As Earth Day 2019 is coming up on Monday, 4/22, just wanted to do a blog post in advance of the big day based on some observations.  After visiting Earth Day Network, one thing that stood out to me is that in the 18 rotating images on the page, only 1 is of the ocean and 2 focus on water (my visit was on Tu, 4/16, in the am pst and I forwarded them an email sharing this observation).  Knowing that water covers ~71% of the earth's surface and the ocean holds 96%+ of the earth's water, it got me thinking that Earth Day Network's home page image percentages might need some tinkering to provide a better balance as 2 / 18 = 11.1%.

While just an observation, could this lack of emphasis on the ocean be a symptom of how people actually think about Earth Day?  When we think of the earth, do the majority of us just equate earth with land?  It appears that might be the case even though life on this planet is widely considered to have initiated in the ocean.  While the information is not 100% concrete, the circumstantial evidence suggests we should probably be giving more focus to the current state of and care for the ocean.

As last year's Earth Day blog post highlighted through quotes from Arthur C. Clarke and Sylvia Earle, the ocean is much more relevant to Earth Day than perhaps has been previously considered and that is further highlighted in the image of earth used in this blog post (hint - what is the dominant color?).  Something for people to noodle on in the days leading up to, during and post Earth Day 2019.

4/22/19 update: Earth as viewed from space.