With the recent earthquake and avalanche in Nepal and the resultant tragic loss of life, we are reminded once again that we are but travellers on Planet Earth and not its masters. Earthquakes, volcanoes, mudslides, tornadoes, hurricanes, avalanches, impacts, drought, fire, flood, upheaval, subsidence, folding, faulting, crumbling – these phenomena are evidence of planetary changes as the Earth’s mantle breathes and sighs. These massive geological rips and tucks are gargantuan forces that have pushed up mountain ranges and transformed continents over aeons of time, from ancient Pangaea to even more ancient, Rodinia. In the face of this primal planetary evolution we are but small and transitory…