Mother earth is a living being

That's my opinion. Yes, ME is living in many ways.
For long she has been pushed up the wall with the growing number of ways humans are finding to pollute her. Increased emissions with the numerous cars, industries, etc. Green-house changing the look of the earth...the white poles will no longer be white in a few years. You can go on and on.
We need to slow down..but how? Man will keep doing his bit for pollution until he can do it. He will purchase the big car if he can, to compensate for something. How can we stem this rot, you ask. The crash of the credit market, overnight..ta da! You can't get loans so easily. AND the loans have become dearer. What is the option left with the man? If he has a car he'll make do with it and if he doesn't he'll purchase a 2nd-hand one which was the good old way of having something bigger, which was forgotten for a long time. Re-cycling had almost been forgotten. Does it have to take such crises to remind people of recycling things until the utility for it is lost? I think it is nature's way of reminding people their roots.
Thrift as opposed to consumerism! That's the key for a long time to come.