By Alberta Farnsworth, Desert Southwest Conference Lay Leader
All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. (John 1:3 NRSV)
What a great scripture on which to meditate on Earth Day, April 22. I enjoy trivia tidbits and found a few about the earth that intrigue me.
- The earth is not spherical like a ball but instead is an irregularly shaped ellipsoid. (GISGeography)
- An average of 100 Lightning bolts strike the earth every second. (Axios)
- Most of the earth’s breathable air comes from the oceans. (National Ocean Service)
- The name the United Nations calls Earth Day is International Mother Earth Day. (United Nations)
Fire season has started early this year, and we are already learning about damage to ecological treasures, homes destroyed, and lives forever changed. I remember planting little tiny tree seedlings as a Girl Scout on a mountain in Colorado where a fire had taken out all the vegetation. The ranger assured us that although it looked bad then and not all the little trees we planted would actually grow, the fire provided a type of fertilizer, and in a few years, we could come back and see a little forest. Sure enough, four years later, we returned, and there were lots of little trees growing, and you could no longer see the charred remains. I know that now, 50 years later, there might be a real forest there (if it hasn’t burned again!) God has created a way to heal the earth if we give it a chance, but with the recent droughts, I wonder if this natural way of regrowth is still possible.
I am glad that life is slowly returning to normal, and we can say post-pandemic and hope it stays being “post.” Although I still find I am more comfortable wearing my mask while shopping, I don’t panic if I forget it! God is good all the time. All the time, God is good!
Sources Cited
- GISGeography, 2021. Ellipsoid/Spheroid – Our Oblate Spheroid Planet Earth, https://gisgeography.com/ellipsoid-oblate-spheroid-earth/ (Accessed April 25, 2022).
- Axios, 2018. Mapped: Where lightning strikes the most, https://www.axios.com/global-map-shows-nearly-9-billion-lightning-bolts-a49d416d-3520-41d3-94e6-9f6dad466f78.html (Accessed April 25, 2022).
- National Ocean Service, 2021. How much oxygen comes from the ocean?, https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/ocean-oxygen.html (Accessed April 25, 2022).
- United Nations, nd. Rooted in the decade that gave rise to the global environmental movement, https://www.un.org/en/observances/earth-day/background (Accessed April 25, 2022)