We Are One: Happy Earth Day!!

Happy Earth Day!!

Today we come to the conclusion of the "We Are One" photographic series for conservation awareness with a mosaic of our planet created by the published photographs.

As I'm writing this, I'm listening to the weather news for April 20th, 2015 in Miami, Florida. The temperature was a record 92 degrees Fahrenheit (33.3 C) for this time of year. We seem to have skipped spring and headed full throttle into summer. At the same time another one of many cold fronts this year is forecast to hit the northern east coast of the United States and California is struggling with severe drought. Our weather is erratic to say the least. Greenhouse gases are at a record high and the melting glaciers and permafrost only serve to release more methane. The drone of deniers of science facts continues to assert paralysis over action while time ticks by. We send spacecrafts to find life on other planets when we can't seem to take care of life on our own.

Maybe it's time to change how we view Earth. It's not just a rock with water in space that creatures live on. It's a living, breathing organism just like a body made up of cells, except in this case the cells are life forms. The erratic weather and geological changes are symptoms and compensations due to illness. The survival of the organism is dependent on the cells being healthy and interacting in a symbiotic nature.

As humans, we are in a privileged position to be able to reason and manipulate our environment. We can argue all we want whether climate change is man-made of just part of a cycle, but it really doesn't matter. What matters is that we come together as a species to find solutions to avoid making the situation worse and hopefully turn the tide.

For more information on the threatened wildlife presented in this series you can visit the website for the World Wildlife Fund. They do a great job explaining "Why They Matter" to the environment, plants and other creatures (including us) on their species specific pages.

Want to learn more about green life and what you can do? Check out:
http://www.un.org/en/events/motherearthday/
http://www2.epa.gov/earthday
http://www.earthday.org

Sources:
Planet Earth image with creative commons license downloaded from: http://www.nasa.gov/connect/artspace/participate/royalty_free_resources.html#useof