I was visiting my favorite Web site Saturday night, www.democracynow.org , and the host, Amy Goodman, was interviewing Naomi Klein, author of “The Shock Doctrine.”

Klein pointed out that a few years ago polls showed that 70 percent of the people believed that global warming was a reality. Recently, that figure has dropped to 50 percent.

I wonder if that is because of the guy in the coffee shop or the doctor’s office – you know the guy – who, after a snow, blurts out “so much for global warming.” It always gets a few laughs. However, global warming causes it to snow more.

Even if there was no global warming, we should all be alarmed by the dwindling sperm count, the large number of toxins that we all have in our bodies, the high number of autistic births, and the fact that we can’t eat the fish in half the rivers and two-thirds of the lakes.

So, what we have is not a science problem, but an emotional problem: the psychological defense mechanism called denial. But, here is the reality: “If you don’t change course, you will end up where you are heading.”

We are heading, according to the geniuses at MIT, to the end of the planet before the end of the century. And, it may be sooner than that due to what is called the “amplifier” effect.

For example, as the frozen tundra melts, the organic material therein will rot and give off even more greenhouse gasses.

There are other folks, including a friend of mine, who recognize that we are rendering the planet uninhabitable, but have put themselves in god’s hands: If the planet expires, the sooner they will enter into a state of rapture and inhabit eternity (which evidently is not polluted yet), basking in the love of their savior.

Frankly, I don’t want to bank my grandchildren’s future on these musings.

It is interesting to me that when we wanted to build the atomic bomb, we formed “The Manhattan Project” and put all the great physicists to work on it.

We don’t even talk about organizing to save the planet. It seems we can organize for destruction of mankind, but not its survival.

Instead of working on these issues, we are busy bloodying working people and unions while the folks in the financial sector who caused the current economic predicament are walking free. (See Matt Taibbi’s article in the Rolling Stone, “Why hasn’t anyone gone to jail?” And “Inside Job,” the documentary narrated by Matt Damon).

Nelson Strasser lives in Kelseyville, Calif.