The aliens are coming!

Space aliens, that is. And they are angry about our carbon footprint (I wonder if Al Gore is exempted from their wrath).

Key quote:

It may not rank as the most compelling reason to curb greenhouse gases, but reducing our emissions might just save humanity from a pre-emptive alien attack, scientists claim.

Watching from afar, extraterrestrial beings might view changes in Earth's atmosphere as symptomatic of a civilisation growing out of control – and take drastic action to keep us from becoming a more serious threat, the researchers explain.

This highly speculative scenario is one of several described by a Nasa-affiliated scientist and colleagues at Pennsylvania State University that, while considered unlikely, they say could play out were humans and alien life to make contact at some point in the future.

Perhaps those Penn State scientists have been watching too many movies like The Day The Earth Stood Still. At any rate, someone please remind me again how global warming is science.