Planet Earth is 4,600 million years old.

If we condense this inconceivable time span into an understandable concept, we can liken Earth to a person 46 years of age.

Nothing is known about the first seven years of this person's life and, whilst only scattered information exists about the middle span, we know that only at the age of 42 did Earth begin to flower.

Dinosaurs and great reptiles did not appear until one year ago when the planet was 45. Mammals arrived only eight months ago. In the middle of last week, person-like apes evolved into ape-like persons, and at the weekend the last ice age enveloped the Earth.

Modern humans have been around for four hours. During the last hour they developed agriculture. The industrial revolution began just a minute ago.

In that last minute of this 46 year old's life we have caused the extinction of hundereds of species of animals and plants, and ransacked the planet for fuel and resources. Now we stand like brutish infants, gloating over our meteoric rise to ascendancy, on the brink of the final mass extinction and of effectively destroying the oasis of life in the solar system.

Greepeace information brochure