A new year brings with it the hope that we can do things just a little bit better this time around. Here we are again with 366 days of opportunity sitting open in front of us. Why not use the time to do something positive for the environment?

So many concerns about the environment are measured in years, days, minutes and seconds. You've go to be familiar with the warnings: this resource will be depleted by then, or worse, we've only got this much time left. The importance of time should come as no surprise. The health of our world is an important issue, and one that we've got to deal with immediately.

Here's a couple of reminders of what's happening every day. Some of these you may have heard before, but it's worthwhile to be reminded of the severity of the problems we face.

It is estimated that between 20 and 75 species of plants and animals go extinct each day.

Between logging and land clearing, 7000 acres of land are consumed in Canada every twenty-four hours. That compares with 9000 acres per day in the Brazilian rainforest.

The average North American throws away about 3.2 kilograms (7 lbs.) of garbage. That's four tons per household for the whole year. Keep in mind that between ten and twenty-five per cent of an average household's edible food gets trashed. And that's not counting the stuff you throw away while you're cooking.

The environment is on a tight schedule. We can't waste time by avoiding the problems that all of us have had some part in creating. We seem to not be able to avoid our habit of rushing into things like advancing technologies and any other varieties of new developments.

One of the best things we can do, next to stopping the clock, is to slow down. Consider how the choices you make each day can improve the world around you.

Try to think about it this way. The things you do -- the purchases you make, the amount you consume, and the number of cans of garbage that get thrown away after all of that -- are all ways that you, all by yourself, can speed up or slow down the environmental clock.

Take it slow. A whole year ahead of environmental awareness doesn't have to be daunting. Start with something manageable, like remembering to bring a cloth bag to the grocery store. We all can do without that guilty pile of plastic under the kitchen sink.

In a few months you should be up for something bigger. Maybe it's finding ways to green your summer with a gardening project or dedicated bicycle riding.

By next winter you should be starting into really spectacular plans, like single-handedly revamping your municipal recycling program!