Welcome to 2008

earth

Our planet

Happy New Year! It’s 2008 and it’s gonna be great!

So this year has been designated “International Year of Planet Earth” by the United Nations General Assembly. This is a forward thinking project which aims to bring about more awareness about the care we need to give this planet we all live on and to think about the generations who will be living on it in years to come. More and more people are looking at sustainable ways to live in harmony with the planet and indeed we have done so for many millenniums. It is only in the last 150 years or so have we begun to show such disregard for it. But is a good thing that we live in an age where we know so much about it and we are beginning to develop a global consciousness thanks in a large part to the development of the internet. While there is a lot to be said about the real commitments governments are making to tackling environmental problems, at least there is a growing awareness within people about their planet. The Earth Sciences for Society website is a great resource for learning more.

Also for 2008 the UN has made it “International Year of the Potato” and “International Year of Sanitation”

And the EU has made 2008 European Year of Intercultural Dialogue the launch of which will take place in Ljubljana, Slovenia on the 7th and 8th.

So good news then to start off this year!

potato heart
heart shaped spud!