Often we get so caught up in our day-to-day lives that we stop noticing the environment and natural resources such as air, water, trees, pastures, and plant and animal life that make our lives possible.

Over the past few decades, scientists and other experts realized that people need to become more responsible in the use of natural resources. Many are becoming overused or polluted, and many are non-renewable—once they are used up, there are no more.

Some pollution comes from factories and cars and other products that make life more comfortable, safer, and easier than before. Other pollution comes from waste created in providing basic needs—such as food, water, clothing, and shelter—for the world's 6 billion plus people.

At the same time, people are using up natural resources at record rates. Some of these resources, such as trees, are renewable, meaning they will grow back if they are given time and the proper conditions. Others, such as minerals and fossil fuels, are non-renewable. This does not mean that we cannot use these resources for heat, electricity, and travel, but that we should remember that they are limited.

Earth Day reminds us to take good care of the environment including disposing of waste so that it doesn't pollute resources that we--or others--need to survive. It also reminds us to replace renewable resources like food, trees, and clean water and air as we use them, and to try to find renewable alternatives to fossil fuels, such as solar energy.

Many people think that concern about the environment is a rich-country luxury. But it isn't. All countries use natural resources to improve living conditions as well as their economies. Poor people depend on the land around them just to live from day to day. Many poor people are peasants who farm small plots of land for their food, get their fuel from nearby tress, and get their drinking water from local rivers and wells. Without these resources, they can't survive.

Taking care of the environment and promoting sustainable development is necessary in helping poor people improve their lives.

This is why taking care of the environment is one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Care about the Earth. It’s the only one we’ve got!