Ebb & Flow of Iconic Earth Images

November 14, 2007

I recently received word from NASA of these two stunning new images of the Earth from space.

The originals are huge and they are great stuff for computer desktops and for putting onto the dust covers of books and reports. But they reminded me of some other iconic images of Earth that seemed, somehow, less pedestrian.

This is perhaps the most popular and well known image of Earth from space. It was snapped by Moon-bound Apollo 17 astronauts on Dec. 7, 1972. For those of you too young to remember or who missed all of the buzz about it in the 1980s, this was the image many folks said would unite us  Earthlings and cause us to see the madness of nuclear arms, pollution, overpopulation, war, poverty, etc.

Alas, it failed to deliver the desired humanity-wide epiphany. Some folks, I suspect, looked at the image with total incomprehension. Water off a duck’s back. Still others with a little more clout, it would seem, probably leered greedily at the image, rubbed their hands together and mumbled “Mine, mine, all mine!” There is even another set of people who seemed to have responded with “Ick! I want to move to Mars.”

Least stunning of them all but, in my book, far more compelling was the Pale Blue Dot of 1990. This was Earth as seen by Voyager 1, some 6.4 billion kilometers out in space. Earth is the bright speck almost lost in a ray of sunlight. This image was popularized by Carl Sagan, who expressed its significance far better than I can, at a commencement address on May 11, 1996:

“Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every ‘superstar,’ every ‘supreme leader,’ every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.”

I don't know about you, but this is the image I'll be looking at from time to time as we edge into what may be the rowdiest election year ever in the US. Keeps it all in perspective.

Comments

[Robin Morgan]

I just have to say that this blog is great! Good Job! :) Everything here is what should be center stage getting the most attention. The U N says Global Warming irreversible. But if it is made a top priority we as a whole can change some things, I know there is going to be that one special scientist that makes a discovery to aid in coming up with ways to better our planet. I know NASA gets a lot of money but they need more, matter of fact they were denied funds for keeping an eye on what could possibly be headed our way from space in our blind spot. Instead there is a program they will fund for a large scale mission to the Moon, it is Major $ Bucks. Enough of that although anything to better our knowledge of space exploration, I only intended to let you know I feel as if I am on the same wavelength in total agreement on all of the issues. The Governor of Alabama met with the Governor of Georgia over the water war the talk was about not letting the water in Georgia flow down into Alabama. Alabama has always counted on that water but it is all politics to them The point of it all is that there is a severe water shortage and it is becoming a crisis when Governor's meet over it. What to do? What to do? This drought might progress over years due to GW, who knows. I do know that it is suppose to rain here more than it does any where but we have just not been getting it, we are still way below breaking records. All of these issues are so urgent and there does need to be many good plans, the world has benefited from so many geniuses, now we are in need of more to come up with ways for our future generations of Children and Grandchildren. Hopefully there is a 10 year old somewhere right now that will be the oneof a few to discover how to make the planet a better place helping restore order to its fine balance. One more thing. We need to have faith, even when it seems as if there is none left I will help create more faith and hope not only for things to happen but have the faith in those around us while we enjoy our beautiful planet to live

[Larry O'Hanlon]

Thanks very much Robin. I like the way Martin Luther King put it, as we've been recently reminded by Barack Obama: The fierce urgency of NOW. We are arguable at the most critical time in the history of our species. And despite all the problems, it IS vital to have faith. That said, I admit that I often suffer from seeing the cup half empty (an occupational hazard). I find it awfully hard sometimes to have hope in the face of enormous and growing tomes of data showing the severity of the troubles and the pathetically inadequate responses by decision makers. But then I look at my children and I know that we simply have to move beyond politics and really get things done now. I'm feeling pretty fierce about that.

[nick petrillo]

Thanks for this great piece: Especially the Carl Sagan passage. Keep learning, keep encouraging others to learn. We're not as smart as we think, but we have greater access to knowledge than any generation before us...It should be our task to teach and to learn...to push Science forward- never looking back except to learn from our mistakes. There should be no place for ignorance or intolerance in our future. Each of us bears the responsibility to teach and to learn...for the good of all society.