These quality online stores sell a large variety of plants and seeds.

Last night I watched the most recent version of the movie “The Day the Earth Stood Still”. I really connected with the message from the alien character when he said this is not your earth. I think what he meant was the earth belongs to all of the Universe, not just to us humans who happen to currently inhabit her. The reason he came to earth was because we've been very poor caretakers of this fragile planet. His plan was to destroy us so that earth would have a chance to survive without our constant abuse. Earth is a rare and unique planet capable of supporting complicated life forms such as us and the many creatures around us. It must be preserved with or without us. He didn't get into the particulars of our transgressions because that would probably be considered preachy, which isn't good for movie box office receipts. People don't like their errors pointed out to them, especially in a movie they paid to watch. Or perhaps it was just a “coincidence” that the movie's theme meshes with our current environmental situation, but then I've always been taught there are no coincidences.

I think we've all heard that old saying “you don't know what you've got until it's gone”. It worries me that this is all too possibly the way things might turn out for us humans. That we won't ever truly wake up and realize what an extraordinarily wonderful home we have here on Earth and that we're taking her completely for granted. We seem to be working under the illusion that there will always be plenty of food, water, comfortable housing, and all of the multitude of creature comforts and gadgets that we've become accustomed to pampering ourselves with. The million dollar question is...will we all wake up in time to make enough changes to reverse our destructive path of bad habits, or will we be arrogantly defiant or oblivious until the very end when it's much too late....there is no more.... the fat lady just sang her last song, so go home people. Oh wait, we can't go home..... we just destroyed home. Yikes, what do we do now?

It's not just one thing that's causing the environmental problems, it's many. As of May 31, 2009, the Earth's population is estimated by the United States Census Bureau to be 6,763,557,000 and growing. That's over 6 and a half BILLION humans and like it or not we must all share this one small planet. We must all eat, use the bathroom, get to work and pursue happiness while, hopefully, leaving as small an environmental foot print as possible. How can we do it?

Too many of us, especially here in the west, needlessly waste energy on a daily basis. For example, I have a neighbor who is a great guy, but he has a very bad habit of leaving his vehicle running while he walks the dog and takes care of other things that should have been done BEFORE he started the engine. It's one of those large gas guzzlers, so you would think logic and pure economics would play into it, but apparently not. Perhaps he doesn't pay for his own gas, so he simply doesn't think about it, or worse, doesn't care. Maybe he's too focused on having a cool air-conditioned cab to crawl into, instead of what's really important.

 I doubt most people would ever think about all that gas they're wasting as it pollutes the air that we all breathe and eats at the ozone that protects all of us from the scorching sun. Multiply that one example of waste by say 1/2 billion similar situations each day and you can easily see that we have a serious problem. Cars idling in line at the multitude of banks and fast food drive-throughs, millions of cars  idling on the freeways of the world during rush hour traffic jams, many with only one occupant,  cars idling while waiting to turn left against traffic, cars idling in the grocery parking lot while waiting for a wife or friend.

These are just a few examples of the actual waste of gas, much of which can be avoided with some planning and thoughtfulness. According to Marilyn vos Savant, who is listed in Guinness Book of World Records because of her high IQ, it takes less fuel to re-start your car than it wastes by leaving it running while in line at the bank. Just think of how much waste and pollution can be avoided collectively if everyone followed this one small simple bit of advice. Turn your engine off when you're not moving.

China, our most populated country on earth, has a growing economy as they build new factories and the farmers and other rural dwellers are moving to the cities in large numbers to fill the new jobs. This is creating a brand new middle class of people who formerly walked or rode bicycles as transportation, but now they too want to be like us in the west, with our gas guzzling cars and energy consuming appliances. Like our own power sources here in the US, most of that electric energy comes from coal burning power plants that further pollute the skies. Just think about how many new cars will be added in China to our current abundance of pollution machines running around the streets of the world. Where will it all end? When will we demand better options? When will we start voluntarily conserving?

At the end of the movie, the alien was convinced that we humans could change our ways, because we are caring creatures, and not just the war mongering people we appear to be. We could really use an alien with his giant metal robot to get our attention right now, but I don't think it will happen. We have only ourselves and our good common sense to get us on the right track to a healthy future for Earth and for us. The road to change comes with the first step. Each of us must start right now doing what we can, even if it's just one small thing. Let's not leave it to the other guys to lead the way. Collectively 6 ½ billion people can make a big difference. Take that first step today. You'll be glad you did.