An earth in peril - all hands on deck!

As I walked the streets of a city I know and love recently my heart almost broke into a thousand pieces. Litter was strewn everywhere. There were multiple pockets of burnt grass where litter had been set alight and altogether there was a general malaise and very evident disregard for the environment. We tend to think our individual actions do not contribute to environmental problems. The truth is we have become a society that has ceased to uphold the dignity and immense value of the earth. The situation, while dire, is not without hope. We can turn this ship around.

Five things you can do as a citizen of the earth to help revive a planet on Red Alert!

Number 1: Stop littering. Put your waste in the bin.

Number 2: Take pride in your surroundings and pick up litter where someone else has carelessly thrown it away. Plant flowers and trees and develop a love of all God's creatures such as birds and bees and even spiders!

Number 3: Become an advocate for the environment in your community. Find innovative ways to generate interest and awareness of environmental issues.

Number 4: Safeguard places of environmental heritage around you and visit these places to appreciate the magnitude of the resources that we have been entrusted with on this earth.

Number 5: Start preserving the environment in your own backyard and then take the same values to the community and even to lands farthee afield.

We need to develop a deep respect and reverence for the environment as a precious commodity that can often not be replaced or rejuvenated once destroyed.