Know the Green Religion of Holy Islam

 

THE RELIGIOUS COLOR OF THE HOLY ISLAM

 IS “GREEN”

 

HUMAN LIKE GREEN

HUMAN LIKE GREEN

St Patrick’s Day in Ireland

From the 17th century until the late 20th, St Patrick’s Day in Ireland was not a loud, celebratory holiday, but more of a quiet religious observance. But in 1996, the capital city of Dublin started embracing the way St Patrick’s Day is celebrated in the United States and other places outside Ireland with large Irish populations. It began hosting a festival that’s become so popular, even governmental agencies such as the Department of the Taoiseach (prime minister) – seen in our photo today – get in on the fun by bathing the building’s façade in green light.

View from the Li River in the Guangxi region of China

Much of the scenery in this portion of southern China is nothing short of stunning. Officially known as the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the area reaches to the borders of Vietnam and features a generous helping of karst landscapes. What is karst? It's what allows the greenery-covered hills in our image to take on such fantastic shapes. Karst is soft limestone carved up by rain and rivers that run both above and below ground. Here, the Li River meanders by on its way between the towns of Guilin and Yangshuo, and karst pillars rise from its banks. Just as dazzling is what's waiting underground in parts of Guangxi: Lots of craggy caves, some of which lean towards the psychedelic.

50 years of Earth Day

For Mother Earth’s big day, we’re shining the spotlight on a tree known as Father of the Forest, or Te Matua Ngahere in the Maori language. This giant kauri tree lives in the Waipou Rainforest of New Zealand’s North Island. At more than 1,500 years old, and more than 52ft around, it’s both one of the oldest trees in New Zealand and one of the largest. It's long been revered by the Maori and is protected by Maori elders. We’re featuring this ancient tree today to mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, which started in the US but has since spread worldwide.

On this day in 1970, some 20 million Americans rallied to raise awareness of environmental issues. The landmark event is credited with prompting major US environmental reform legislation. Earth Day is now celebrated in nearly 200 countries and has grown to include Earth Week, and even Earth Month celebrations. That’s good news for all Earth’s residents, big and small.

Almost anywhere along the coast and coastal islands of Antarctica and the South Atlantic Ocean can be home to a flock of gentoos. Their white ‘bonnets’ and flashy beaks and feet are an easy way to recognise them. And while it looks like the flock in our image is picking up speed as they scramble down a dune in the Falkland Islands, the swiftness of this species is best displayed when they hit the water. At speeds of up to 22 miles per hour, gentoo penguins are the fastest swimmers of all diving birds. And dive they do – these birds can reach depths of more than 200m in search of prey such as krill or squat lobsters.

Castilleja indivisa wildflowers in central Oklahoma, USA

The wildflowers we see colouring the rolling fields of central Oklahoma are sometimes called 'prairie-fire'. It's an apt nickname, especially in the case of this particular orange-red variety, as the blooms can appear like a swath of flames across the grassland. There are roughly 200 species in the genus Castilleja, and they're found everywhere from the Americas to northern Asia and western Russia. The Castilleja indivisa species in our image is native to Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma, USA, and blooms annually in the spring. These bright wildflowers make a beautiful contrast to their green surroundings – and they need that grass to survive. Prairie fire plants attach themselves to the roots of other plants and obtain part of their nutrients in a process called hemiparasitism.

Byrsa Hill in Carthage, Tunisia

From this vantage point, we see a panorama of Carthage and the blue Gulf of Tunis beyond. But this hilltop spot isn't only a great place to take in the view. Those time-worn stones in the foreground hint at the history here. Byrsa Hill has been a strategic site for millennia – and most major regional powers controlled it at one point or another. Figurative 'kings' – and legendary queens – of this hill included Amazighs, Phoenicians, Romans, Vandals and rulers of the Byzantine Empire.

Byrsa Hill was once topped by an enormous citadel that was reputedly the last bastion in Carthage to be conquered by the Romans in the Third Punic War. Today the hill is dotted with what remains of a residential area known as the Punic Quarter.

Loch Etive near Glen Etive, Scotland

This loch, and the glen leading up to it, are said to be named in honour of a Gaelic goddess whose name translates as 'little fierce one'. The surroundings in our image certainly look a bit austere, but Loch Etive has many moods. Along parts of its shore in western Scotland, castle ruins add a melancholy touch – notably Dunstaffnage Castle, whose stones have sat by the mouth of the loch for 800 years. Other points along Etive's nearly 20-mile-long shore lend breathtaking views of heather-clad mountains or the charming sight of the circa-1903 Connel Bridge, once a railway crossing and now dedicated to cars and foot traffic. Perhaps the most surprising and whimsical feature of Loch Etive is its playful population of harbour seals.

Trees line the shore of the Baldeneysee in Essen, Germany

Here, along a shoreline path, the trees seem to be leaning over to take a sip from the Baldeneysee, a lake in Essen, one of the largest cities in the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany. But this isn't so much a lake as a reservoir. And this reservoir holds a sizeable portion of the Ruhr River, a waterway that was once at the heart of the Ruhr Valley industrial region.

Baldeneysee is now a showcase of Essen's commitment to 'greening' its outdoor spaces: where once the lake's pollution made it off-limits for swimming, clean-up efforts were successful enough that the restriction was lifted in 2017. This milestone, and other eco-minded improvements in Essen, led to the city being selected as the European Green Capital in 2017.

Cuicocha caldera and crater lake in Imbabura Province, Ecuador

The name of this Ecuadoran lake derives from ‘Kuykucha’, a word meaning ‘lake of guinea pigs’ in the indigenous Kichwa language. And no, you won’t find the little beasties swimming in the lake. The inspiration for the name is said to come from the shape of the lake’s largest island, seen in the centre of our image. Cuicocha’s caldera was formed roughly 3,000 years ago during a massive volcanic eruption; its peaceful blue lake is fed by both geothermal water sources and rain.

While alkaline levels in the lake are too high to support much life, the rest of the caldera’s landscape is rich in flora and fauna. The silvery grebe is the star of the show, especially on the caldera’s islands. (Sorry, guinea pigs.)