One tree in the rainforest can be a home to as many as 650 species of beetles. In honor of this amazing fact, and in honor of that little band from Liverpool of the same name, we offer

Can't Buy Me Love

It's as true today as when the band first sang it. Yet people in mega-consuming societies fall for it every time:

_______(fill in the blank: Happiness, A girl, A guy, Success, Excitement) can be yours if you just _________ (smoke, drink, drive, wear, use, apply) this _________ (perfume, soft drink, flashy car, latest fashion, laundry detergent).

On average, U.S. citizens consume their weight in stuff every day. While we don't drink, buy, or use that amount of material directly, this is the per capita sum of all we consume daily in our nation—metals, minerals, fuels, food, wood, etc. That's over 60 times the consumption of a typical person in the world's poorest nations. Sound like a lot of stuff? Keep in mind that the typical product requires 30 times the weight in materials to produce, ship and market. All this consuming results in each Americans discarding 1,300 pounds of trash per year.

If everyone on earth consumed at the rate of the world's consumer class (the wealthiest 20 percent of the world's population), we would need 2 more planets like this one to meet our needs. To put it another way: If the earth's productive land was divided equally among the earth's six billion people, there would be about four acres available for each person. By consuming so much, the world's wealthiest people actually need 12 acres to meet their consumption demands.

Baby You Can Drive My Car

With four percent of the world’s population, Americans consume 25 percent of all the fossil fuels used by humankind. And since Americans own 35 percent of the world's vehicles and drive and average of 6,000 miles per person each year, transportation is a major component of our fossil fuel consumption.

Driving these cars and trucks is one principal reason the average American is responsible for emitting over five tons of carbon dioxide each year into the earth's atmosphere. CO2 is infamous as a leading reason for the so-called "greenhouse effect," or the gradual warming of the earth. With vastly increased use of fossil fuels in the past 100 years, an invisible blanket of gases has built up around the earth, trapping heat from the sun. Already polar ice caps and glaciers are shrinking, and global weather patterns are changing. In recent years, the Western Hemisphere has had five times as many hurricanes or severe storms as it experienced 50 years ago.

Another consequence of automobile use coupled with urbanization is that in the U.S. alone, 400,000 acres are paved over or otherwise "developed" every year—that's the equivalent of two New York cities. This loss of open space, plant and animal habitat, and agricultural land will almost be impossible to recover.

Paperback Writer

The world's forests are disappearing at the rate of 37 million acres a year. In the United States alone, only five percent of the original forest cover remains intact. Such massive deforestation affects climate, increases the chance of flooding, and destroys habitat essential for the survival of other living things. Reforestation efforts are helpful, but replace diverse forest ecosystems with stands of trees of a single species, increasing susceptibility to disease and reducing the ability to provide habitat for a variety of other life forms.

Primarily due to loss of habitat, plants and animals are becoming extinct at a rate 1,000 times the rate through the rest of history. In fact, we are now living in the sixth great period of extinction on planet Earth—and the first to be caused by one of the creatures. One in four large mammal species is endangered, as are one in eight plant species and one in eleven bird species.

The loss of rain forest (at the current rate of an acre a second) is particularly troublesome, as these ecosystems teem with life in almost unimaginable diversity. In addition, an acre of rain forest recycles 1000 pounds of carbon dioxide each year. And rain forests are a key part of the hydrological system, and are thus aptly named "rain" forests. Deforestation drastically affects weather patterns.

Americans each consume the equivalent of nine trees worth of paper each year. Around the world, half of all wood cut is needed for fuel wood and charcoal by poor people.

We all Live in a Yellow Submarine

Americans use about 130 gallons of water per person each day for household consumption. Including industrial and agricultural uses, the average water use is 10 times that much per capita in the United States.

In many places, water tables are falling much faster than they can be replenished by rainfall, primarily due to irrigating crops. Fully one-third of the world's people are without ready access to clean water. Consequently, tens of thousands of people die each year due in part to drinking contaminated water. Unclean water is a prime cause of diarrhea in small children, and thus is a leading cause of child deaths, as children who become severely dehydrated often cannot recover.

The loss of wetlands is another important water-related concern. Since the arrival of Europeans on this continent, over 50 percent of the original wetlands have been drained for agriculture or other kinds of human use. One consequence is increased flooding in many areas, as wetlands act as a sponge to absorb heavy rainfall.

And the oceans—we've managed to over-fish them. Who could've imagined!

Planet Earth cannot stand another century like the one we're leaving behind. We must find new ways of living with the creation, both in our role as God's stewards of creation and simply to preserve the world for future generations.

As with all dimensions of our human response to God, the changes must begin within us. Learning to be at peace with ourselves, not needing to turn to material things to find identity and purpose. Recognizing that the Earth has a finite capacity to provide for humankind, and that it is not fair—or just—for some people to use far more than their portion. Acknowledging God as creator, which means seeing every part of creation, from the smallest bug to the largest ocean, as loved by God and intended to live and thrive.

1. Reduce consumption. Buying less stuff is a key means of lowering your impact on the planet. Pay attention to what you buy. Was it made from recycled materials? Can it be recycled? Is the commodity being bought worth the energy and packaging used to produce and market it (bottled water comes to mind)?
2. Use less energy. Lowering consumption will help here, but so will learning to use the car as a last resort. Bike. Walk. Share rides. Every mile you don't drive is a pound less CO2 in the atmosphere. Don't use automatic doors or electric appliances or powered yard equipment or anything else that needs energy to operate if you don't have to. Take shorter showers, wash clothes in cold water and turn down the thermostat on the water heater, as heating water can represent 20 percent of home energy use. Save a half ton of CO2 by replacing a regular bulb with a florescent one (really!). Save six ounces of gasoline with every aluminum can you recycle. Recycling one glass bottle saves 400 watts of electricity.
3. Eat food that is healthy for you and for the planet. Live by the seasons-buy produce that is in season in your area, avoiding the energy involved in shipping food vast distances. Raise your own food-less packaging and you know what you're eating! Eat lower on the food chain (producing a pound of grain-fed beef requires 15 pounds of grain, 2500 gallons of water [for irrigating the grain] and 1 gallon of fuel—and is sometimes raised on pasture carved out of the rainforest or in National Forests where fragile ecosystems are jeopardized).
4. Turn to the sun. Encourage government and private investment in solar power. Build your own house to utilize the sun for heating (if you live in a cooler climate) or plant shade trees to cut down on cooling costs in warmer climates. Added bonus—one tree can recycle 15 pounds or more of CO2 annually.