| Environmental stewardship is the culture of how we use, care for and protect the earth’s resources. It is grounded in an understanding of the importance of environmental quality and natural resources to the human race and the effects of human actions on the environment.
People depend on nature for a supply of food, energy and fiber, and the absorption of waste products. According to the World Resources Institute publication, North America's Environment: A Thirty–Year State of the Environment and Policy Retrospective, while the continent’s population has grown at a relatively slow pace over the last thirty years (2% per year since the early 1970s), the consumption of goods has grown at a higher rate (2.3% per year) in part due to increases in affluence. Home to only 5% of the world’s population, North America now consumes nearly 25% of the world’s energy.
As global population increases and resources are depleted, the value of environmental stewardship is coming increasingly to the fore. There is much to be done. In Boston and Massachusetts, issues of sprawl, traffic congestion, loss of bio-diversity, loss of forest and agricultural land, and the depletion of water and fish stocks are all recognized concerns.
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