I stumbled upon a fascinating article on the Science Daily website this afternoon entitled: What We Can Learn From The Biggest Extinction In The History Of Earth

Here is a snippet:

Science Daily — Approximately 250 million years ago, vast numbers of species disappeared from Earth. This mass-extinction event may hold clues to current global carbon cycle changes, according to Jonathan Payne, assistant professor of geological and environmental sciences. Payne, a paleobiologist who joined the Stanford faculty in 2005, studies the Permian-Triassic extinction and the following 4 million years of instability in the global carbon cycle.

In the July issue of the Geological Society of America Bulletin, Payne presented evidence that a massive, rapid release of carbon may have triggered this extinction.

"People point to the fossil record as a place where we can learn about how our actions today may affect the future course of evolution," Payne said. "That's certainly true: The deep geologic record provides context for modern events.

It is quite certain that our actions today are affecting our environment not only in the here, and now, but also for generations to come. 250 million years ago there was nothing that could have been done to prevent the extinction of those species, but we can hopefully undo at least some of the damage being done by the human variety today. Food for thought.