Today is Earth Day, a day set aside for awarenesss and appreciation of the Earth's environment, and our roles within it - this year marking the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. As a way to help appreciate and observe our environment, I've collected 40 images below, each a glimpse into some aspect of the world around us, how it affects and sustains us, and how we affect it. Happy Earth Day everyone.
This view of Earth, featuring North, Central and South America was taken by the NASA probe called Messenger, while conducting a fly-by of our planet in order to pick up a gravity-assist boost on its way toward Mercury. (NASA/Johns HopkinsWashington) (University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington).
A farmer tends to his blooming rape seed field in the hills above Burford in the Cotswolds on April 21, 2009 in Burford, United Kingdom. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
This undated handout photo provided by the journal Science shows Iron oxides staining the snout of the Taylor Glacier, in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, forming a feature commonly referred to as Blood Falls. The iron originates from ancient subglacial brine that episodically discharges to the surface. Outflow collected at Blood Falls provides access to a unique subglacial ecosystem that harbors a microbial consortium which actively cycles iron, sulfur and carbon for growth. (AP Photo/ Science, Benjamin Urmston)
Sprinklers water a field at sunset on April 16, 2009 north of Buttonwillow, California. Central Valley farmers and farm workers are suffering through the third year of the worsening California drought with extreme water shortages and job losses. (David McNew/Getty Images)
Local miner Cesar Abac uses a wooden bowl and mercury to pan for gold near at the village of Las Cristinas, southern Bolivar State, Venezuela on January 30, 2009. Four centuries after the lure of Venezuelan gold brought ruin to English explorer Sir Walter Raleigh, the riches at one giant mine some say is cursed still haunt treasure hunters from across the globe. But the Las Cristinas saga, involving a ghost town, environmental devastation and fist-sized nuggets, underlines the risks of business in Venezuela, where the draw of natural wealth has been dulled by rule changes and economic turmoil. (REUTERS/Henry Romero)
This photo from 1997, released by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution shows the robotic arm of a three-person submersible aquatic vehicle reaching toward a hydrothermal vent in the east Pacific Ocean far off the coast of Chile. New technology and worldwide demand for metals have combined to make deep ocean mining of the mineral-laden liquid spewed from these vents a possibility. (AP Photo/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Pat Hickey)
