Earth's Day

Picture a bright blue ball…
Spinning, spinning free…
Dizzy with eternity…

- John Perry Barlow

Back in 1970 the myriad of student organizations protesting the war in Vietnam spontaneously morphed into a national environmental movement. And so it was that 40 years ago... on todays date… the first “Earth Day” was celebrated.

As a resource in preparation of personal celebration of Mother Earth, it seems pertinent to take inventory of “Spaceship Earth”.

* Radius – 3963 miles
* Diameter – 7926 miles
* Circumference – 24900 miles
* Rotation period with respect to Sol – 24 hours
* Rotation period about Sol – 365 days, 5 hours
* Atmosphere - 79% nitrogen, 20% oxygen, 1% other gases
* Surface covered by water - 70.8%
* Surface covered by land - 29.2% (57.5 million square miles)
* Land surface in agricultural production - 21.25 million square miles
* Land surface in forest - 17.25 million square miles
* Land surface covered by desert - 8 million square miles

Upon reflection, the first three stats listed above are astounding… A diameter of 7,900 miles… really? is that all? What a tiny speck of air, water, earth & fire we are. A circumference of 25,000 miles? I put that many miles on my Ford in one year.

As Earth careens through space into the 21st century, it has never been so clear how miniscule our planet, with its precious sustaining environment, really is. How limited and critical its healthy ecology and shared resources really are. It has never been so apparent how important proper maintenance and operation of our spaceship earth is.

The final thought of our inventory of our shared home is this…
We are all in this together.

May the blessings of the Mother be bestowed upon us all.

Earth Day, 2010