The moon is one of the most important features of the planet Earth. Without this natural satellite, the evolution of life on the planet and the way it has developed to what it is now would be a lot different.
If there were no moon, consequently there were no such thing as tides, which Joan S. Davis in his article Water: Communicator in Moon-Earth Relationships, calls “clearly the most readily associated effect” that moon has on earth.
According to the same article, tides are not the only water-related effects that moon has upon the earth. Moon also imposes “subtle fluctuating influences” on the water in the cells of living beings, which is necessary for all who are alive.
The axial tilt in the way the earth orbits around the sun has been caused by the moon too. This tilt (which is 23.4 degrees) would have never change its upright position if it was not for the moon, and is very crucial in keeping the temperature of the earth at a point in which all kinds of life can continue living.
The moon’s influences on the earth are not just professional phenomena that can only be described using academic words. The moon affects many aspects of everyday and private affairs that we are involved with in our lives. Roberts Wallace mentions some of these affairs in his article How the Moon affects the Earth’s Surface as “pregnancy and menstruation, harvests, madness, rainfall, love, fishing, epilepsy and false fire alarms.” to which I add, the 12-month calendar and the amazing different seasons we have on Earth.
References
Barbieri, C. (2001). Earth-moon relationships: Proceedings of the conference held in Padova, Italy, at the Accademia galileiana di scienze lettere ed arti, November 8-10, 2000. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic.
Vallace, R. (1958, December 15). How the Moon affects the Earth’s Surface. Life, 94-97.
