“Only when I saw the Earth from space, in all its ineffable beauty and fragility, did I realize that humankind’s most urgent task is to cherish and preserve it for future generations.”
I was struck by this declaration of love to the Earth of Sigmun Jähn (member of the crew of the spaceship Soyius31 in 1978), that from space was able to see and perceive what we are not always able to do from here.
Looking at the Earth through the space empty and devoid of life, she appeared to him as the only precious home we have, a fragile sphere that we have to protect and cherish.
Over 30 years ago, by the simple intuition that each of us can make a difference to save the planet earth, was born a global movement that now involves millions of people, through a lot of events organized in more than 180 nations to try to change the course of history.
From the first Earth Day (which took place in the United States on April 22, 1970), to today many things have changed. Pollution, land use, global warming are real and looming problems: every day we experience firsthand their tragic consequences.
Every five months in Italy an area equal to that of the city of Naples is concreted, and every year an area equal to the extension of Milan and Florence. It is fertile ground that is irreversibly destroyed.
8 square meters per second for each second of the last five years. This is the pace of the devastating land consumption that is destroying Italy, dragging the country outside of Europe (where the average consumption of the soil is 2.8%, against 6.9% in Italy). All this in a country with zero population growth.
A disaster that affects the most fertile lands, harm the agriculture and the tourism of a place unique in the world.
The Italian Earth Day will be so marked in Italy by a real march to save the landscape and to stop the urban sprawl.
911 associations that make up the Italian Forum of “Save the Landscape”, millions of people will walk in Piemont, Liguria, Lombardy, Lazio, Puglia, Sicily, Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia to defend the fertile soils and preserve some of most beautiful landscapes in the world.
What can we do for the earth?
Admire its beauty and fragility, as Sigmun Jähn from space, take care of it as part of ourselves.