By Richard M. Thompson

The planet we live on is nothing more than a collection of rocks, dirt, water and air in the most simplistic definition. The Earth, as we call our home, travels through space rotating on its axis once a day at a speed of approximately 1038 miles per hour at any spot on the equator. In addition to the rotational speed of the earth spinning on its axis, the earth also is speeding about 66,660 miles per hour in its revolution around the sun once every 365 days. Because of certain laws of physics, we do not even realize how fast our home is traveling through the universe. There is also a tendency for mankind to forget that he is just a steward of and a passenger on the good ship Earth.

A steward is someone whose main responsibility is to manage the property of the owner. A steward does not own any of the property, though the steward may benefit from any increase in value from their successful management of the property. Likewise, if the steward is careless in managing what was entrusted to him, the owner has the right to impose severe consequences on the steward for failing to fulfill their duties properly.

Our earth supplies us with finite resources; air, water, minerals and other natural resources that we, as a human race, have depended on for our survival for thousands of years. Mankind has been appointed by God to be His steward over His creation, our home, earth. We were not to harm His creation, our home, by spewing toxic chemicals into His rivers, lakes and oceans in the name of commerce. Nor were we to pollute the atmosphere, diminishing the quality of the air we breathe. As stewards of His earth, we are not supposed to do irreparable harm to his creation nor was it His desire that we fight amongst ourselves for the limited resources provided to us because of greed, selfishness and even religion.

We must realize that we cannot continue damaging the only home we have by polluting our only sources of water, air and land. Man’s continued deforestation of our rain forests and destruction of our wetlands causes the natural ecosystems to be out of balance which can have devastating consequences in times of heavy rains and storms.

Earth is the only home we have. Let us begin to heal her by doing whatever is necessary to restore the ecosystems that sustain our lives.

Richard M. Thompson is a freelance writer and can be reached at thmpsnmic@gmail.com.