The planet is hot. Like really hot. A sizzling scorcher of a celestial body. So when did this become such a bad thing? How did we let pencil pushers in lab coats tell us how to plan for a nonstop worldwide shindig? I for one have always thought hotness was as fine a goal as any. A worthwhile target, as it were. Personally, achieving the perfect level of hotness has always dictated how I dress, speak and carry myself in public.
People are so hung up on “rising temperatures” that they are missing the big picture. The one the boys from Apollo 17 captured in living color. This isn't about sandals and tank tops, it's about something else. Say what you will about other planets, namely the unrequited love of one particular enterprising Wildman, but this green and blue marble of ours is extremely good looking - breathtakingly attractive. The oceans, the forests, the earth has it all. Volcanoes, too. What’s hotter than that?
The planet is, aside from strip malls, unapologetically naked. And even those architectural monstrosities still contain the operative word, “strip.” It seems like we’re always saying how hot the planet is, how hot it’s getting and yet no one is complimenting the planet. It boils down to data and graphs, pie charts and footnotes. Hardly sexy material even to the most sensual geologist out there.
Whenever we compliment the planet it’s always specific, a national park or a nice vista nearby. But these are accessories, mere earrings when compared to the earth's raw beauty. Instead, we should be warming up to the whole globe as a living thing.
There's a case to be made for the moon's relative attractiveness, judging solely by its asteroid bombardment. But that magnetism was then, this is now. Plus, our best impacts had real impact. Dinosaurs anyone?
I’m not here to deny other realities, only to present another, far greater one. But I get it. I really do. There are people who sit at home rubbing their telescopes and snooping the moons of Jupiter or the rings of Saturn, wishing they were in a different orbit. But have these people ever been to Idaho?
Hot planets are few and far between. Sticking to our solar system and that fact becomes readily apparent. The rest of the bodies in the stars are a veritable freak show, an ugly parade of lifeless, miserable rocks. Not like our earth.
Yet cruel arbiters of taste contend that might not always be the case. That’s certainly possible. Everything wrinkles over time. But the earth has dealt with a lot in 4 billion years. Although, there’s dignity in age and aging. I wouldn’t count out the earth just yet.
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