HAPPY EARTH DAY…
I’m often asked by kids why I’m so passionate about the planet Earth, its resources, its critters, and its 8 billion human inhabitants.
The answer is pretty straightforward.
Our home – the planet Earth is unique.
I mean it’s super unique in our solar system… and maybe even in our galaxy.
It provides the perfect conditions for all life – as we know it.
Seriously, it’s the Goldilocks planet… not too hot… not too cold. It’s got the perfect mixture of oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon for us and all the other living things to survive and thrive. It has just the right amount of fresh water too.
It’s perfect for us.
And the only thing the Earth requires in return for being so hospitable to us living things is that we don’t mess it up. This means we build our economies (the exchange of goods and services) working WITH the planet’s systems, not AGAINST the planet’s systems.
Much of the time we simply do NOT do this.
For most of human history working WITH NATURE didn’t matter.
There were not enough of us humans to matter and our technology was puny, but we moderns have two things going for us these days that MAGNIFY our impact and cause a great deal of harm to the Earth.
8 BILLION HUMANS – The first thing are our numbers. There are approximately 8 billion of us right now. That’s a lot. Even one billion humans can’t really do that much harm to the systems of our huge planet, but as our human numbers grew and grew and grew it became obvious that working AGAINST NATURE we would eventually start harming it and consequently harm ourselves.
Eight billion humans can, and are making an impact… and not a good one.
MAGNIFIED TECHNOLOGICAL IMPACT – But the second aspect is even more impactful than our numbers… we modern humans use technology in very destructive ways. We create pollution, with little regard for impact. We destroy or change habitats for other critters, with little regard for impact. We are wasteful… creating enormous mountains of stuff we toss into landfills.
In the old days (prehistoric times or even in biblical days), if we needed to dig a hole, we’d use a stick or a shovel that had little to no impact on the planet, but today, we have enormous tools that magnify our impact. These tools are easily available to us. Take a front-end-loader tractor for example. It can scoop out giant holes in seconds, that would have literally made the founding fathers flip their wigs. �
This ability to use tools that have a huge impact or create huge amounts of pollution is a big deal.
Eight billion humans – PLUS – the magnified impact of technology available to us can do massive harm (it can also do a lot of good, but ONLY if it’s working WITH THE PLANETS systems).
Right now… we are not.
We make enormous amounts of pollution.
We do not recycle most things we use.
We do not use renewable resources well.
Earth Day is a day to recognize how truly remarkable our planet is and that we humans can STILL have everything we want, need, and desire, but we need to be working WITH her systems, not against her systems.
Earth Day is a day to be more aware of the pollution that we’re making and stop making it.
Earth Day is a day to start recycling (or reusing) everything we possibly can, and this is not just for us consumers, industry MUST do this as well.
We must begin tapping into renewable resources (solar, geothermal, water, wind, etc.) because the Earth provides these resources to us and when used wisely, they can never run out.
We are so lucky to be alive and be aware of the perfection of our home.
It’s nice to have a day to celebrate her.
Happy Earth Day Earth… and thank you.
by Steve Trash – Rockin’ Eco Hero
###
