HONG KONG — The global financial crisis that has sent economies teetering from recession toward slump is preoccupying politicians and families worldwide, who see their livelihoods being snatched away by the consequences of the inventive greed of financial whiz kids.

But a worse crisis lies waiting — involving the very future health and life of Earth. How long before human beings go the way of the dinosaurs?

Politicians and climate experts will meet in Poland's 1,200-year-old city of Poznan at the start of December, hoping to negotiate a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol and to bring growing carbon-dioxide emissions under control to prevent further global warming.