DAY 71 – IMAGINE WHAT IT MUST BE LIKE TO BE LIVING ON AN EARTH THAT

At a young age I had made up my mind that when I graduated from school I would travel around this planet in order to bask in the wonderment of nature’s beauty. During the course of two decades this desire has taken me to places where I have seen picturesque mountains, sat on many beaches just enjoying the bluest of blue oceans, walked along trails in forests with all of its various types of trees, basked in wonderment at the sight of many diverse plant and animal species and enjoyed looking up at the sky above in one hundred countries. I am now more appreciative of our earth than ever before.

Our earth is more than just how visually striking it is to the eye. The earth is the lifeline for life itself. Every species requires the earth to function in a manner that allows it to flourish.

While the earth can give us the most pleasant days with sunshine and a tranquil setting it can also play havoc with life on this planet. Earthquakes, tsunamis, volcano eruptions, hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts, blizzards of rain and snow, excessive cold and excessive heat can become a destructive and deadly force for anything or anyone in its path. There is very little anyone can do to stop the earth from displaying its power and might at that moment when it occurs.

There are various natural processes at work on the earth that affect how it functions for the benefit of all plant and animal species including the human species. An outside force beyond the earth’s natural forces is the ripple effect human activity has upon the earth. Humanity in its desire to use the earth’s resources can be a destructive force to how the earth functions for life itself.

When pollutants that are produced by human beings are discharged into the soil, waterways and atmosphere there is a price to pay both locally and globally. Think of all of the species of plants that are having a difficult time surviving because of human activity. Think of all of the animal species living in the wild and in the oceans that are finding it difficult to exist as they have always done or, even worse, are dying off because of human activity. Think of the difficulties human beings are having when they are living in a locale where the earth is becoming inhospitable to their ability to thrive and survive because of human activity. When something happens that does not enable the earth to function for the benefit of various species of plants and all living species, including the human species, it makes it difficult at best for life to thrive on this planet.

When life goes well for any human being part of the reason for it is because the earth works in a manner that enables it to work for you. You have clean water to drink. You have a food supply that continually feeds you. You have clean air to breathe. You have products that are made from the earth’s resources. The ability of every human being to have a better life begins with the earth operating in a manner conducive to that better life.

Looking back at my travels around mother earth I now realize that the earth is interconnected in a holistic way with everything that goes on within it. Too many hardships occur when human beings disregard how they affect the processes that are at work on this earth. Humanity is the most powerful species on this planet and can be a disruptive force in how the earth functions in both the short and long term. We not only have to, but we absolutely must, carry out our affairs in a manner that contributes to a cleaner and healthier earth.