MANILA, Philippines -- To remind each of us that Earth and its ecosystems provide us with life and sustenance and that it is imperative that we recognize our responsibility to promote harmony with nature to achieve a just balance for the needs of the present and future generations, World Earth Day is celebrated on April 22, 2011, in many parts of the world.
Our environments are an extension of ourselves and we feel better and function more efficiently when we are in harmony with our environment. Just as we have relationships with people, we also have a relationship with our environment. Clean are, pure water, and an uncontaminated environment are conducive to man's health and longevity. In some parts of the world, people significantly live to a hundred or more.
In the last 60 years, storm waves have been getting higher and have become dangerous to human lives. Storms are becoming more frequent even in the Arctic Ocean as the area that is free of ice continues to increase.
Global environment variation is increasingly causing storms, melting glaciers, eroding soil, and displacing people from communities to live in poverty in urban areas. The atmosphere has warmed up in the last several decades. Half of what is known as the lungs of the ecosystems, our tropical forests, are gone, with only 10 percent left standing. Oceans, lakes, rivers and streams are being polluted with an average of two million tons of sewage and industrial and agricultural wastes discharged into these waters.
We should all be living in harmony with nature on planet Earth. Man should always be morally concerned about the environment.
