The Earth Story

Happy #EarthDay2020 🌎🌍🌏 The image shown is called “Earthrise”. Taken by Apollo 8 Astronaut William Anders in 1968, it has been dubbed the “most influential environmental photograph ever taken”, as it was one of the first times that people saw, in true colour, just how beautiful our little planet is. Looking at this image on a screen is humbling enough, but just imagine seeing this with your own eyes. Some lucky people have gotten to experience this, some even multiple times, over the decades. However, regardless of frequency or timing, there is one common realization that is shared among these lucky few: the Earth is precious, life is precious, and we need to mind it. To demonstrate this, here are some quotes from the men and women who have broken through to the darkness of space and observed our planet from above: "[The Moon] was a sobering sight, but it didn't have the impact on me, at least, as the view of the Earth did."— Frank Borman, Astronaut, Apollo 8. "It truly is an oasis and we don't take very good care of it. I think the elevation of that awareness is a real contribution to saving the Earth."— Dave Scott, Astronaut, Apollo 9 & 15. "The view of earth is absolutely spectacular, and the feeling of looking back and seeing your planet as a planet is just an amazing feeling. It's a totally different perspective, and it makes you appreciate, actually, how fragile our existence is." —Sally Ride, Astronaut, STS-7 and STS-41-G missions. “As we got further and further away, it [the Earth] diminished in size. Finally it shrank to the size of a marble, the most beautiful you can imagine. That beautiful, warm, living object looked so fragile, so delicate, that if you touched it with a finger it would crumble and fall apart. Seeing this has to change a man – James B. Irwin, Astronaut, Apollo Program. "It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small."— Neil Armstrong, Astronaut, Apollo 11, Gemini 8. ..and last but certainly not least, "You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, ‘Look at that, you son of a b**ch.” ― Edgar D. Mitchell, Astronaut, Apollo 14. While most of us will never experience Earth from space firsthand, we can listen to those who have and marvel at images like Earthrise. Earthrise reminds us that we are delicate, exceptional creatures living on a delicate and exceptional planet- it is our duty to protect it. Jean Image courtesy of NASA

Protect our Species

The title of this post is the theme for today, April 22nd 2019, the 49th annual “Earth Day” event. This theme was chosen to recognize the fact that, through human activities, this planet is currently experiencing a rapid drop in biodiversity – one comparable to the largest events in the geologic record – and these changes pose major challenges for humanity as a whole.

The Geologic record is a part of the tale of this theme, as the geologic record tells us how species have changed over the history of this planet. 550 million years ago, give or take, a group of organisms figured out how to produce hard parts – shells and other features that could be adapted for defense, attack, or structure – and they revolutionized life on Earth. Many organisms that existed before this event doubtless went extinct, but because they didn’t make hard parts we have very sparse records of them.

Since that time, there have been 5 times recorded in the fossil record where more than 75% of species on Earth went extinct: these are commonly nicknamed the “Big 5” mass extinctions. Some authors may count more by splitting these extinctions into separate events, as in the Cambrian, but each of them shows as a spike in extinction rate on this plot. The causes of these extinctions have included the impact of an asteroid, huge volcanic eruptions, and major climate shifts, but regardless of their cause they have each left their mark on this planet. Some of them removed species such as the non-avian dinosaurs that allowed mammals and birds to flourish, others such as the end-Permian caused compete changes in the types of organisms that dominated the oceans.

While these extinctions may have happened long ago, they are relevant to what we are seeing on the Earth today, due to changes driven by humans. The best estimates suggest that over the last few millennia as human civilization and population has grown, thousands of species have gone extinct already. An estimate published a few years ago suggested that over the last thousand years, the rate of extinction amongst vertebrate species right now is more than 100x the natural rate of extinctions that would be occurring without the influence of humans. Although we haven’t cataloged every species on Earth, using only reasonable estimates of the number of vertebrate species on this planet one can calculate that it would only take a few millennia at this rate for humans to produce the 6th mass extinction, wiping out more than 75% of the species on Earth. Some other groups of organisms, such as insects, may be suffering at rates even beyond those of vertebrates. Humans may already be a spike on this plot comparable to the intensity of the end-Cretaceous extinction.

One time I had an instructor describing the rocks of the early Triassic, just after the largest mass-extinction, as “pretty barren”. The planet Earth was a hostile place for life at that time, and the rocks show it; there just aren’t a lot of fossils because there weren’t a lot of survivors. Eventually life recovered, but it took time, and life didn’t look the same as it did beforehand. In the space of only a few millennia, humans are approaching being a geologic force of the same intensity.

These results are particularly important because humans rely on the world’s biodiversity. Organisms are used for food, for pollination, to help control pests and diseases, and even to shape the ecosystem we live in. There are some species that modern civilization simply cannot do without; that’s one reason why this Earth Day theme matters.

On a page like this, I usually try to focus on the scientific consequences of these actions, but in summary, it’s also worth asking about the moral case. We’re one species on this world; are we really ok with leaving nothing behind but a graveyard? Are we ok with one of our legacies being the 6th mass extinction?

-JBB

Image credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phanerozoic_Biodiversity.png

Earth day 2019: https://www.earthday.org/campaigns/endangered-species/earthday2019/

References: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6393/1080.2 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0185809 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspb.2012.2845 https://www.nature.com/articles/nature09678 https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/5/e1400253

Protected Area from Space Shown here is Egmont National Park in New Zealand. The park, with Mt. Taranaki at its center, was first designated a protected area in 1900, setting up a radius of 10 kilometers (6 miles) centered on the volcanic peak. This area of protected forest (dark green areas) can now clearly be seen, surrounded by once-forested pasturelands (light and brown green). Taken by Landsat 8 on July 3, 2014, the image shows how space-based observations are helping protect some of the Earth's most fragile environments by monitoring protected areas. This image can be found, among many others, in a new book called: Sanctuary: Exploring the World’s Protected Areas from Space, published by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (Arlington, Virginia) with support from NASA. -Jean More information on the book can be found here:http://strategies.org/iges-news/sanctuary/ Image Credit: NASA/USGS

Working For Change

The headlines are generally filled with reports of environmental concerns and catastrophes. To celebrate Earth Day this year, here are some positive efforts to better the environment that are being made by countries around the world.

CW

Image

Made available by the author

Sources

https://bit.ly/2rfMfnI

https://bit.ly/2EMYsSY

https://rainforests.mongabay.com/09reefs.htm

https://bit.ly/2F7WX1T

https://cnn.it/2HkvThh

https://n.pr/2F6gteG

https://cbsn.ws/2vy3O4N

http://resilient-cities.iclei.org/

https://resilientcities2018.iclei.org/program/highlights/

https://globalclimateactionsummit.org/

Earth Day 1970

Perhaps we should go back to the time of the first Earth Day. It was a very troubled time, more troubled perhaps even than today if you can believe it.

We were stuck in the midst of the Viet Nam war: we were losing our schoolmates to the war, to the first wave of recreational drug use, social unrest and race riots were nearly daily phenomena. The killings at Kent State followed the first Earth Day by just a matter of days, showing how “afraid” the authorities were of “us.”

So there we were, about a hundred of us if I recall correctly, marching from our high school into downtown to “protest” for our love of the Earth: we had all read Rachel Carson’s The Silent Spring. Once the local businesses we passed figured out we weren't war protesters (this time), we were accepted, smiled at, treated with somewhat of a condescending acceptance by people passing by in their immense V8’s – this was also the time before the oil crisis, when smog levels were at their worst, when it was perfectly okay to dump mine wastes into streams, and only Lady Bird Johnson seemed concerned that the USA was becoming an eyesore.

20 million Americans participated in rallies and rather innocuous protest marches such as ours under the urging of US Senator Gaylord Nelson on April 22, 1970. There wasn't much we could do about the war in Viet Nam except yell; there wasn't much we could do about civil unrest except to naively believe in the power of love. But maybe, just maybe, we could save the planet. We believed we could just by marching down Main Street.

Hard to imagine, but it was, believe it or not, Richard Nixon who, following the Earth Day protests, created the Environmental Protection Agency and passed the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts. Subsequent administrations have been hacking at these ever since. It was the ‘70s when recycling centers began to appear and be utilized and when the “crazy” environmental movement took shape.

The Earth today seems even more threatened than ever before. Maybe that little march of ours in 1970 was useless and silly, but I like to believe that maybe it did help to initiate the age of environmental awareness. We did not save the planet, at least, not yet.

Call me "crazy"...

Annie R

Image: An Earth Day poster of 1970 by Ralph Bently. I had this poster in my dorm room at college for several years.

http://mrlreference.blogspot.gr/2011_04_01_archive.html http://www.earthday.org/earth-day-history-movement

Happy Earth Day from TES!!

The Earth is commonly called the “Goldilocks” planet. At 149.60×10^6 km (1a.u) away from the sun, it is neither too hot nor too cold. We are situated in the solar system at a location where water is liquid and the atmospheric composition is one which not only supports life but allows life to thrive. This blue planet, our home, is the only place known to harbour life- but what is it that makes our world so special?

