equinox 
EQ® is a new take on the idea of Earth Day.
In fact, it proposes two Earth Days – the equinoxes, which come around
every spring and autumn.
Equinoxes are the best days to focus on our home planet, thanks to two fundamental properties:
1) Equinoxes are true planetary events.
They are fixed events in Earth’s orbit around the sun. Billions have passed. Billions are yet to come.
2) We are equal under the sun at equinox.
Only on these two days are night and day equal at 12 hours each, right across the planet.
Together these irrefutable qualities give equinoxes unique power and resonance.
The Autumn equinox coincides with my last day with the Royal Opera on tour in Japan. We will have just performed the thrilling opening sequence of Verdi’s Otello in Tokyo at the moment of equinox – UK readers will be having breakfast (08.50 BST). Whatever, whenever… Happy Equinox! Continue reading
The world’s climate-environment crisis is suddenly – belatedly – rocketing up the agenda
The equinoxes in March and September, if they are adopted as official Earth Days, can become ‘hooks’ for universal action Continue reading
Twice a year gives a new rhythm, a new habit of action, every 6 months, in Spring and Autumn.
Fixed Planet Events Equinoxes are true planet events, fixed until the end of time. It’s logical to use them. With a planetary perspective you get to see the Big Picture. In the new One World era, we must have that vision.
Equal under the Sun Equi-nox means equal night. It’s when, each March and September, the entire Earth gets equal amounts of light and dark (12 hours night and day). You can say that at equinox we are Equal under the Sun©. There’s no better time to sense our common destiny and purpose – our global citizenship.
Planet Action Equinoxes are planet events – ideal moments for adding the individual’s “little bit” to the greater whole.
Rhythm Equinoxes are twins – the Spring-Autumn rhythm will work beautifully, harmonising with financial and academic calendars, giving summer and winter patterns. Then, whatever is achieved – action, resolution, celebration, link, audit – six months later we can check our progress, refreshing or redoubling our efforts.
Temperature Equinoxes are neutral – ideal for taking a planetary ‘temperature’ audit – a matrix of available data to judge our progress in tackling de-carbonising, pollution, biodiversity, etc.
®, led by equinox-logic, has come up with many neat ideas. Here’s one:Daylight saving In March we sleep unnecessarily through morning daylight. There is a simple, fair, and logical equinox-based solution to daylight saving that could be applied internationally and save $millions in energy costs and tonnes of CO² completely cost-free!
A new initiative led by the young is taking root fast (clickable), adding pressure to act as if there is a future (for them). That’s the stick. And the carrot? – remember that science tells us climate change (clickable) is overwhelmingly caused by man-made global warming. If we made it, we can un-make it.
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These words of the famous anthropologist Margaret Mead – who with others 50 years ago in 1969 chose this fixed event in the calendar to be the first Earth Day – apply precisely to the equinox.
The Spring Equinox is a natural Earth Day, with a host of advantages built in. Not only that, it has a twin on the other side of the year: the Autumnal Equinox (September 23). Continue reading
This is the transcript of a reading given on December 15th at St Clement Danes Church as part of the Christmas Concert of the talented young choir Coro.
Apollo 8 was the first manned spacecraft to leave Earth’s orbit and head up and out into deeper space. The astronauts were Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders and they orbited the moon ten times during December 24, 1968. On the fourth pass, at 4pm GMT, as they came round again from the dark side of the moon Anders saw something emerging from below the lunar horizon: Continue reading
EQ is a reimagining, half a century on, of Margaret Mead and others’ choice of the Vernal Equinox of 1969 as Earth Day*, but coupling it with the Autumn Equinox to make twinned biannual Earth Days. But equally, equinoxes are excellent prompts for clear, rational and logical thinking. Hence a post about this great book, published in 1930. Continue reading
Happy Summer Solstice (not summer equinox, as Justin Webb had it this morning on @BBCR4Today). The Swedes get the equinoxes and the solstices – as do all high latitude peoples, and today these ancient rocks will be hosting al fresco parties, for they are at the end of the island of Smögen, a popular and picturesque shrimping port – and party venue. Continue reading
” ..but, eternally having sunshine in equal nights and in equal days, the good receive a less toilsome life, not vexing the earth or the water of the sea with the strength of their hands to achieve a meagre sustenance; instead, in the presence of the honoured Gods, those who delighted in keeping their oaths pass a tearless existence…”*
So recited Pindar, in his Olympian Ode 2 Continue reading
This mugshot¹ displays one of many slogans that attach naturally and convincingly to EQ. On the other side: Spring into Action.
The autumn equinox is a time for renewal even while leaf-fall reminds us of the natural cycle of decay. Continue reading
Stephen Hawking is 75! Indomitable doesn’t come close to describing his life.
He became a research fellow at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge shortly before I joined as an undergraduate. By then he had already outlived the prognosis of his first diagnosis, in 1963. This is a promo video of Caius choir’s birthday tribute; the full piece is here. I remember Continue reading
As it’s the Summer Solstice today I will end this post with a personal footnote, for I first met Michael Solomon Williams at the 1989 solstice in a magical performance of Britten’s opera A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He was six, and the ‘fetched’ Humble Bee to my Bottom. So more of that anon… now Common and Kind – which is Michael’s #JoCox #moreincommon -inspired initiative, subtitled more in common in music. Continue reading
As I peddle the EQ concept I am often astonished to discover how hazy is the concept of equinox. I have used this NASA image as background for new Facebook and Twitter pages as it clearly shows – in a real image from space – Earth at equinox. Continue reading