One big problem with discussions of climate change is that the facts have become so alarming that it’s tempting to dismiss the mere recitation of them as “alarmist” and “needlessly hyperbolic.”

But what if alarm is entirely warranted? What if the shock of alarm is the only force sufficient to rouse us to action? I’m concerned that we’ve become so jaded that we’re increasingly immune to this sort of shock.

Watch this short video on the uncanny similarity between our current predicament and past mass extinctions (particularly with regard to the melting of methane hydrates) … and decide for yourself whether the video is merely “alarmist” or justifiably alarming: