Dehradun, April 23 -- Celebrations of events like 'Earth Day' certainly help to raise awareness regarding the need to care for the planet's health. The Earth, of course, has been itself evolving over billions of years (4.5 billion years approximately), and did not always have the hospitable environment it has now. The most extreme events have taken place, such as volcanic eruptions, mass extinctions, and 'drastic climate shifts'. In contrast, the ancestors of humans came into existence only some 2.4 million years ago - just a blip in the planet's history.
However, it is perhaps for the first time that the actions of human beings are causing a change in the life-sustaining environment of the Earth - to the extent that it could threaten the ...