Pssst! You! Yeah, you... are a passenger on a planet... on a blue-green planet that's orbiting a golden star. And being a passenger on this planet is way more fun when you realize that you ARE a passenger. My journey around the sun is such an amazing ride that every day is a holy day, a holiday. Yes, every spin of our planet around her axis gives me something to celebrate. Today I'm celebrating a world-famous mother.

"Necessity is the mother of invention," wrote Richard Frank in his book, Northern Memoirs, Calculated For The Meridian Of Scotland in 1658. Of course, Scottish winters are wicked. But when we see nature's inventive responses to winter, we appreciate the blue-green miracle that makes our planet so different from the rest of the rocks that orbit our sun.

Have you ever wondered why our coldest weather is not until after the winter solstice - after the time when we are most deprived of warming radiation from our sun? This lag is because of Earth's rocks and waters. They hold onto heat that they soaked up in the summer. Rocks are so good at retaining heat that you can cook on them; they were our first ovens and frying pans. And if water weren't also good at holding onto heat, none of us would ever enjoy a hot cup of coffee, tea or soup. Of course, deep water - like oceans - retains heat much longer. So, our Mother Earth, with her heat-retaining rocks and oceans, is like a giant thermos bottle.

When the blue part of our blue-green planet does freeze, the green part is threatened. Many green plants die from the cold, but some of them find inventive solutions. One of these is the tree that's honored on the flag of Canada and is the namesake of the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team. The maple produces a natural anti-freeze that keeps its sap flowing. This antifreeze is a sugar molecule that gives maple syrup its sweetness. And this sugar molecule is used by many creatures in order to survive the winter - including an Alaska beetle.

Yes, necessity, the mother of invention, is busy in winter, especially in places with long winters. Bears in these places have evolved such inventive ways of surviving that medical researchers are down on their knees in awe. Even though bears hibernate all winter, they suffer no muscle atrophy, no bone loss, nor bedsores the way humans do when immobile. So, what do bears know that we don't? I'm clueless. I only know what happened while I was hiking in the Canadian Yukon several years ago: I came upon a huge bear. I had been dreading and anticipating this for days. But, to my astonishment, I was so in awe of its presence that I forgot to be afraid.

This morning I celebrated Mother Necessity and her inventions by pouring maple-tree anti-freeze on my waffles. As I enjoyed my breakfast, I thanked the maple for her sweet solution to the challenge of winter - and I remembered the bear who filled me with so much awe that there was no room inside me for fear.

This is Harriet Witt, your guide for this little ride on our passenger planet.


If you have any questions, drop Harriet an email: harriet@passengerplanet.com


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