Earth Day: 22nd April 2007

“All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all”

Today, April 22nd, has been designated as Earth Day. The first Earth Day was held in 1970 in the USA. Over the past few years much has been said and written about the state of the earth from global warming and other atmospheric pollution to problems with the ozone layer.

For about a thousand years man has been increasing the pollutants in the atmosphere ( in the tenth century a queen of England complained of the smoke pollution in London) and this has been accelerated over the last two hundred years as man, in his pursuit of industrialisation, has caused an increase in the acid gases which were first described in 1848. (Don’t forget Queen Victoria had the blinds drawn on her train when it passed through the Black country so she didn’t have to see the filth and squalor!)

Now we are told that one of the gases which is needed for plants to produce food is the real villain of the piece. Carbon dioxide, the gas used by plants to make sugars, has been increasing quite rapidly and is now causing the earth’s temperature rise. Yet this gas has been present in the atmosphere since the earth began.

When God made the earth and all on it he made sure that everything was in balance, day and night, water and earth, plants and animals. The gases of the air were also in balance; man in his greed has upset His delicate balance.

Perhaps is it now time to remember that we are just temporary creatures on God’s earth and should look after it as He would want. Only then will we return to a world where all things are bright and beautiful again. Take time today to think about God’s wonderful creation and how we all can do our bit in preserving it for future generations.

God Bless
John