Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old activist, confronted the world leaders at the United Nations on global warming issues, while shaking anyone who listened to her passionate speech from top to bottom. If you did not watch the video of the speech already, I would strongly suggest you do.

I, for one, was extremely touched by her candour, courage and boldness. She made me think about what I am doing to protect the environment. What more can I do to help leave a more livable world to my children and my future grandchildren?

How can I eliminate more plastics from my daily life, how can I recycle more, how can I fix broken or malfunctioning stuff that I have instead of purchasing new? Even if you cannot do a lot, you all should do as much as you can. You can choose reusable glass bottles rather than plastic water bottles, you can bring your reusable bags with you to the grocery store, you can buy a more environmentally friendly hybrid or electric car, or at least not a gas guzzler but a more economical car when you need one.

You can keep parks and roads clean by not throwing your garbage out. You can try to go as paperless as possible, think before every time you hit “print”. You can try to make your carbon footprint as small as possible.

If you have the means, you can donate to environment focused causes. Talk about this subject with anyone you can so that more and more people think and act on it.

I am well aware that most of the people who read this already know everything I have mentioned here, and most probably are already doing whatever they can. But there is always room for improvement. If you already do all of these things, then find something else that you can do, and another, and then another. Be a role model to people around you and encourage them to do what you do and more.

We human beings are creatures that in general don’t do much until the last minute. But this is the last minute. This is the last warning. The alarm bells are on and have been on for some time now. And we should do whatever we can while we still have a chance. We need to be proactive, smart and conscious about our choices.

The world is our home and it is everyone’s responsibility to keep it safe, clean and sustainable. Do something about it. Today.