There is much debate to what the limits of life are, after all, we only have to look at the deepest depths of our oceans or at acidophilic microorganisms to recognise that life can survive in inexpedient and strange environments.

There is however a few key ingredients that I am sure we can all agree are a necessity for life as we know it, here is a non-exhaustive list.

Water:

To our extreme advantage, Earth is situated in the solar system at a location where temperatures allow water to be naturally liquid. Water has acted as a “primordial soup” – a place to harbour the ingredients of life such as DNA and Proteins and as it is an excellent solvent, it has the advantage of being capable to dissolve many substances creating a hub for biochemical activity.

Another benefit of water is its properties when frozen. Water in its solid form is actually less dense than it is as a liquid; this means ice floats and hence insulates the liquid water beneath it from freezing further. If ice was to sink, this would allow layers of water to freeze above it and inevitably all liquid water would become ice, making the chemical reactions for life near impossible.

Energy:

It may be obvious, but without energy virtually nothing can happen. The Earths most obvious source of energy is the sun. Our host star is the driver of many important functions, including photosynthesis; which provides the nutrients required for the bulk of life on earth, both directly and indirectly and provides us with an atmosphere that is about 21% oxygen, just right for respiration. The Earth’s atmosphere is very unique as it has free oxygen (O2), this is strange as oxygen loves to chemically react with other atoms and molecules. The oxygen in our atmosphere would disappear if photosynthesising organisms like plants and cyanobacteria did not regenerate it.

Recycling:

From plate tectonics to the carbon and water cycles, the recycling of materials and compounds is a natural process on Earth. Carbon dioxide is often stored in rocks, if it was to stay there the Earth would surely become a lot colder, but it is returned to the atmosphere through the action of plate tectonics and the resulting volcanic eruptions. Similarly water is recycled in the environment, from the precipitation that rains on the land, to the evapotranspiration of trees and plants to the evaporation of surface waters, the Earth has a way to ensure that there is recycling pattern for its most important molecules to be circulated throughout our environment.

Time:

Time has been instrumental to life here on Earth. This is mainly again to the credit of our sun. Scientists have argued that habitable worlds need a star that will live at the very least 7 billion years, and we are lucky enough to be revolving a star that will have a very long life. Time is paramount for evolution, the earth is about 4.6 billion years old, but life has not always prospered here. The first known organism appeared here around 3.5 billion years ago, multicellular organisms did not appear till 600 million years ago. Evolution is a very slow process and each and every one of us is a product of a vast amount of time.

Of course, all of these things are the basis of life here on Earth, but we must remember that we have evolved to utilise what is present in our global environment. While we are the only known planet to harbour life, continued exploration might pave way to the discovery of similar planets, or indeed planets where life has blossomed under different parameters may be found.

But until then, remember how truly remarkable we all are.

-Jean

Photo courtesy of NASA's Messenger spacecraft.

Resources: The age of Earth: http://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/usgsnps/gtime/ageofearth.html The Carbon Cycle: http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/research/themes/carbon/ The sun: http://www.astrosociety.org/edu/publications/tnl/39/sun2.html Water: http://www.lbl.gov/Publications/YOS/Jun/index.html

An earth day story of trying to find silence...and to protect a tiny bit of it in Olympic National Park

A Personal Earth Day Retrospective

On the first Earth Day, in 1970, I was an idealistic, angst-ridden 7th grader and budding (pun intended) feminist. Which, as you can imagine, made me wildly popular with my peers in Southeast Texas. As I grew older, America’s role in Vietnam ended, and the ‘70’s progressed, I listened more to John Denver than I did to rock and roll and became more and more conscious of the environment. I preached about it to a lot of people. Again, this did not make me popular. There were no local celebrations of Earth Day. Recycling meant taking the glass bottles from soft drinks (sodas, pop, etc.) down to the little store at the end of the street and getting a nickel for each one. Having grown up during the Depression, my parents, like others of their generation, were frugal and didn’t throw much away. Things were either fixed when they were broken, or used until they fell completely apart. With 7 kids in the family, we certainly lived the “reuse” part of “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”. Hand-me-downs were a prominent part of our lives. Now that several decades have passed, a lot of what was an oddity to be scoffed at back then (or something that “only those hippies in California” would do), has become embedded in many of our lives.

