Please consider the environment before printing this email

At work, every now and then I receive an email with words "Please consider the environment before printing this email" written just below the signature line.

And so my thoughts are drawn toward the complexities of our natural world.

I reflect on the majesty of the towering redwoods, the lofty grandeur of the Rockies, the arid beauty and harshness of Arizona's Sonoran desert.

My mind reels as I acknowledge the mysteries of the deep and the sheer variety of creatures that inhabit our mighty oceans — from the tiniest plankton to the giants of the ocean: whales, sharks, and whale sharks.

I reflect on the giants of the past, the terrible lizards that occupy our imaginations and Mother Earth's fossil record: the tyrannosaur, the brontosaur, and megalodon.

I consider our Earth's myriad weather phenomena, from the raging hurricane to the benevolent rain shower.

The eyes of my mind envision sunrise and sunset and my thoughts are called to the heavens, to our extraterrestrial environment: meteors, moons, asteroids, trans-Neptunian objects, galaxies, quasars, and nebulae.

I take a moment to marvel at the regality of our natural universe —

— and then I print the email.