THE BLUE PLANET

I remember my mother saying to me when I was a youngster that one day I would become the Blue Planet. At the time, I was puzzled. I didn’t understand why she told me this as I was a black ball covered in fiery red striations. I looked very similar to my nearest sisters. We evolved from the same material at the same time. As we twirled and whirled around our mother, we were dramatically radiant. But why was I the only one of her nine children chosen to be known as the Blue Planet and what did that mean? When I questioned her she told me to seek advice from Father Time who wisely told me ‘time will tell…. be patient.’

To explain the mystery and wonder of my mother’s prediction, I must start at the beginning of my life. Around four and a half billion years ago, my sister planets and I were born when our mother, the sun, created us in one almighty explosion and for us, time also began. The noise and confusion was very frightening at first but after a while, as we cooled, we formed a dust cloud and quickly grew into a thick band of small meteorites floating in a smoky haze around our mother. I loved this new found freedom. We bumped and collided into each other. We hugged and clung to each other. It was such a warm feeling. With each collision, we grew larger and hotter until I and my sisters became the adult shapes we are today.

Let me tell you space is a very cold place to live…...so while spinning and orbiting I could feel my skin cooling very quickly but, deep inside, my heart remained hot. Meanwhile, a thick syrup of lava, my life blood, flowed under my skin until it bubbled and boiled. I felt quite unsettled internally until my skin cracked and hot lava spilt, spat and spewed everywhere as well, I belched thick plumes of yellow sulphurous smoke to create an unsavoury atmosphere. At the time I didn’t realise that I was building the continents and forming the rocks that you live and walk on today.

At this stage in my life my baby sister, the moon, did not exist but, today, she has become my constant loving companion. For many long years, I have been influenced by her thoughts and ideas. I will tell you how she came about and how we became so close. My sister, Mars, is to blame through her carelessness. She wasn’t watching where she was orbiting and bumped into me. Thankfully, it was only a glancing blow. Some of my outer surface was spun into space and, by the same birthing process as my sisters and I, the moon was born. We are now inseparable.

So far the mystery of my name has not been solved. However, I know that oceans and seas are a part of the puzzle, and I must wait for them to form. Did you know that water exists in the universe and space? I possessed small quantities of water at my birth as hidden inside each meteorite was a small quantity of water. When I was about one billion years old, as I passed through a thick belt of meteorites and comets, I was being constantly bombarded by them. They were the vehicles that brought water to create my oceans and, as a bonus, delivered amino acids as well to my oceans and seas. Now, this is where my story gets tricky and complicated for a while and I’m not going to reveal any secrets except to say that those amino acids are the building blocks of life and set the stage for my mother’s prophesy to come true. But, let me assure you that I’m not the Blue Planet yet.

No. I needed life to evolve before I could claim the title. I needed to have an atmosphere containing a large amount of oxygen and my then atmosphere was not yet conducive to life. It was made up mainly of sulphurous gases, methane and carbon dioxide and I need not tell you how poisonous they are. By some magic formula, the amino acids amalgamated to create cyanobacteria, which today, we call blue-green algae. Some of these cyanobacteria clumped together to form stromatolites and they dominated my oceans for a very long time. At first, I didn’t understand what was happening to me. I felt and heard my warm seas and oceans softly bubbling. Little did I know that these amazing creatures were releasing bubbles of oxygen into my atmosphere and opening a door for other life forces to evolve.

Stomatolites changed how I think of myself, not as a dark and lifeless planet but as a blue planet….a living blue planet. Today, I am proud to boast that my living creatures are very diverse. Life comes in all shapes and sizes. As I look at all my sisters, seemingly devoid of life, I think how lucky I am to possess life in all its varied forms and I am very thankful that my mothers chose to honour and name me ‘The Blue Planet’.