Why care about the environment at all?

When reading this week's questions for ponder, I thought back to when I started to take notice of the environment and my impact on it. I remember being about 10 years old and in my fourth grade class where we were talking about recycling and how important it was in saving the rainforest. Being an observant little girl, I looked around and took note of all the paper around the room: my notebooks, the display boards, the numerous books filling our class library, our tests and quizzes stacked neatly on our teachers desk, etc... As a 10 year old my life was already consumed by paper.

As time passed my realization of the enormous amounts of paper surrounding me, turned into a love for being in the forest. As a teenager I loved hiking, camping, backpacking, and basically anything that allowed me to be in the woods and my love for trees became a life mission. I began to reduce my use of paper, I became a vegetarian, and spent as much time outdoors as possible. The forest became my passion and my cause.

Why the forest? I see the forest as the cradle of life. Trees create the clean air we breath, the shade we sit in, the nutrients for the food we eat, and help sustain global biodiversity. In my mind if trees cease to exist so will life as we know it. The importance of trees crosses every physical and metaphysical boundary, and should be realized by every human. It is not just their practical role that needs to be considered but also their beauty. We need trees, therefore the
needless deforestation occurring globally to feed human consumption needs to be slowed and ultimately stopped.

My contribution is the same as when I was a teenager; reduce my footprint on the forests. As an adult I try to inspire others to do the same and alter their habits in order to ensure the lasting presence of our forests. Even a small change like printing doubled sided can over time make a significant impact our future. In today's world our consumer driven lives have a huge impact on the environment and threaten our very existence. It is time for each person to make personal changes to their behavior and reduce their footprint by making more informed choices.