"It's worth it. It's your home!" This was the slogan on a yard sign of a contractor doing a home improvement project in my neighborhood recently. Whether we own one or not, don't most of us place value on investments made in homes? If you are like me and my husband, owning a home is something we take pride in, but we also know that it comes with great responsibility (and elbow grease) because it is our largest single investment. Getting a future "return" on this investment matters to us, so we care about doing what we can to protect it.

Planet Earth is also our home. Its natural systems and processes make it habitable--at least for us now in many places around the globe. Why, then, is it that some people--even some leaders of states and countries--place such a low priority on protecting our planetary home and its air, water, and web of life?

American poet, novelist, and environmentalist, Wendell Berry, writes "To cherish what remains of the Earth and to foster its renewal is our only legitimate hope of survival."

What do you think? How do you cherish what remains and how does that foster hope for the future?