In honor of Earth Day later this week, here are several questions about the Earth. What is our place in the solar system; what are our relationships with our sun and our moon, and how do they effect life on Earth; what is the relationship between physical (abiotic, non-living) realities like the tilt of the Earth and our seasons, and how do the seasons, in turn, affect the biota.
Apr 19, 2022·edited Apr 20, 2022Liked by Heather Heying
I was looking forward to these questions after hearing the podcast. We live about 250 miles west of my parents-- same time zone-- and somehow my (otherwise sensible) mother never believes me those evenings when I tell her the kids are out playing and yes, Mom, we still have plenty of light. "But it's pitch black here!" she protests, and I see now that it is my own fault for shrugging it off instead of asking her (gently!) which way the sun moves in HER sky. (Edited upon rereading to note that my snarky answer deserves a snarky response about what exactly is doing the moving.)
Lest I sound like I'm mocking my mother, your questions expose to me how lacking my observation of the moon's movement has been. I've done the thing with my kids where we outline our shadows with chalk by hour and day, I can usually approximate the time within 30 minutes on a sunny day going by angle and instinct. Winter solstice is the day I take a deep breath because from then on, I get a little more light each day! But there were two questions above about the moon that I had to think deeply about and would struggle to explain clearly. I sense this is due to a relative lack of lifetime attention paid to the night sky on my part. (I bet some of my relatives who keep lunisolar calendars for religious purposes could answer these questions much more smoothly than I; the only thing I have going for me is that I love being outdoors.)
There is liquid rock inside the earth because the earth isnt really all that big of a hard rock fan, and prefers lighter rock music thats got a nice flow to it.
Thanks for this interesting post! It's a nice deviation from the typical posts on Substack. I've been starting to make posts with smaller bits of information that people can reference instead of having to add several pages of context into each post. I think this is an untapped area in Substack where people from so many different backgrounds can actually encourage more interactivity through providing smaller lessons and asking questions for people to figure out. I think it would make for a nice alternative to standard education methods and what's seen on Substack.
I was looking forward to these questions after hearing the podcast. We live about 250 miles west of my parents-- same time zone-- and somehow my (otherwise sensible) mother never believes me those evenings when I tell her the kids are out playing and yes, Mom, we still have plenty of light. "But it's pitch black here!" she protests, and I see now that it is my own fault for shrugging it off instead of asking her (gently!) which way the sun moves in HER sky. (Edited upon rereading to note that my snarky answer deserves a snarky response about what exactly is doing the moving.)
Lest I sound like I'm mocking my mother, your questions expose to me how lacking my observation of the moon's movement has been. I've done the thing with my kids where we outline our shadows with chalk by hour and day, I can usually approximate the time within 30 minutes on a sunny day going by angle and instinct. Winter solstice is the day I take a deep breath because from then on, I get a little more light each day! But there were two questions above about the moon that I had to think deeply about and would struggle to explain clearly. I sense this is due to a relative lack of lifetime attention paid to the night sky on my part. (I bet some of my relatives who keep lunisolar calendars for religious purposes could answer these questions much more smoothly than I; the only thing I have going for me is that I love being outdoors.)
There is liquid rock inside the earth because the earth isnt really all that big of a hard rock fan, and prefers lighter rock music thats got a nice flow to it.
Oh my, I don’t have many of the answers. Send help
Thanks for this interesting post! It's a nice deviation from the typical posts on Substack. I've been starting to make posts with smaller bits of information that people can reference instead of having to add several pages of context into each post. I think this is an untapped area in Substack where people from so many different backgrounds can actually encourage more interactivity through providing smaller lessons and asking questions for people to figure out. I think it would make for a nice alternative to standard education methods and what's seen on Substack.