Imagine, you are in a space ship. Below is a world with oceans and land, volcanic eruptions, swirling clouds, dust storms, and carpets of green where plants thrive. You prepare to send a shuttle to the surface to explore this new world. What weather will you encounter? What conditions might you have to survive? How will you prepare for the range of conditions you observe from above? How fast might those conditions change? The longer you can observe the surface spectacle from above the better you understand the chaotic conditions you might contend with upon landing. Humans and all other Earth l ..read more

There are ~1,350 potentially active volcanos on Earth. In 2022 people flocked to see the spectacle of volcanic eruptions in Iceland, Hawaii, Tonga and Indonesia, 4 of the 74 confirmed eruptions of the year. Earth has been volcanically active since it formed 4.6 billion years ago. In the tumultuous origins of our Solar System Earth was a giant sphere of magma tens of millions of kilometers from Sol (aka the Sun, our star), and it slowly grew and cooled forming a crust that trapped heat deep in the core of the planet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhy1fucSRQI Earth's molten core continues to c ..read more

Develop survival habits now All natural disasters make you highly aware of how you interact with & are at the mercy of the environment. Whether it is a geological, meteorological, or biological natural disaster, it threatens safety and well being, and we have to react quickly to keep ourselves and love ones safe. How do YOU react to a natural disaster? Is there anything you need to change to be more prepared for the future? Natural disasters are times of rapid and sometimes catastrophic changes that naturally occur on planet Earth, and directly affect the survival of humans. They range fr ..read more

The winter solstice is the first day of winter & the shortest day of the year in Earth's northern hemisphere...and the longest day of the year in the Southern hemisphere. It occurs annually between December 20th and December 23rd, depending on if it is a leap year among other factors. The Gregorian calendar that we use daily doesn't line up with astronomical cycles perfectly.   Earth's seasons, equinoxes, and solstices are the result of Earth's revolution/orbit around the Sun. In December the North Pole is pointing away from the Sun so the Northern hemisphere gets less light & exp ..read more

Today (Tuesday, September 22nd) is the first official day of autumn for the northern hemisphere. The word autumn simply indicates the season following summer. The origin of the word is lost to time as far as I can tell, but this day marks the moment when the Earth's orbit causes the Sun to cross Earth's equator, and the southern hemisphere's spring season begins, and the northern hemisphere's winter season commences. This year the Autumnal Equinox occurs at 6:30amPST. On the autumnal equinox, the ever moving boundary between light and dark on Earth cuts right through both the north and south ..read more

The present is the key to the past and the path to the future…so we all need to be prepared for future natural disasters. Take time in the present to focus on how you want to react in a future stressful moment. Too many of us once again experienced the dread of a natural disaster in progress, too close to home. In those first few moments when you realize that a disaster is unfolding, do you feel prepared to enact the plan you have in place? Too many are not prepared & do not have a plan. If you are prepared your plan might look something like this: Check safety/wellness of housemates &am ..read more

Today (Thursday, March 19th) is the first official day of spring for the northern hemisphere! The word vernal is latin for "pertaining to or occurring in spring", and is also used to describe something as "spring-like, fresh, or young". I know some of you are thinking there must be a mistake, because "normally" the equinox occurs on March 20th or 21st, but both 2000 and 2020 were leap years & we implemented daylight savings time in early March. This is where it gets technical...the equinox is not really a day but a specific moment and in 2020 vernal equinox is on March 19 at 11:49pm EDT ..read more

Why are temperatures cooler in the winter? The Sun feels more distant and fails to warm our skin, so many assume that the Sun is further away from the Earth during winter, but that is not true for those of us living in the northern latitudes. On average, you are about 93 million miles away from that stellar source of sunlight, and it takes ~8.33 minutes for sunlight escaping from the Sun to reach the Earth's surface. But in January, the sunlight reaches Earth a little sooner due to the perihelion. On January 4th, 2022 you were only 91,406,842 miles (147,105,052 km) away from the Sun, the close ..read more

The equinox is one of the oldest solar celebrations in human history. Some cultures have been celebrating the official start of Spring for more than 3000 years, proof that knowledge of solar (Sun) cycles precedes modern day science. The word Sun is derived from the old English word sunne. The Ancient Greeks called their God of the Sun Helios, and the Roman personification of the Sun was called Sol. To this day we still use the words Sun, Sol & Helios to describe seasonal patterns & to mark the annual orbital path of the Earth around the Sun. On the Vernal (spring) Equinox (Saturday, Ma ..read more

How do you cope with environmental uncertainty and rapid change? You adapt, because every generation of your ancestors going back to the beginning of life has successfully adapted to change. That is how you are here, right now, in 2020. Today our social & physical environments change so rapidly that we are forced to adapt almost constantly…and try to maintain a stable mind despite an unstable environment. How have you learned to stabilize your mind this tumultuous year? A deep time perspective of Earthly evolution can provide a reasonable expectation of change. Animals have been evolving ..read more