I believe the most profound and beautiful picture of all time is the earthrise over the horizon of the moon taken during the Apollo 8 mission. The blue orb surrounded by a sea of darkness is stunning and humbling. Please take a moment and reflect on the fact that it is on this tiny blue spacecraft where you and about 7 billion fellow travelers work, play, love and live our lives. Not only is this little rock our home, but from our explorations in the solar system, it appears to be the only planet that can sustain us. There is no place to go if we trash it. We are marooned on this island together.

If we have learned one thing from the Great Recession, it should be that it is dangerous to assume next year will be the same as last year or even that tomorrow will be the same as yesterday. While the collapse of the economy has been pretty painful, try to imagine entire ecosystems collapsing, or the consequences of global warming reaching a runaway tipping point.

A study released by NASA just this month reported the Arctic ozone layer, which protects life from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays, has been reduced to unprecedented levels. In June, only halfway through the year, NOAA declared 2011 “among the most extreme weather years in history.” Just look at all the examples — hurricanes, a tornado warning — we’ve all experienced right here in College Park. Our planet’s glaciers are continuing their retreat, enormous islands of ice have broken off of the Antarctic ice shelf and, also just this month, the cod fisheries in the United Kingdom have collapsed.

How many alarm bells need to ring before we become alarmed?

Even if you disagree with the 97 percent of scientists who believe global climate change is the result of human activity, wouldn’t it be prudent to assume they’re right, just in case? Wouldn’t it be better for our little planet to reduce the amount of pollution we are putting into our environment anyway? Wouldn’t we be wise to do a better job managing our limited resources? I would think risking a domino effect of disasters leading to an avalanche of dire consequences should be unacceptable.

So in addition to voting against politicians who believe we do not have a problem, there is plenty more direct action we can take as individuals. It will not take time from cramming for the next exam and it may even save you money. Since most of the human impact on the environment is as a result of burning fossil fuels, decreasing your energy usage is probably the most important step you can take to be part of the solution.

Turning off lights if you are the last one to leave a room, turning down your thermostat for your house and water heater and taking shorter showers would be a great start. Unplugging your phone charger when it is not being used, replacing your old incandescent light bulbs with energy saver bulbs and turning off the TV when you are not watching it would also help. It requires 700 pounds of coal to run a 100-watt light bulb 24 hours a day for a year.

Making little changes can have that much impact. Of course, there are some apps to assist you. Carbon Calc: Free. Carbon Pulse: $2.99. iCarbon: Free. Seafood Watch: Free. There’s plenty of ways to get started making a difference — and you should. But probably the most important thing you can do is to encourage your fellow passengers on our little blue spaceship to do the same.

Richard Zipper is a Golden ID student taking classes in biology. He can be reached at zipper@umdbk.com.