Earth Day - Every Day

Someday, with the current pace of scientific and technological development, mankind will reach out to the stars; we will find habitable planets in some other solar system, and plant the seed of Homo sapiens out to the farthest reaches of our galaxy. We will 'go where no one has gone before.'

I doubt that this will happen in my lifetime; in fact, I think it is highly unlikely for another few hundred years. In the meantime, we have only space ship earth to sustain us. A hundred years means several generations of my descendants who must make this small ball of dirt wrapped in a cocoon of breathable air home.

Sometimes I lie awake at night and as I am unfortunately wont to do, wonder what life on my home planet will be like long after I'm gone. Will my great-great grandchildren be able to walk the surface, breathing deeply of fresh spring air as I can today - in some parts, that is. I would never think of taking deep breaths in some of our major cities.

Being fully aware of how tenuous life is on earth; just one molecule of one essential element out of place, and we would be gone; forgotten; there would be no one left to mark our passing. Rather than making me feel morbid and despondent, however, this thought stimulates me to do all that I can to pass on to future generations an earth that they can live on.

For me, April 22, 2011, Earth Day, will be a special day; but merely one among 365 special days. As I try to do on the 364 other days, I will try to live in a way that leaves as small a footprint as possible. I want to be remembered for the good things I did while I was here.

I plan, though, to mark that day with the color green. I will plant a tree in some spot that needs strong roots to stop erosion. I plan to encourage my family, friends, and co-workers to do the same. Green is not just a soothing color that symbolizes new life, it is the color of organisms that put breathable molecules back into the atmosphere, while at the same time, absorbing some of the nasty little buggers that make it hard to breathe.

I might leave the car at home, and either walk or take public transport. When I go to the grocery store, I'll ask for paper rather than plastic. No sense having bags around that will last for generations when I can use material that will go back to the earth. I'll finally take that towering stack of newspapers and magazines in the garage to the recycling center.

When the afternoon light seems just right, I'll get out my digital camera, and spend the rest of the day documenting this beautiful planet; its plants and animals. And, if I'm lucky, those photos will be posted to my blog and any other photo site that will accept them. I want to remind everyone just how lucky we humans are to have a home that takes care of us, and urge them to take care of it.

For the foreseeable future, Earth is a one-shot deal. If we screw it up, we might never get the chance to see the rest of the universe; and the rest of the universe might never know we were here.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Day

http://www.earthday.org

http://www.earthsite.org

http://www.earthday.envirolink.org

http://earth911.com