Good Morning Listeners and Happy Monday and happy EARTH DAY. Coach Kate here with another episode of Minute Motivations-- I'm glad you're here. I host this space weekday mornings to explore some quotes, motivations, and thoughts about life in general. So Today: EARTH DAY. Those who know me know that I am a huge fan of space and science, and because of this, a lot of people ask me when they find out this fun fact, they ask me what my favorite planet is, and I always, always have the same answer: Earth. It is not lost on me that we live in a very special place in the Universe. For all we know, it's the only planet with trees, with cats recharging in the sunshine, with chocolate... even as we unfold the universe around us we still haven't found another Earth out there. Or anything like it. Or life as we know it. I studied Biology as my undergrad degree because not only do I love Earth, but I love the life and the stories it carries as well and I wanted to immerse myself in this reality where we take care of the planet and each other. 

So this wonderful Earth Day, I wanted to share a quote with you all from the mesmerizing and brilliant Carl Sagan about this pale blue dot we live on from his book, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space. If you haven't had the chance to read any Carl Sagan yet-- you are in for an immersive treat. Not only does he cover science and the beauty of it, but he also taps into our humanity and responsibility through it all as well. This quote I am going to read for you is a longer one than the usual for this show, but since it's Earth Day, we can dive a little deeper to recognize the brilliance of the place we live in the universe. Now there's a photo I'm going to share from NASA that goes along with this quote, and I've included on the newsletter that accompanies my talks. You can read this, and any of my talks through my newsletter. Simply go to the link in my bio and follow the link towards the Coach Kate Minute Motivations section and you can read, listen, and even subscribe to get these delivered right into your e-mail inbox. 

With that said, here is the famous Pale Blue Dot Quote from the immeasurable Carl Sagan:  

“Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.”― Carl Sagan

This beautiful quote is accompanied by a photo of a distant Earth, that shows up as nothing other than a pale blue dot caught in a sunbeam. And it's a beautiful reflection of time and space and our place in it.

CreditNASA/JPL-CaltechHistorical Date February 14, 1990

I know for a lot of Earth Days out there, today is about planting trees, cleaning trash up from beaches, and making steps to maintain and even restore the beauty and uniqueness that this planet has to offer us, and it should be. Today is also about what we need to do take care of each other as we recognize in ourselves the responsibility of stewardship to the only place we know of in the Universe that harbors life. 

So today, as you think about our planet, also think about our place in it and how we can lead the way to the beautiful bright futures of our generations ahead. I'm Coach Kate. Thank you all for listening to Minute Motivations this beautiful Earth Day with me. I hope you all take some today today to be kind. Be kinder to the Earth, be kinder to the life and people in it, and be kinder to yourself too. If you like what you heard today, feel free to subscribe. You can also listen to any of my previous talks underneath the talk tab in my profile. I will see you all again tomorrow. 

Don't forget:

We are of this Earth, and we are also made of star stuff. So go live it. 

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