Are we Icarus?
In Greek mythology, Daedalus is the one who created the labyrinth on Crete which held the Minotaur. For his work — no good deed goes unpunished, after all — he was imprisoned by the king, Minos. So he made wings for himself and his son Icarus, and they escaped the island of Crete.
Big D’s other son Iapyx doesn’t seem to’ve made the trip, which I suppose makes the Icarus legend the mythological forebear of “Home Alone“. 
In the legend, despite his father’s warnings, Icarus got carried away with his newfound ability… and flew too close to the sun, melting the wax on his wings, causing the feathers to fall off, and leading him to fall to his death in the sea.
Whereas Daedalus is an archetypal craftsman / inventor, Icarus seems symbolic of youth — impetuous and unheedful of the warnings of wisdom.
It seems an eerily parallel to where we stand today on global warming. In the developed world, our standards of living have soared to levels inconceivable a century ago. (Jules Verne possibly excepted.) And just as Icarus’ new freedom drunkened him into ignoring Daedalus’ warnings… as societies, we’ve lent deaf ears to our scientists’ escalating alarm.