April 2025 - On & Off Earth
After our first ‘real’ winter in several years and about a week’s delay to the blooming season, it is April and the planet is now, finally, about to burst forth into blooms and bird song. Baby dogwood blossoms are just beginning to pop, baby leaves are coloring tree tops, hummingbird feeders are being cleaned and filled and every household should, consider, a tornado drill. The brown of the winter woods is about to go green.
Sunrise is the big mover this month, every one over a minute earlier than the day before. Early risers will be rewarded with the return of the Morning Star. Venus is back on the morning side of Earth and although still fairly low, is hard to miss in the eastern pre-sunrise sky. Mark the 25th as a sunrise to catch; the waning crescent moon near Venus.
Sunset too, happens a little later each day of April, almost 8pm by month’s end. Catch a thick crescent moon near Jupiter tonight (3rd) and the 1/4 moon forming a triangle with Mars and Gemini’s Pollux on Saturday night, the 5th. The Full Pink moon is on the 12th. For astrology followers, the sun slides from Pisces into Aries on the 20th.
But, enough about the night sky, April is about the long hours of warming sunshine and getting back outside. As stated years ago, that’s my goal in writing this column; to get my readers outside onto the planet. Sure, there are dangers: you need sunscreen, pollen counts are up, bugs may bug you, snakes may lurk but with the air warm, new grass on the lawn, new leaves in the trees and our world in full bloom, the wonders of Spring far outweigh the perils.
If it seems like the USA has, of late, almost year round tornado action and that you rarely hear about them elsewhere, you would be correct. We live on the only continent where three very different air masses can collide on a vast plain with few trees to slow the action. Canadian air and Gulf air clashing with air rushing down from the Rockies provides the perfect setup for the horizontal twisting that spawns tornadoes. A little extra kick from the bonus heat trapped in our CO2 rich atmosphere has just enabled Tornado Alley to expand south and east. Again, have plans in place for where you’ll ride out a storm in your home or workplace.
A photo taken last month of the eclipsed Earth, from a new lunar lander, brought back memories of the Apollo 8 Christmas Eve photo that started the movement to clean up our home. That first photo lead to Earth Day, which we will celebrate for the 55th time on April 22nd. While many of the goals hoped for with that first celebration have been achieved, too many have not. The Earth itself has no concerns for its future but from a human livability standpoint, we certainly should.
On that first Earth Day, there were 8 cities with more than 10 million residents, there are 34 today. 3.6 billion humans shared Earth’s resources in 1970, 8.1 billion are trying to do that now and those resources are shrinking as is our willingness to share. Records for high temperatures, storm size and intensity, drought, flood and fire are smashed yearly of late. Ignoring or denying the reality of the ongoing climate change is not a good short term plan.
As a geology student, I was constantly forced to think in long stretches of time, Deep Time, Earth time. Our day to day lives keep us much more focused on the short term, any long term plans are in weeks or months. Perhaps, this month, out for a walk on our still lovely little world, ponder farther into your future, your kid’s or grandkid’s future, our shared future. It’s headed our way and our world will have changed.
And, as an afterthought, google as a word processor is about as easy to use as understanding donnie's explanation of homelessness..duuuuh...what thu???
Get out before the storms..
Today On Earth
