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Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed.'
-- Mahatma Gandhi

Earth has given us adequate resources, however man has overused and misused them. We no longer have clean air to breathe and pure water to drink. The habitats on the earth are threatened due to over exploitation. As a result many animal and plant species have been driven to extinction. As human population increases forests are cleared for land, for building houses and industries. Even way back in 1963 John F. Kennedy had rightly observed:-

'The supreme reality of our time is' the vulnerability of our planet'

The stark message of his words is even more relevant today. Over the years many causes have contributed towards reducing our planet to such a sorry state; among them are - urbanization, overpopulation, industrialization and technological advancements. Human activities such as burning fossil fuels and deforestation have disturbed the natural balance on the earth. We have polluted water bodies by dumping toxic chemical waste into rivers, lakes and oceans. Besides destroying wildlife habitats, we are poisoning animals and their food with pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals. Electrical power plants that burn coal or oil release pollutants in the atmosphere. Air pollution is also caused from the exhaust gases of vehicles-, which are increasing in number day by day.

'The Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth'

It's time for all socially responsible individuals to step forward and take action in order to avert a total environmental catastrophe. Let's join hands TODAY to protect our Planet and safeguard our future. As a student and an aware, responsible member of society there are several ways in which we can contribute towards saving the environment.
We should follow the three Rs ' Recycle, Reduce and Reuse and ensure that our family and friends do the same. We should adopt simple everyday measures to conserve our environment and protect the Earth's precious habitats and wildlife. We should follow them at home as well as outside.

We should keep our neighbourhood green. We should never pluck flowers to decorate our homes or collect insects like butterflies. Whenever we go for a picnic we should never leave our litter and rubbish in public parks. We must carry our litter home and put it in the waste paper bin. We should always carry our own reusable canvas or cloth bag when shopping instead of accepting paper or plastic bags from shops. For going to nearby destinations we should cycle or walk down instead of using a car or bus.

We should not waste paper. In order to save trees we must write on both sides of the paper. We should turn off the tap while brushing our teeth and never leave the tap running. We must ensure that we do not use a hosepipe to wash the car and use only half a bucket to clean the car. We should give away our old clothes and toys to a home for poor children. At home we must stop using paper napkins and use cloth napkins instead. Old t-shirts can be used as rags for cleaning and dusting. We should buy and consume more fruits and vegetables and less of meat products. At home we must use rechargeable batteries to power electronic items. We should ensure that all normal light bulbs are replaced with energy efficient fluorescent bulbs. On a large scale it means fewer fossil fuels are burnt and global warming will slow down. We should not switch on air conditioners to full power as it wastes electricity. We must constantly try to know more about the environment we live in from newspapers, books and websites.

'Nature provides a free lunch, but only if we control our appetites.'
Nature is beautiful and teeming with plentiful resources. However, man's greed has led to depletion of natural reserves. Mother Earth, which feeds us and provides us with our home, is under peril. Unless all of us get together and take steps on a war footing the Earth will lose its capacity to hold us all. We must protect our planet to protect ourselves. Otherwise the day is not far when man himself may become an endangered species.
'We inherited the Earth from our forefathers. Let us not leave it contaminated for our children and grandchildren'.'