Saturday, April 22, 2006

EarthDay Pics of the Day 2006

The fjords in ChileFrom the fjords in Chile...

April 22 is Earth Day, one of those forgotten relics of a time in our country's history when ecology and the environment were actually on peoples' minds. People say it's too late to help our planet, that global warming has reached the tipping point, that the Bush administration has turned everything over to the oil industry, that wars rage everywhere and no one is paying attention or wants to. Jim and I have the luxury of traveling the world and sometimes, when I'm really lucky, I catch this earth as it is and could be.

To the man/nature combo of Portofino Italy...

But, you know, in the bonus round, hope springs eternal.

To capturing the wind in Denmark.

The world has a funny way of healing itself if you give it half a chance. Let's give it half a chance.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love your new format! Thanks for the fantastic pics, WOW!
Steve, you are so right the Earth will heal itself. Actually there is nothing we can do to it (including nuclear devastation)that it can't shake off like a bad cold. It takes time, but from Earth's perspective, time is no biggie. So we need to take care of it because if we do too much damage Earth will heal, but we won't see it.

Steve Schalchlin said...

You remind me of the George Carlin routine where he talks about this. He says we can't ruin the planet. All we can do is ruin the planet for us. And if we all die off, the planet will go on, and a hundred million years from now, it will be back to normal. So caring the planet isn't about the planet. It's about caring for us.

Anonymous said...

What's puzzling to me is the inability of folks to see the parallel between the earth and themselves. Logically speaking, we are composed of the same elements present in nature: boron, copper, magnesium etc. Why is it so hard to comprehend that in harming nature, we harm ourselves? Great photos, Steve. I have been lucky enough, as well, to witness vistas of pure natural beauty. It is life-affirming and glorious. Best to you.

DuWayne Brayton said...

There is something truly magnificent about the wind generators in the water, oddly I think it's my favorite picture of the bunch. That esteticly speaking too, not just from an enviro standpoint. I think it is supreme human arrogence to say we have passed a "tipping" point. I even think it could work out that we could be here to see it. And if not, all life has been wiped off the surface of this planet more than once in earths history, yet it evolves again. This go around it got as far as evolving us - and even some intelligent life, such as dolphins and mice. . .

Steve Schalchlin said...

I'm so glad you liked the wind generator pictures. That was taken from a ship as we were leaving port and those sailboats lined up for me so beautifully! I couldn't have choreographed them better. But I loved how huge those wind machines were compared to the relatively tiny boats -- and those were NOT small.

Also, LOL at your last sentence.