doesn't scare people. The video footage of a polar bear swimming in the ocean with no ice in sight almost brings me to tears but I don't a lot of people are moved enough to do something.
But can you scare people with something so serious without making them think they are all doomed?
I think you can. Regardless of what we do today and in the future, earth will be here. If we die off as a species and the planet is rendered uninhabitable, it's only a matter of time before conditions will again be favorable for life.
It's a bit arrogant to think we will destroy our planet, when in reality we will destroy ourselves and earth will recover. The earth is timeless compared to the humans presence on its surface.
I feel this point needs to made as frequently as that of the polar bears because some people do not care about the fate of animal but they will listen if something they care about is in danger.
This is just another way to speak someone elses language. Science is difficult to understand to say the least and a lot of people wont spend the time to understand the many concepts of global warming and non-renewable resources. Just like we need to speak buisiness to corporations we need to speak to the every day person in a language they understand and have a vested interest in.