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Young World
CELEBRATE A DAY
Our planet, our earth
RAJESWARI NAMAGIRI
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Make a difference today and make the planet a safer, healthier and richer place for all.
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Photo: Reuters
World of ice: A view of the Sjogren Glacier, Antarctic Peninsula.
April 22 is Earth Day. If you were to celebrate Earth’s birthday, how many candles would you light? About 4,500,000,000! The solar system, comprising the sun and its planets is four and a half billion years old. What makes earth special is that it’s the only planet in the solar system that supports life as we know it. Life on our planet can be found in a myriad of shapes and sizes from a single-celled bacteria to giant dinosaurs.
You must be wondering who was actually around to count earth’s age. (Modern humans evolved about 55,000 years ago!) It is human intelligence (assisted by technology) that has helped us collect some very reliable information about our planet!
Seeking attention
For instance, we know that life on earth existed as far back as 3.5 billion years, that the planet’s climate experienced both ice ages and warm periods, that greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere play an important role in keeping the average temperature at a pleasant 14.4°C.
Possessing exciting knowledge about our planet is not enough. We need to use this to make earth a safer, healthier and richer place for everyone. It is important that learning leads to action. In 1970, a group of people in the U.S. got together and marked April 22 as Earth Day to draw attention to increasing environmental problems caused by humans. Since then, every year, events to mark Earth Day are held all over the world.
The United Nations has declared 2008 as the International Year of Plant Earth. The observance draws the attention of the public, decision makers and politicians to the fact that the immense knowledge that we have acquired collectively about Earth can contribute to sustainable development and a better society.
Children’s Media Unit, Centre for Environment Education
www.kidsrgreen.org
Act now
Learning is the first step. Learn how our actions are impacting the earth, its climate and other support systems.
Start with this Earth Day, and make sure you, your family, neighbourhood and school do things differently to become Friends of Planet Earth.
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