You might think this would be a post on the environment, but it is actually about what might be a bigger threat to the extinction of humans. For the first time in history we now have the ability to interfere with evolution.
An article on autism helped me to see this point. The silly article was about whether we should use the word "cure" when talking about autism. The week before a student had presented the idea that the autistic might be the next evolutionary species in the human line (Neanderthal, Homo sapiens sapiens, etc.) Novel idea, particularly from an 18 year old student. I have no opinion on such a question particularly given my lack of expertise on autism. Obviously if we "cure" autism we might very well kill off the future direction of human evolution.
Such an issue is of particular interest to me when I consider morality. After a very good education in meta-ethics, I now think that much of morality should be concerned with "not doing harm to future generations". Plato did not have much to say on genetics or the environment, but these topics look very relevant today.
To think the government might have to legislate on evolution is very scary, especially when one considers that humans are not really built to survive. Cock roaches, alligators and turtles are all very old surviving species. We humans share very few characteristics with these species.