Conserving energy and thus saving money, reducing consumption of unnecessary products and packaging and shifting to a clean-energy economy would likely hurt the bottom line of polluting industries, but would undoubtedly have positive effects for most of us.

With an estimated population of nine billion people by 2050, we cannot continue to consume resources at the same rate and maintain our quality of life.

It's time we stopped ignoring the environment. Let's not let another election go by without making this a high priority.

So now the challenge is to imagine a different world where our wealth is in human relations and the things we do together, and we learn to live in balance with the rest of nature.

The one thing I feel is very hopeful, however, is the overwhelming participation of women in the movement for change.

Our identity includes our natural world, how we move through it, how we interact with it and how it sustains us.

Each of us now has 2.27 kg (5 lbs) of plastic embedded in our bodies.