Music festivals and fan conventions, art walks, author events, and reading parties.

The next few months are amazing for arts and culture in the Seattle area.

And every week, KUOW's Arts and Culture Podcast, Meet Me Here, will give you the inside scoop.

From inspired recommendations to surprising chats with artists, you'll discover what's truly special about Seattle's creative communities.

Listen to meet me here on the KUOW app or wherever you get your podcasts.

You look amazing. You look beautiful.

Those are the words of Victor Glover, pilot of NASA's Artemis II mission.

He spoke those words less than a month ago on his trip to the moon, his way of describing

our planet as he peered out of the window of his space capsule and took in the view.

I've never seen our planet from 200,000 miles away, but I visited many different parts at eye level and I agree with Victor.

We are amazing and we do look beautiful.

As we celebrate Earth Day 2026, I wanted to share a few of my own words of appreciation for our planet.

I hope they resonate with you.

Enjoy.

About 20 years ago I saw an analogy on a poster in London. I scribbled it down on a

notepad because it floored me at the time and has really stuck with me since.

Planet Earth is 4.6 billion years old.

That's a very hard number to get your head around. So instead, think of it

like this, condense that 4.6 billion years into 46 years. Think of Earth as a 46-year-old.

Nothing is known about the first seven years of her life. We know something of the next 35 years, but not in any detail.

At the age of 42, the earth began to flower, algae, mosses, ferns, then forests.

North and South America, Africa and Europe were joined together

...