Perhaps it’s because of the higher-than-ever quality, but the latest satellite picture of the Earth published by NASA looks just stunning!

The first thing I looked at is the shape and size of Baja California, where I spent some lovely time a couple of years ago. Then I focused on the colour of the coastal waters in Central America and the Caribbean: definitely on my wish list!

Finally I started wondering what our planet would look like to an external observer (say, an alien creature): beautiful I guess, until they zoomed in and realized how intent humans are on destroying it, like an anthill gone crazy.

They would see Chinese people burning coal to produce products of every sort in cities where the air is increasingly hard to breathe. Then they would track those products as they’re shipped to the other end of the world and bought by unhappy and indebted consumers, only to be trashed after quite a short time.

With a resolution of 8000 x 8000 pixel there are few limits to where we can print that picture. I suggest we all do it somewhere visible as a reminder, and then pledge to treat our planet better. It doesn’t take that much to make a difference.

To “nourish the planet” is the slogan adopted by Expo 2015 in Milan, Italy. Too bad that thousands of square meters of soil have been turned into building land to host the event, which will end up nourishing nothing else than the powerful real estate lobby. Furthermore, the regional governor promoting the Expo is in his third consecutive term (fourth overall) in spite of the law that only allows two. At least the leaders of the aforementioned Central America, supposedly far back along the route to democracy, bother to change the constitution when they want to allow themselves a longer time in office!

The bottom line: as usual, we’d better count on initiatives from the bottom to do the right thing. And the Internet is the perfect tool to support them. Here’s the link to Kitchen Gardeners, a group that promotes the creation of private vegetable gardens that would provide us with tastier and cheaper food and a much lower CO2 impact.