I get shivers when I look at photos of our planet. I think it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.

Now I admit, I’m partial to blue and green and white color schemes, but even I couldn’t imagine a more perfect place to live.

Would I feel the same way if I had grown up on Mars? Had I lived in a constant rustish environment, would I be seduced by the red planet and believe it was the prettiest of them all? Or would I peer at my blue neighbor through a telescope and think, “Gosh, I really wish I lived on Earth.”

Or would Earth appear completely different, because its atmosphere had evaporated and the blue orb was no longer blue, but brown and beige and orange – more like Venus?

It really really upsets me when government leaders stand on the pulpit and declare there is no evidence of global warming. That the Earth’s climate goes through cycles, and killer hurricanes are just one small part of a normal weather pattern.

For the sake of the pretty blue ball we all call home… consider leaving the car in the garage and biking to the mall, ask the lady to bag your groceries in paper and not plastic, line-dry your clothes, turn off the air conditioning and lights when you leave your home (I know, I know, it’s bloody HOT out there, but every little bit counts).

As Commander Eileen Collins said today from the International Space Station that orbits 220 miles (352km) above the Earth, “The atmosphere almost looks like an eggshell on an egg, it’s so very thin. We know that we don’t have much air – we need to protect what we have.”