According to the Bible, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. I gather from various theological sources that may have been about 7,500 years ago. On the other hand, scientists believe that the Big Bang occurred about 13.8 billion years ago, which is another possible start date for life as we know it.
Much easier to comprehend is the origin of Earth Day, which came about just 52 years ago thanks to a native Iowan, peace activist John McConnell, by then in San Francisco, with supporting roles by Senator Gaylord Nelson, environmental activist Denis Hayes, and the UAW.
Just a couple days ago my eight-year-old granddaughter made this picture celebrating life on earth, whenever and by whichever process it began. It is perhaps notable that until 1970, we had no particular “day” devoted to our planet — a major oversight if there ever was one.
After all, our species has proliferated here, dominating all other life forms as if we were a superior form of fauna, for millennia. But make no mistake about it; we aren’t superior. We’re just in there with all the other fauna and flora in what John Storer, in his memorable little book first published in 1953 called “The Web of Life”
Many others have used that same title for their own books and stuff, but I prefer Storer’s unpretentious volume, which I read when I was a boy.
Seen through the eyes of an eight-year-old, life is wondrous, magnificent, colorful, strange. My granddaughter’s artistic sense of the proportion of things is governed by the fact that she is still relatively small, which makes the animals and plants around her both bigger than adults may perceive them to be, and perhaps also more important.
Maybe this is why children are natural ecologists. Given half a chance, they will express a reverence for their fellow creatures and plants that too many adults often seem more inclined to take for granted.
We could do worse, IMHO, than to be more like my granddaughter in the way we look at all life around and within us.
In that spirit, Happy 13.8 billionth Earth Day!
Today’s News (46):
Florida taxpayers could face a $1 billion Disney debt bomb if its special district status is revoked (CNBC)
GOP’s cozy ties with Big Business unravel as DeSantis goes after Disney (WP)
Why Ron DeSantis Is Going After Disney (Politico)
Warning Ukraine’s Friends to ‘Think Twice,’ Putin Tests Advanced Missile (NYT)
Biden says war at critical point as he sends more weapons (BBC)
Mystery drone: How the Air Force fast-tracked a new weapon for Ukraine (Politico)
Putin claims victory in Mariupol despite steel-mill holdouts (AP)
VIDEO: What Mariupol’s Steel Fortress Looked Like 3 Months Ago (NYT)
President Vladimir Putin claimed victory in the biggest battle of the Ukraine war, declaring the port of Mariupol "liberated" after nearly two months of siege, despite hundreds of defenders still holding out inside a giant steel works. (Reuters)
For Civilians Trapped in Mariupol, Fleeing Can Be as Risky as Staying (WSJ)
Mariupol steelworks: 'We have wounded and dead inside the bunkers' (BBC)
He Was a Penniless Donor to the Far Right. He Was Also a Russian Spy. (NYT)
Biden announces another $800m in military aid for Ukraine: ‘We’re in a critical window’ – as it happened (Guardian)
Calls to Give Heavy Weapons to Ukraine Divide Germany’s Government (NYT)
Desperate Russia Launches Whole New Ukraine Plan (Daily Beast)
How Game Theory Explains Why We Have to Sanction Putin — Even If It’s Costly (Politico)
A Ukrainian Town Goes Underground as Russia Assaults the East. (NYT)
Denmark's prime minister pledged to send more weapons to Ukraineduring a trip to Kyiv, where she and her Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez were meeting President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a gesture of support. European Council President Charles Michel pledged European solidarity with Ukraine during a surprise visit to Kyiv yesterday. (Reuters)
U.S. unveils sponsorship program to resettle Ukrainian refugees, discourage travel to U.S.-Mexico border (CBS)
A poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows 54% of Americans think Biden has been “not tough enough” in his response to Vladimir Putin's war Ukraine. But as the war has dragged on, Americans’ desire to get involved has waned somewhat. Thirty-two percent of Americans say the U.S. should have a major role in the conflict, down from 40% last month. [AP]
5 million leave Ukraine, 7.7 million internally displaced amid Russian invasion (NHK)
Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed a "global security initiative" that upholds the principle of "indivisible security", although he gave no details of how it would be implemented. In talks over Ukraine, Russia has insisted that Western governments respect a 1999 agreement based on the principle of "indivisible security" that no country can strengthen its own security at the expense of others. (Reuters)
The Cost of Not Indicting Trump Now Is a Presidency Without Guardrails (Politico)
Former President Donald Trump appeared to walk out of an interview with his pal Piers Morgan, in which the two oddly shiny men discuss the 2020 presidential election, after the British TV personality pressed Trump on his lies. “With respect, you haven’t produced the hard evidence,” Morgan says in the teaser clip, referring to Trump's fiction that the election was stolen, as Trump attempts to speak over him. [HuffPost]
On the battlefield with Russia, Afghanistan’s loss is Ukraine’s gain (WP)
An explosion at a Shi'ite mosque in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif killed or wounded at least 20 people, a local Taliban commander said. The explosion came two days after blasts tore through a high school in a predominantly Shi'ite Hazara area in western Kabul, killing at least six people and wounding 11. (Reuters)
COVID hospitalizations are falling in California despite a rise in infections. (SFC)
CDC says face masks are still needed to protect the public, and WHO says omicron accounts for 99.5% of global COVID (MarketWatch)
With even the most dovish U.S. central bankers now calling for a key interest rate to hit its "neutral" level by year's end to tame high inflation, the Federal Reserve appears headed for perhaps its swiftest shift in monetary policy since the 1960s, with all the risks that ride along with such an abrupt change. (Reuters)
Biden’s dismal poll numbers imperil Dem Senate control (Politico)
As shootings mount, anger that it’s ‘happening over and over’ (WP)
Cleaner Earth: Healing ozone hole, less smog, more eagles (AP)
A “stunning” jellyfish species has been identified for the first time in Monterey Bay. (SFC)
CNN’s streaming service shutting down a month after launch (AP)
In the Murdoch family succession battle, Fox News and democracy hang in the balance (NPR)
Kamala Harris' chief of staff heading for the exit (CNN)
Tesla results surged past Wall Street expectations, as higher prices helped insulate the electric vehicle maker from supply chain chaos and rising costs. The results should also trigger $23 billion in new payouts to CEO Elon Musk, already the world's richest man. Meanwhile, Musk's The Boring Company has raised $675 million in a Series C funding round, which now values the tunneling enterprise at $5.675 billion. (Reuters)
Another solar temper tantrum sends a strong X-class flare toward Earth (Space.com)
Astronomers discover micronovae, a new kind of stellar explosion (Phys.org)
Uranus by 2049: Here's why scientists want NASA to send a flagship mission to the strange planet (Space.com)
A Sonoma County beach town wants to save its homes by moving them (SFC)
Twitter, Enemy Of First Amendment Rights, Permanently Bans The Onion (The Onion)
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