As Buffalo Springfield would sing, “There’s something happening here; what it is ain’t exactly clear.”

The polar bears are teetering on the verge of losing all of their hunting grounds and are threatened by extinction.

Hurricanes and tsunamis are leaving thousands dead or homeless. Military operations are started over oil rather than peace and justice.

We can sit here all day and pretend that 6 billion human beings, 750 million cars, and hundreds of thousands of factories have no ill effect on the environment. It’s just not true.

Los Angeles didn’t always have a layer of smog covering its skyline. Our ozone layer didn’t always let this much ultraviolet light hit the earth. We caused this.

The debate over global warming or climate change has become a big issue again, and I have one thing to say.

Who cares about these words or definitions? The fact is, humans are wreaking havoc on God’s greatest gift: our planet. We have the ability to stop it. Now all we need is collective ambition.

“The land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants. Throughout the country that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land,” Lev. 25:23-24.

We have inherited something precious, and we have not cared for it. It’s as if I inherited my grandmother’s wedding dress, and I used it as a dishrag.

So, how can we be believers and also be wasteful? Or for that matter, how can we plan on having children and not care how the earth will be operating a hundred years from now?

Look, we can handle 18 credit-hour work loads, part-time jobs, dealing with ex-girlfriends, extracurriculars, extra shifts and no sleep. Surely we can handle recycling, fuel-efficient cars, special light bulbs and smaller portions. We are smarter than this. We are better than this.

As the most advanced country in the world, we have everything. We have people who can make math equations to explain derivatives. We have people who can rebuild destroyed cities. We can play the guitar on our iPhones.

I know we can conquer the problems man has created in the world. We can find a solid renewable energy source.

Defeat is not the American way.

And a word to the tax-hating conservatives who have made it this far in my column. When you fight against ecological legislation, you are taxing yourself, your friends and your children.

Perhaps in this unending winter, while the wind is cutting you to the bone and the sun has all but disappeared, it can be easy to forget what a miracle we live in.

In a few months, the snow will melt, flowers will bloom and trees will be reborn. Let’s not take the joy of witnessing that away from our grandkids.