My name's Tom Allen and I'm from England. I currently live in Yerevan with my wife Tenny who is Armenian. I've travelled by bicycle nearly 20,000km through more than 30 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa.

Over more than two years of travelling in foreign countries, I've met thousands of good people who have helped me, and not a single bad person who has tried to hurt me. Because of this I believe that all people are naturally good. But it is obvious that most of us are unaware of the effect that we are having on the Earth's environment.

When one person drives a car, eats meat from a farm, puts chemicals in their toilet, throws away a few plastic bags, cuts down a tree, or lights a gas stove, it doesn't cause any problems for the earth. But if six billion people all do those things every day, it really is a problem for the earth. 

But six billion people is a number far too large to imagine. For most of us, our worlds are very small. I think this is the main reason that society is not more concerned about environmental issues. We simply cannot imagine the size of the problem. If we could, and we understood all of the details, I am sure we would all be very, very concerned indeed.

The world is going to change a lot over the next century, and we and our children are going to be here to watch it happen. Our collective impact is going to grow more and more visible all over the world, from Himalayan glaciers melting due to climate change, to desertification because we cut down too many trees, to water contamination from mining operations such as already exist in Alaverdi.

Each of us has an impact, because we are part of a much greater whole. As well as choosing to change the way we live, we can also act in society to educate those around us and affect their actions also. 

Each of us must choose from only two options: to be part of the problem, or part of the solution. What's your choice?