Here is our fragile planet: We cling to it, like mold on an orange, living and dying, eating and drinking, making love and war, all beneath a frighteningly thin, gauzy veil of atmosphere.Tomorrow will be the 38th observance of Earth Day.
There has been progress -- progress in the sense that we finally seem to understand that it is not best to foul one's own nest. Of course, we claim to be an intelligent species -- and the dimmest of animals knows this instinctively. People aren't catching fish for lunch in the Chicago River just yet -- but the first Mayor Daley's vision of the future doesn't seem so ridiculous today. There are fish in a river that didn't seem to have water in it 38 years ago.
But someday -- and I hope that day comes soon -- Earth Day should be celebrated as a sort of Mother's Day for the human species: That on Earth Day we would look back fondly at Mother Earth as the womb from which humanity sprang.
Science fiction? Sure. Today it is.
But right now, this crowded rock is our only ride around a universe that we learn -- every single day -- to be increasingly dangerous. Happy Earth Day.
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Image obtained from Wikipedia.
4 comments:
hey curmy! yesterday i forgot to say tyvc! sorry. hope you remembered!
i like the earth. i think it's the cat's pajamas! yay earth! rah rah rah..
smiles, bee
tyvc
Why is it (in the political sense anyway) that it is assumed that industrialists and manufacturers would prefer to foul the environment, like even they enjoy despoiling the place?
I like your phrase that it's "our only ride" around the universe.
Reminds me of a children's song:
"there goes Jupiter, here comes Mars"
I think it's more apathy than preference, Ralph, but you make a good point. If simply not giving a crap is cause to villainize - and maybe it is - well, we're gonna have to start pointing fingers at a lot more than just industrialists & manufacturers.
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