I posted this for the first time back in 2013…It’s been 3 years since then and 46 years since the very first Earth Day…that is if you don’t count the original birth of the earth, whenever that was. Anyway, how are we Earthlings doing with our home? Is it getting more hospitable for us humans or less so?
I remember the first Earth Day back in 1970 and I remember the sense of urgency that people were feeling about the planet and air and water pollution and the overuse of fossil fuels and cars and oil and gasoline and carcinogens being everywhere and in everything etc…
We were all worried that if we didn’t change our ways then the future for ourselves and our loved ones would be bleak and filled with more pollution and harder times and wars over oil and…then… what happened? We seemed to just forget about it.
I blame my generation, which was in college at the time, for dropping the ball. We all graduated got jobs, got married, had children and joined the rat race and stopped paying attention and started shopping, eating out and driving SUVs…how did that happen?
Now the Earth is 1 and a half degrees warmer, (3 degrees warmer in NJ!) our cars get only 25 miles per gallon, everything is made in China where the sun never breaks through the industrial haze, we still go to war to protect our oil interests, drill the oceans and frack the very core of our planet in search of more of the same old fossil fuels… and cows are force fed corn until their stomachs explode.
And that poor old Native American with the tear running down his cheek is now crying bankruptcy in his casino…
I wonder what the odds were of that happening?
And still we pay little attention to the health and well being of our most precious and pale blue island floating solemnly amidst the enormity of the universe.
My apologies Earth day… Mother Earth… Your prodigal sons and daughters, even though we don’t seem to think about you very often, still hope you live a long and happy life, (at least until the sun explodes)
Where would we ever be without you?
It is far more serious than we want to imagine. Perhaps humankind is indeed a UNIQUE plateau to evolution. But the real test of longevity is now at hand. Perhaps lack of mastering enviromental stability explains why others civilizations, on other planets, may not have survived! We have the chance to make the difference. Marty