"You shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you."

- Deuteronomy 8:10

Our land, the Earth, provides us with sustenance - food, shelter and beauty to inspire us - it is a lifeline to our physical existence. The Earth is a gift from God and yet we fail to take care of this most precious resource.

Reliance on old energy sources and our thirst to consume all of the Earth's natural resources at any price has led us to a crisis, both spiritual and environmental.

We can't separate the two, for the first has led to the other. But there is hope; we can change our course if we commit to addressing the problem of global warming. All of us - individuals, families, corporations, elected officials, businesses and communities - will need to change our ways if we are going to solve global warming. It won't always be easy, but it is necessary if we are to ensure that our children and grandchildren inherit a stable, safe world that can provide them with what we have all been blessed with for generations - food, shelter and immense beauty.

Pope Benedict XVI said that politicians and experts must be "capable of responding to the great ecological challenge and to be up to the task of this challenge," and that everyday citizens have a role: "We have to give impulse to rediscovering our responsibility and to finding an ethical way to change our way of life . . . We have our responsibilities toward Creation."

I encourage each of us to consider how we can be agents of change to help solve global warming. I also ask that our elected officials quickly prioritize addressing global warming in a meaningful way, in order to ensure the safety and health of our communities.

If we stand together, we can solve this crisis.

The Most Rev. Arthur N. Tafoya is the bishop of Pueblo.