One of the joys of being a grandparent is getting to see the world again through the eyes of a child.

Over and over, we hear politicians say they can't spend our tax dollars on environmental protection when the economy is so fragile.

Scientists have been warning about global warming for decades. It's too late to stop it now, but we can lessen its severity and impacts.

The truth is, as most of us know, that global warming is real and humans are major contributors, mainly because we wastefully burn fossil fuels.

The voluntary approach to corporate social responsibility has failed in many cases.

Ultimately we need to recognize that while humans continue to build urban landscapes, we share these spaces with others species.

Water is our most precious resource, but we waste it, just as we waste other resources, including oil and gas.

We have altered the physical, chemical and biological properties of the planet on a geological scale. We have left no part of the globe untouched.

We have much to learn by studying nature and taking the time to tease out its secrets.

What about our children and grandchildren and their children and grandchildren? Do we not want them to live healthy and happy lives?

When I was a kid, being outside was the norm. Rain or shine, our parents would tell us to get out of the house.

As parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts we need to start getting out into nature with the young people in our lives. Families play a key role in getting kids outside.

Humans are an infant species, a mere 150,000 years old. But, armed with a massive brain, we've not only survived, we've used our wits to adapt to and flourish in habitats as varied as deserts, Arctic tundra, tropical rainforests, wetlands and high mountain ranges.

If we have any hope of finding ways for seven billion people to live well on planet with finite resources, we have to learn to use our resources efficiently. Plastic bags are neither efficient nor environmentally friendly.

With the world's human population now at seven billion and growing, and the demand for technology and modern conveniences increasing, we can't control all our negative impacts. But we have to find better ways to live within the limits nature and its cycles impose.

Although it's difficult, if not impossible, to put a dollar value on the numerous services nature provides, leaving them out of economic calculations means they are often ignored.

Beyond reducing individual use, one of our top priorities must be to move from fossil fuels to energy that has fewer detrimental effects on water supplies and fewer environmental impacts overall.

Conserving energy and thus saving money, reducing consumption of unnecessary products and packaging and shifting to a clean-energy economy would likely hurt the bottom line of polluting industries, but would undoubtedly have positive effects for most of us.

Doing all we can to combat climate change comes with numerous benefits, from reducing pollution and associated health care costs to strengthening and diversifying the economy by shifting to renewable energy, among other measures.

From year to year, environmental changes are incremental and often barely register in our lives, but from evolutionary or geological perspectives, what is happening is explosive change.