The world around us needs to regain its beautiful bounty. We all must each do our part to help her heal herself. Every single small act of eco-care can make the world that much cleaner and the future that much greener.

Replacing one regular light bulb with high efficiency alternatives can save countless hours of energy. For every trip you take on foot or on bike, you save that tank of gas.

Reducing our dependence on foreign oil is not only a political and economic must, it is a major ecological concern as well. We must all do our parts now so that our future can be as green as possible. If we do not, we might not have a planet to worry about in the first place.

Our children can be taught from their infancy to respect the environment and to perform the small tasks that make for ecological living. Teaching them to recycle from the time they can stand embeds the concept into their minds and it becomes second nature rather than a time consuming chore. Lead them by example. Do not grumble about this simple and necessary chore. Make sure that your children grow up hearing reduce, reuse and recycle frequently and that they adhere to those concepts.

We all must urge our political leaders to press for newer and better technologies to promote the green future we all should be hoping for. New fuels to power our homes and our vehicles continue to be found, developed and improved upon. Concepts that were only remote dreams only a few years ago are now becoming reality. New ways of storing solar, wind and other energies for future use are being developed by scientists the world over. We are finding new ways to look at the world around us, a greener way.

Think of all the ways that we can reduce the strain we each put on our natural resources each and every single day. We can all do a little bit and it will add up. Little things like: turning off the water when we brush our teeth. Turning off lights when we leave the room and using high efficiency light bulbs in every lamp in the house.

We can install low flow toilets and reduce the time we spend in our shower. We can insist on less packaging in the products that we buy and buy as many locally grown or made items as possible. We can walk or bike instead of drive. We can take items to be recycled. We can make do with less. Everything we do now can create a greener future.