We're entering the Earth's sixth era of extinction -- and it's the first time humans are to blame. CNN introduces you to the key species and people who are trying to prevent them from vanishing.

Imagine aliens land on Earth a million years from now. What will these curious searchers find of us? They will find what geologists, scientists, and other experts are increasingly calling the Anthropocene, or new age of mankind. David Biello explains how the impacts that humans have made have become so pervasive, profound, and permanent that some geologists believe we merit our own epoch.

French President Emmanuel Macron again on Wednesday (4-26-18) brought up the double-C word — climate change —  during an address to Congress, taking aim at the Trump agenda and the U.S. president's decision to pull out of the Paris climate accord. "By polluting the oceans, not mitigating CO2 emissions and destroying our biodiversity we are killing our planet," he said during an address to Congress. "Let us face it, there is no planet B.”

Bradley Whitford talks to Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse about what makes climate change a partisan issue.About Years of Living Dangerously: In this groundbreaking event series, celebrity correspondents bring us stories on those affected by, and seeking solutions to, climate change - from locations shockingly close to home. Covering issues like severe hurricanes, droughts, and the increasing extinction rate of wildlife, it’s a gritty look at not only how we have impacted our planet, but also how we can save it for future generations.

This video takes a look at how Miami and Atlantic City are tackling climate change, and the challenges they face under a skeptical Trump administration that plans to cut funding for environmental programs.

In March 2015, Robert Kenner, the Director of "Food Inc" and other acclaimed documentaries, will debut his newest, "Merchants of Doubt". Based on the book by Naomi Oreskes and Eric Conway, the film follows the development of sophisticated methods for distorting science, used by the Tobacco industry to hide the poisonous nature of their products, and adapted by the Fossil Fuel industry to distort the science around climate change.

Rolls Royce, Airbus and Siemens Develop Hybrid Plane to change planes carrying passengers overseas. They want to test a hybrid electric plane by 2020 and begin commercial flights by 2025.

Representing the battery breakthrough that is ready to commercialize and promises much more battery capacity for our smartphones and electric vehicles and extremely fast charging. So, the price of electric vehicles will be very close and even lower than conventional gasoline-powered vehicles very soon to provide a clean and quiet future.

With ground transportation sector already transitioning to electric powered drive systems, the technology progress has also been astonishing in the next frontier for a global clean energy economy applied to transportation: electric flight.

John Zahurancik, Fluence chief operating officer, Micheal Austin, BYD vice president of the Americas, and Bloomberg New Energy Finance's Logan Goldie-Scot weigh in on the bright future for batteries. They speak with Bloomberg's Emily Chang on "Bloomberg Technology."

Kauai Island’s KIUC electric utility cooperative’s transition to Solar+Wind+ Batteries holds the promise of greater reliability, lower operating costs, and cheaper clean energy for consumers. KIUC also represents Hawaii’s first island community on its way to 100% power self-sufficiency, with the added community bonus of producing Zero emissions and pollutants going into the local environment from power plants.

Byron Washom, director of Strategic Energy Initiatives at the University of California, San Diego says microgrids and distributed energy generation provides a number of benefits.

Renewable energy sources count on the fact that there will always be water, wind, waves, and sunshine to gather energy. Learn what kinds of renewable energy technologies are out there, and how we can store the energy they produce.

Renewable energy is gaining steam in the oil-thirsty U.S. market, but green tech has hurdles to clear before it can take a bigger slice of the pie.

In this intimate talk filmed at TED's offices, energy innovator Amory Lovins shows how to get the US off oil and coal by 2050, $5 trillion cheaper, with no Act of Congress, led by business for profit. The key is integrating all four energy-using sectors—and four kinds of innovation.

Every year, the world uses 35 billion barrels of oil. This massive scale of fossil fuel dependence pollutes the earth, and it won’t last forever. On the other hand, we have abundant sun, water and wind, which are all renewable energy sources. So why don’t we exchange our fossil fuel dependence for an existence based only on renewables? Federico Rosei and Renzo Rosei describe the challenges. Lesson by Federico Rosei and Renzo Rosei, directed by Giulia Martinelli.

Once in a generation comes a leader like no other

When it comes to the global threat to the earth's ecosystems and its inhabitants, including humans, today's Climate Crisis can no longer be denied or ignored.  No one makes the case better for global and immediate action than Greta Thunberg.Greta Thunberg (16 years old) sailed to New York in her father's emissions-free sail boat to give her Climate speech before the UN, September 2019. She was widely quoted and highly edited in the media, and her short message to the entire UN assembly was, in a word, powerful.But it was Greta's previous presentation at R20 World Summit earlier the same year that told of a more complex and complete truth-telling of today's Climate Crisis.   In clear-eyed and nonsense way, Greta left global leaders standing on their feet applauding.  As time runs out -- her message to world leaders is clear enough, pick your Climate action priorities, but act now!

