Earth B-Day

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This Friday, April 22, is going to be Earth Day. Earth is around 4 billion 600 million years old. We know it's not going to be actually Earth's birthday, but let's pretend it is? Let's also pretend Earth is a bit younger, say, 46 years old. 


'Til she was a 7-year-old kid, she was a mystery. We know almost nothing about her at that tim. They say these first years are the most important to the formation of the personality, so it's a bit scary knowing nothing about such a close friend, eh?


Earth grew into an adolescent and a young gorgeous woman without we knowing much about her either. Our knowledge about her starts when she was already a delicate and mature 42-years-old. 


Dinosaurs came over when she was already 45, and mammals arrived only eight months ago. Half a week ago some monkeys that looked more or less like a man evolved into men that looked like monkeys. 


Three days ago, she had her last glacial era (that encompassed the whole planet), and the modern man as we know came over in the last four hours. Just an hour ago man discovered agriculture and established himself in fixed locations.


Industrial Revolution happened a minute ago, and in the last sixty seconds man managed to transform the paradise that Earth is in a dumpster. Man has multiplied and spread out like a plague, causing the extinction of more than 500 species, and has devastated our kind lady in search for fossil fuel and minerals. 


Like a child that sees only himself and is unable of measuring the consequences of his actions, man has made inviable many other life forms and is now affecting the whole environment, causing problems to his own survival. 


Only a few seconds ago, part of mankind has become aware that the most serious problem man has to solve is to reestablish harmony with nature.(*)

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Whew, thank god we're not too late! 


So, what do we do? 


Nah, I'm not lecturing about all the green actions you can take to move towards that goal. It would be nice, though, if you gave it a thought.


In the mean time, check out a few websites that talk about the issue:

•  Earth Day Network, where you'll find what you can do, and the events in the US.

• Green News.info, where you'll find all kinds of news in Italian, and Earth Days events in Italy.

• Cesar's Way, where you'll find what you can do with your dog for Earth Day. Being a huge dog lover, I should tell you that you'll find loads of useful information on this website. It's definitely worth a closer look. 

Happy Earth Day!


(*) This analogy is not mine. I took it and free-translated from an official paper on safe driving and citizen awareness raising.