When God created the Earth, He “saw all that He had made, and it was very good” (Gen 1: 31, NIV). Then the Creator gave this amazing planet over to mankind’s stewardship, and so it is incumbent for us as Christians to wisely use the resources God has given to us. Earth Day is a time to think about conservation and proper stewardship of God’s creation.

In anticipation of the upcoming 47th Earth Day, here are 10 fascinating facts about our amazing planet.

  1. The Earth is an organism that reflects the creative power of God. It burns energy, regulates temperature, renews its skin, and undergoes age-related changes to its surface over time.
  2. The world’s largest tropical rainforest is the biodiverse Amazon rainforest, home to one-third of Earth’s land species and one in ten known species on the planet.
  3. There are about 3 trillion trees on Earth, or 422 trees per person.
  4. Earth’s core holds enough gold to cover the entire surface of the planet in 1.5 feet of the shimmering mineral.
  5. The number of water molecules in just 10 regular-sized drops of water is equal to all the stars in the known universe.
  6. Over 68 percent of Earth’s fresh water is frozen in permanent ice such as glaciers and ice caps. Scientists estimate that if all the ice in Antarctica were to melt, sea levels would rise about 200 feet.
  7. Only .0003 percent of the Earth’s water is fit for human use, and 20 percent of the planet’s unfrozen freshwater is found in Russia’s Lake Baikal, the deepest and oldest lake in the world.
  8. Speaking of Earth’s record holders:
-Largest rock: 2,352-foot-high Mount Augustus in the Australian Outback, which can be seen from almost 100 miles away.
-Longest known cave system: 390-mile-long Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. However, scientists believe it may actually be over 600 miles long.
-Tallest waterfall: Angel Falls, equal in height to a 300-story building at 3,212 feet high.
-Tallest known tree: “Hyperion,” a redwood tree in a California forest, twice as tall as the Statue of Liberty at 379 feet high.
-Largest living structure: Australia’s iconic Great Barrier Reef, one of the seven wonders of the natural world and comprised of over 3,000 individual reef systems, coral cays, and sun-drenched tropical islands.
-Hottest temperature ever recorded: 136 degrees F in El Azizia, Libya in 1922.
-Coldest temperature ever recorded: minus 128 degrees F in Antarctica’s Vostok Station.

9. Not only is Earth the densest planet in the Solar System, it’s the only planet not named after a Greek or Roman god. The name “Earth” comes from the Old English word eorthe for “ground” and the Old High Germanic word erda, which means “soil.”

10. The Earth travels through space at 67,000 mph. This means that you’re 67,000 miles farther away than you were an hour ago. Think of that the next time you feel like there's nothing happening in your life!

Praise God for His infinite creativity!

Ready to learn more inspiring things about the wonderful world we inhabit and your place in it? Let Geneva College help you pursue your career goals. Please phone us at 855-979-5563, or email web@geneva.edu.

The Geneva Story publishes content from a variety of contributors across the Geneva College community. The perspectives, experiences, and conclusions expressed in this content are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views of Geneva College, its leadership, or its editorial staff.