Today being Earth Day, I thought it might be a good time to explore some interesting perspectives about this planet we call home...

1.  Life on Earth is a MOVING experience! The Earth is the only planet in the Solar System with plate tectonics. The outer crust of the Earth is broken up into regions known as tectonic plates floating on top of the magma interior of the Earth. 70% of the earth's surface is water. The earth moves non-stop: it spins and it moves around the sun.  Earth orbits around the sun at some serious speed, around 30 kilometres per second! The spinning of the earth is called rotation. It takes the earth about 24 hours to make one complete rotation....23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds to be more precise.

2.  We are full of (not hot) air: If you could separate the Earth out into piles of material, 32.1 % is iron, 30.1% oxygen, 15.1% silicon, and 13.9% magnesium. Most of this iron is actually located at the core of the Earth. If you could actually get down and sample the core, it would be 88% iron. And if you sampled the Earth’s crust, you’d find that 47% of it is ......oxygen.

3.  We are wired to explore other living options:  On average the US spends around $20 billion on outer space exploration. Yes with all the living options here on earth, we continue to look for better elsewhere!

4.  We love trees:  There are over 3 TRILLION of them on earth and they serve us in multiple ways: they help purify our dirty air, help cool cities, they are quite pretty (good for property values), reduce cooling costs, reduce water pollutants, provide a habitat for wildlife and birds......and provide wood to build new homes and renovate! Over 24% of New York City - the concrete jungle - is covered with trees.....5.2 million of them!5.  We are all short-term visitors: while the average American lives to be around 80 years old, the earth is estimated to be around 4.5 BILLION years old!

6.  An incident (a 1969 oil spill in Santa Barbara) can trigger a movement: In 1962, Senator Gaylord Nelson started to convince lawmakers to establish an environmental agenda but was repeatedly told that Americans were not concerned about environmental issues. He proved everyone wrong when 20 million people came out to support the first Earth Day celebration and teach-in on April 22, 1970. Today around 1 billion people around the globe celebrate Earth Day.

I don't know about you, but I think this earth of ours is quite magnificent. Most of that which we want is here already right under our noses. Like all real estate, our earth needs to be celebrated, nurtured, protected, maintained, and respected. We all have a role to play in this as we are all beneficiaries. We can EASILY co-exist with our planet with a little bit of effort. And thrive.