AP Photo

This month, I took a boat tour of the Gulf Coast to see the BP oil disaster up close along with fellow athletes from hockey, football and other sports. After listening to heart-wrenching stories from families whose livelihoods are now gone because of the disaster, we toured wetlands covered with thick oil. Brown pelicans with oil-stained feathers struggled to fly, and dolphins swam in the oily sheen.

Everything about what's happened in the gulf is tragic, and it drives home how much we depend on a healthy environment, just as each of us -- athlete or not -- depends on a healthy body. Sadly, we take our shared natural resources for granted until it's too late, even though they are the foundation of our local and global economies, jobs, national security, social...