~ Appreciate nature with friends and family ~
Mother Earth should be protected every day, but people need to be inspired enough to actually take action! That is why we have our special day every April 22 to acknowledge our gorgeous planet. We at WEEKender thought we would get you started on the right foot with some Earth-oriented food for thought.
We get our energy and our life from Earth’s “just-so” placement in our solar system. The sun is big and bright and warm, but we certainly wouldn’t want to be too close to that furnace; but then again, we wouldn’t want to be too far from her either! This is what earth scientists call the Goldilocks Situation – not too hot, not too cold; we are “just right.” How many planets can say that?
The earth also has a lovely thick atmosphere that protects us from solar radiation and most meteorites, and it gives us air to breathe, by the way. Thanks, Earth, we needed that!
Then there is the ocean, that deep and wide body of H-2-O that gives the earth her characteristic “blue” colour. Among all the known worlds out there in the vast expanse of the universe, we are the only truly blue planet known to us. And we here is St. Maarten have the bluest of the blue, so we are doubly blessed with Caribbean and Atlantic inviting us in for a swim or a sail across that sublime surface.
The land is vast and varied, with mountain peaks reaching as high as gravity will allow and trenches on the ocean floor dipping down into the unknown interior of our planet. Covered with forests, prairies, glaciers, swamps and deserts, the earth has habitats aplenty – something for everyone – and amazing and diverse animals call each kind of landscape home.
We are a part of this web of life and life-support systems. We tend to think we are in charge and the Earth is here for us to use as we please, but that way of thinking is not really sustainable. The children get this; they know they are inheriting the earth in the state we and our parents have left it. Let’s do something for our mother earth today, this week, this month and this year. Plant a tree, clean a beach, reduce, reuse and recycle.
Want to celebrate Earth Day with some likeminded folks? Come out to Buccaneer Beach Bar today, April 21, for live music, tree planting and mojitos!
It’s sure to be a fun day, full of ecological awareness and sunshine. Music begins at 3:00pm and Ronnie Santana will rock the stage from 6:00 to 8:00pm. Somewhere in there, you can see a short presentation by Tadzio Bervoets of St. Maarten Nature Foundation on the Mangroves Restoration Project. It’s all in celebration of Mother Earth and, yes, it’s a day early since the actual Earth Day is April 22 – but that’s no reason to stay away!
