Metchsedes Ramirez(ph) explains in Ketchua, the indigenous language, that he's performing a ritual honoring the Earth mother.

NPR: Ceremony Precedes Bolivian President's Inauguration

Indians, once fixed in the American mind's eye as bands of howling savages bent on doing no good to John Wayne, are nowadays more often seen as the devoted children of Mother Earth, determined to preserve the planet for future generations.

ECONOMIST: Indians versus greens

Shalene Flanagan set an American record earlier this year, and interestingly enough, in the early '70s, her mother was the first woman on Earth to run under two hours and 50 minutes in a marathon.

NPR: U.S. Track Stars Vie for Spots on Olympic Team

Forget the economics and look at the pitiful amount that Mother Earth has left us to play with.

FORBES: What Will Apple Do When Indium Runs Out in 2017?

When Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, was born one fifth of the Earth's surface was covered by the British Empire.

CNN: Amanpour, Quest: Britain's lament

As Dolly, Laurie has been saddled with too many saintly attributes, but she makes her character an ethereal earth mother, giving her the weight to carry her head-in-the-clouds lines, and delivers a remarkable performance.

NEWYORKER: The Grass Harp

His mother saw America as the one place on Earth where her son could do anything he wanted.

WHITEHOUSE: President Obama Speaks at a Naturalization Ceremony

But he never told his mother he was working a half mile under the Earth's surface.

CNN: Chilean miners waited for death

Today is Earth Day, and it is very likely that the fact that abundant fossil fuels like oil, natural gas and coal, are natural resources, and gifts to humanity from Mother Earth herself will be lost amid all the frightful doom and gloom predictions that will be launched by environmental activists and repeated by various media outlets.

FORBES: Thank Mother Earth for Oil, Natural Gas and Other Fossil Fuels

That looks like a win for Mother Earth, until you step back and look at the big picture.

FORBES: Environmentalist, Spare That Tree