If Earth was an empty sphere, devoid of any life, then climate change wouldn't matter. The periodic bouts of warming and cooling that have occurred over the last few billion years for the most part were played out on an empty stage.
The advent of life changed that in two ways. First, there was now something that we see as having value that was affected by changing climates. The word extinction has meaning only in the context of a life, be it plant or animal. Second, living organisms became a part of the process of climate change by either dampening or accelerating the process.
The current episode of climate change is unique not in the fact that it is happening but in the circumstance that life forms are playing a major role in creating and accelerating the process. While some will deny it, the evidence seems overwhelming that human activity relating to the tremendous burst in economic growth over the last 150 years has lead to a rapid and accelerating rise in average global temperatures largely due to burning fossil fuels.
The consequences of all this human economic activity go beyond just global warming. Population levels are climbing at a rate equally as alarming as global average temperatures. Fossil fuel supplies are declining at an equally rapid rate, forcing the exploitation of ever more difficult to get at sources. This in turn leads to aggravated assault on the environment, be it mountaintop removal or oil spills or pollution.
Anyone who thinks we can just keep going on like this, extravagantly exploiting and despoiling the environment to feed our hunger for the better things in life, is deluded. It isn't fair that those of us lucky enough to get to the banquet first have ruined for everyone else. We had roast beef; everyone else will have to get by on tofu. It is either that or we all go down together.
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