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122 years ago was the first flight. The time between that flight and the first moon landing was only 66 years. This past year NASA had a helicopter that flew on Mars. That little helicopter had a scrap of canvas from that first Wright brothers plane on it. Imagine what will occur in the next 66 years, in 2090 or, in 122 years, in 2144. We can imagine some things but we’d be wrong about most things.

Something we didn’t know just a few years ago was the makeup of other planets and asteroids. Today we know, for example, that one thing that is very plentiful in the universe, is diamonds. Diamonds are, for example, probably plentiful on the planets Uranus and Neptune and it is expected, in other planetary systems there are planets which are virtually all diamond.

Out there, in the infinite stretches of the universe, know what’s far more rare than diamonds? A living bit of grass, a flower, a tree, a stalk of wheat. So far, we haven’t found any of that. I’m sure we will eventually find life elsewhere but not yet.

We’ve all watched movies or television shows where human astronauts land on some planet that looks like Mars, rocks and dust comprising the entire surface. These pretend astronauts test the air and find out they can take off their helmets because there’s sufficient oxygen. Those shows are complete fantasy. Without plants we won’t find oxygen. The plants on Earth create oxygen. As far as we know, no plants mean no oxygen.

The next Earth Day is April 22nd. Perhaps that would be an appropriate day to go for a walk and take time to consider the miracle of life all around us. We’re surrounded by and nurtured by something far more rare than diamonds. We have life.

Life here is possible because of photosynthesis, the process by which plants produce oxygen. Without plants we can’t exist. Trees and bushes and grasses all contribute but 80% of the oxygen is produced by phytoplankton in the oceans. These organisms are so small they cannot swim against currents, they drift. The drift is affected by powerful winter storms that apparently affect the distribution of nutrients which support the plankton.

Climate change is affecting the formation of storms. Our insatiable devouring of carbon for energy is changing the atmosphere and making powerful storms stronger. Far as I know, we haven’t figured out how changing storms will affect the plankton but we need to find out as fast as possible. The oxygen level that sustains life could, conceivably, be affected. Maybe it doesn’t make a difference but we should find out.

Of course, finding out could also make zero difference in a world where the dominant species seems determined to keep going to war and expanding its carbon footprint to the place where all life may be exterminated even if we know we’re doing it. Science may save us but not unless we use the knowledge we learn.