EARTH DAY CELEBRATION AND SCREAMING DINOSAURS
It is that time of year where students at St. Thomas the Apostle School reflect and take account of our position on this planet as a species, just out of the 100,000-year-old caves, now finding ourselves on the brink of global upheavals. Earth Day is a celebration of life on planet Earth. It is a call to action for humanity to work to protect and preserve local ecosystems (air, water and soil) worldwide.
On Earth Day, students, K-8, advocate to all society the imperative to protect and preserve the existence of, as Carl Sagen once described our pale blue dot in the galactic cosmos. A picture of Earthrise, taken by the crew on the Apollo 8 spacecraft, dramatizes our position on a beautiful lifeful planet. The sight of Earth hanging in the blackness of eternal space is an exclamation on this call to act.
Earth day brings to the forefront the need for action to help protect plant and animal species from extinction and to mitigate climate-changing upheavals that tax the ability of living organisms to survive.
Screaming dinosaurs is the metaphorical presentation of the consequence of inaction by humans and continued status quo with respect to climate change. Screaming dinosaurs were eliminated, as a species, on Earth due to dire environmental consequences caused by volcanic activity and an asteroid striking the planet. Expressed in a student play production called Screaming Dinosaurs, is the impact of carbon dioxide emissions on Earth's ecosystem and the parallel outcome of Earth dominating species (dinosaurs and humans) being wracked by climate change. The one and only difference expressed in this play is that humans have brought this wrath upon themselves. Dinosaurs had climate change served to them, and they had to deal with unstoppable consequences. Humans, in our day and age, have a choice.
So, with advocation as the overriding theme of the day, on Earth Day students will proceed through a litany of activities and challenges designed to spark enthusiasm and to galvanize a sense of responsibility to help save our world.
Technology, research and critical thinking are driving forces in learning environments, and it produces tremendous positive outcomes in children’s lives. Success for this day is reflected in the upswell of laughter, participation and achievement in the many challenging staged events. The measures of success, expressed by students involved with Earth Day merit reasoned thought and collaborative efforts.
On Earth Day the sight of screaming and excited children taking on new challenges and enjoying the benefits of a life-fulling ecosystem is in sharp contrast to the remains of once screaming dying dinosaurs on a forsaken planet. On Earth Day we can both acknowledge what has been given to us and we can commit to help preserve this God-given gift of a life-giving planet for future generations of plants and animal species on Earth.