Nowhere else in our solar system is there a planet that is habitable. Venus and Mars are the two planets closest to our Earth. Venus, closer to the Sun and about the same size as Earth, has an atmosphere where the temperature reaches about 870 Degrees F (about 470 Degrees Celsius), because of a runaway Greenhouse Effect. It has clouds of sulfuric acid, and an atmosphere of mainly carbon dioxide and nitrogen. Mars, which is smaller and whose distance from the Sun is more than Earth's, has little or no atmosphere, because, with its smaller size its gravity is not strong enough to hold on to an atmosphere. Also, being colder, it only has some frozen water ice which is covered by frozen carbon dioxide (dry ice) at its poles. Other solar systems, even within our own Milky Way Galaxy, are millions of light years away. So, for all effective purposes, our planet Earth is the only one that can sustain our human life and life as we know it. It is our only home. Our planet Earth is BEAUTIFUL. It is a paradise. Its beauty manifests itself day and night to us - the brown, gray and green earth, the green trees, the blue sky, the waters, the exotic animals and other species, and the gorgeous flowers, all gives us a paradise that is inspiring, if we let it be. This beauty also sustains us. The air provides us oxygen that we need to breathe, the waters quench our thirst, and the soil and crop plant species give us food - we could not survive if any of them were missing. The ozone layer protects us from high levels of ultra-violet light, and the magnetic field, protects us from the solar wind, which we still see as the beautiful northern lights. The beauty of our Earth inspired me to break out into poetry, which comes from the awe and feeling of paradise that it invokes. In every direction, all aspects, and every season, day and night, makes me wonder. But coursing through my booklet there is a sense of purpose. Much of my poetry belongs to a recently developing tradition called, "Verse Journalism", that seeks to add a feeling of responsibility and purpose - something that is urgently needed if we are to intensely strive to develop alternatives to our current ways of doing things - whether it is in energy, or habitats, or transportation, or agriculture, or industry, or - last but not least - saving our dying global ecosystems, and then rejuvenating them. So besides an awe of and an enjoyment of the rest of nature (for we are a part of nature), you will find threads of our links to it and the planet, and what we need to do to steer ourselves in a different direction.
About the Author: Hari Lamba considers himself to be an engineer with a social and environmental conscience. He is an engineer by profession, working in the transportation industry, and has designed parts of railway locomotives and encouraged the process of innovation. He has a bachelor's degree in Aeronautical Engineering from India and Master's and Ph.D. degrees in Engineering Mechanics from the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, USA. He has done volunteer work on environmental, development, high speed rail and social issues with non-governmental organizations and groups focusing on the US, South Asia, India and the World. His interests include developing new products, renewable energy to solve the world's energy problems, music, poetry, and literature. He is the author of the book, "Rethinking Progress - Towards a Creative Transformation of Global Society", Daanish Books, New Delhi, India, 2005. www.renewtechs.com. The second half of that book outlines such a different course - ideas for the sustainable transformation of global society: All human activities need to be transformed - our cities, transportation, industry, agriculture, economics, politics, local to global governance, and the repair and rejuvenation of global ecosystems, and the life support systems of the planet. All of our activities not only have to be converted into lower or low carbon activities, but many new activities have to either low carbon or zero carbon, so that we can solve the most desperate problem of Climate Change. Simultaneously, this has to be done in such a way that it shows and implements ways in which all of the human population is able to enjoy a full and sustainable life, healthy, adequate, and joyful! He also has authored the book, "History of Our Earth & Our Role in its Future," a poem starting with the Big Bang to the present, and with beautiful watercolors recording the history of our beautiful Earth. Besides his commitment to finding solutions to global warming, he is committed to developing new products that will help the generation of renewable energy, and in helping bring about a transformation in all aspects of human activity so as to solve the problems of climate change, environmental rejuvenation, and helping all of the people of the world enjoy a wholesome, sustainable, productive and happy life. Look for more books, efforts and products from the author that make this happen.