On April 3, 1980, Walter Cronkite tossed to a news piece from CBS veteran Nelson Benton.  Thirty-five years ago, for two and half minutes – an eternity even then by TV news standards and a near-impossibility today – a broadcast anchored by The Most Trusted Man in America tried to warn us about Global Warming (aka climate change).Actually, “climate change” wasn’t mentioned in Benton’s piece, but CO2, “global warming” and the “Greenhouse Effect” were.”Scientists,” intoned Benton, “and a few politicians are beginning to worry.”The story features Senator Paul Tsongas at a Senate hearing, reciting a list of cities that could someday be under water.  Scientist Gordon MacDonald of the non-profit Mitre Corp. predicts a summertime temperature hike of 16° F.Benton quotes another unnamed scientist’s reference to the book of Genesis:  “Noah knew trouble was coming, and he prepared for it.”Despite thirty-five years of accumulating evidence, national TV news can’t much be bothered with covering it.  CNN boss Jeff Zucker candidly said last year that climate change “deserves more attention,” but there’s “a tremendous lack of interest on the audience’s part.”

Here's what vox.com says about climate change and hurricanes.Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines.

Scientists overwhelmingly agree that our climate is changing, Earth is getting warmer, sea levels are rising, and it's primarily because of humans putting lots of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Yet 4 in 10 Americans aren't convinced Here's what psychologists and sociologists have to say about why some people don't believe in climate science.

The Arctic is in the throes of what sea-ice scientist Peter Wadhams called a “death spiral.” As the region’s once abundant ice melts, giving way to a less reflective surface, the Arctic heats up faster — now at a rate that is double the rest of the planet.

Polar meltdown and the polar jet stream connection -- a river of wind that travels around the Northern hemisphere.

The air in the north wants to flow to the south, where the layer of air is hotter and thicker (hot air expands). The now-warmer Arctic makes it so there’s less of a pressure difference, so what once was a mountain in the sky becomes a gentle hill.  Like a river moving down a soft incline, the jet stream moves more slowly and more erratically.In the United States, these changes in the jet stream are linked to a persistent “ridge” — like a hump in the sky. This causes weather patterns to linger, “perpetuating drought, heatwaves, and extensive wildfires across much of western North America,” according to the report.This phenomenon, according to the NOAA report, brought a “parade of destructive nor’easters along the eastern seaboard” in the winters of 2013-14 and 2017-18. Most notably, it led to what has been dubbed the “bomb cyclone,” an intense blizzard along the East Coast in January 2018.The same phenomenon is also responsible for so-called "Atmospheric Blocking" which produces all kind of severe weather, including the slower, more intense hurricanes we’ve seen of late. Harvey and Florence, which hovered over the mainland SE coast for days and dumped trillions of gallons of water, were dangerously stuck in place thanks to a “block.”

Greenland has always been known for its glaciers. Currently the glaciers in Greenland are in trouble and are melting unprecedentedly fast. aerial footage as well as research experiments clearly show that the ice is disappearing far too quickly to be any sort of normal climatic change.

French President Emmanuel Macron again on Wednesday (4-26-18) brought up the double-C word — climate change —  during an address to Congress, taking aim at the Trump agenda and the U.S. president's decision to pull out of the Paris climate accord. "By polluting the oceans, not mitigating CO2 emissions and destroying our biodiversity we are killing our planet," he said during an address to Congress. "Let us face it, there is no planet B.”

As the global climate changes, extreme weather events are proving more devastating and expensive. How can affected countries and communities mitigate risk and build long-term resilience?

The rate of climate change clearly has gone beyond linear, as indicated by the presence of myriad self-reinforcing feedback loops, and now threatens our species with extinction in the near term. Anthropologist Louise Leakey ponders our near-term demise in her 5 July 2013 assessment at Huffington Post. In the face of near-term human extinction, most Americans view the threat as distant and irrelevant, as illustrated by a 22 April 2013 article in the Washington Post based on poll results that echo the long-held sentiment that elected officials should be focused on the industrial economy, not faraway minor nuisances such as climate change.

On September 30, 2013, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis, which forms a part of the Fifth Climate Assessment Report or AR 5. Lead Authors of the report, who are faculty at the University of Hawaii briefed the press, faculty and students.