I did not actually get to participate in Earth Day until I began teaching Environmental Science in the mid-‘80’s and planned activities for the science students where I taught. I was in the pilot group of Texas teachers that were first granted credential endorsements by the state to teach Environmental Science at the high school level. “Save the Rainforest,” was the main environmental focus (and the fashion) in the 1980’s. My students and I built a rainforest (ironically, using a lot of paper) in the hallway outside my classroom, complete with sound effects and green cellophane covering the light fixtures. The bells would ring to signal the end of classes and students would pour out into the halls and walk to class through our forest. We were written about not just in the school newspaper, but also the local papers in Pasadena, Texas that year (that was exciting back then). Guest speakers included a parent who did wildlife rehabilitation and brought along some of the animals she cared for and a U.S. Fish & Wildlife officer who worked, along with U.S. Customs agents, confiscating illegal contraband made from threatened and endangered species. She would bring samples of contraband taken at the Port of Houston or Houston Intercontinental Airport and tell the students and teachers tales of folks who willingly or sometimes unknowingly, brought illegal animal products from abroad. My kids would shake their heads in disbelief at the story of a man who, having had one pair of ostrich skin boots confiscated by Customs, pulled a second pair out of his luggage. He lost that pair too and walked out of the airport in his socks.

Over the years and at other schools, my students built outdoor nature areas, dug ponds, planted marsh grass, did water quality testing, worked with Habitat for Humanity painting walls and planting trees at new properties (the kids weren’t old enough to participate in construction), ran recycling programs, and acted as guides as Earth Day activities expanded to include the entire campus. Our most exciting Earth Day was the year that a representative of the company overseeing our local toxic waste dump came to speak. Her uplifting message of building a park on top of the site (never happened) was followed by the local woman who organized the community to demand it be made a Super Fund cleanup site (It was eventually just sealed and monitored). Fortunately, we managed to not let the two women come into contact with one another. (It would have been fun, but ultimately would have gotten us in trouble with the school district.) That same year, a friend who was part of NASA’s Mars Meteorite Research team, brought a Mars meteorite (if memory serves, it was the Elephant Moraine meteorite), encased in a glass case filled with argon gas, and talked about where and how it was found and how they knew it was from Mars, etc. We thought it was super cool that we had to have a police presence in the room while the rock was on campus.

A lot of Earth Days have come and gone since then. My last year in the classroom, after having taught APES (Advanced Placement Environmental Science) classes for some time, my kids and I ended the year by canoeing down Village Creek, north of Beaumont, Texas. Many of those 90 high school juniors and seniors had never had the experience of being out in nature, away from a city. Some of them thanked me for the best school field trip they had ever been on. From some of their Facebook pages, I know that a number of them have since ventured back out into the natural world and have come to appreciate its beauty even more.

This year, I will spend as much of Earth Day as my orthopedic boot will allow, at our satellite “March for Science" events. So, I will leave you with the same advice that I gave to many, many teenagers through the years: “You may or may not be a John Muir, a Jane Goodall, a Dian Fossey, or a Jacques Cousteau. You might not ever make the national news, but if you work at making your corner of the world a better place and get those around you to do the same, it will spread, and in time, the whole world will be better.” Let's keep that as our goal. CW

Image

http://twistedsifter.com/2015/04/earth-day-gallery-by-nasa/

Sources

http://pantheonchemical.com/reduce-reuse-recycle/

https://www.marchforscience.com/

For ideas of things of you can do to participate in environmental community service:

http://bit.ly/2gKRaqt

At a GEOPARK, Every Day is Earth Day!

What is a Geopark? Well, in so many ways, nearly all the National Parks of Canada and the USA are Geoparks, as they celebrate many of the most gorgeous geologic/geomorphologic features on the face of the Earth.

But in 2000, in Europe, a new kind of “Geopark” came into being with the initiation of the European Geopark Network; and in 2004 they went international, a Global Geopark Network with a supportive link to UNESCO as well as the backing of the IUGS (International Union of Geological Sciences). So, again, what is a Geopark?

It’s a special area, an area rich in geologic treasures, landscapes of “drop dead” beauty, an area that develops these treasures for education, conservation, and tourism. It’s an area that links some of the world’s most important geoheritage with the environment and history hosted by the geoscientific treasures. And a Geopark is an area that aims to be economically self-sustaining while aiding the regional economy.

Sound too good to be true? There are, in fact, 133 Geoparks scattered about the globe, many in the movement’s birthplace of Europe, many in China and Southeast Asia, and new ones dotting the map of South America and Africa. There have been 13 proposed for inclusion in 2015, and the movement is growing!

So if you get the chance, do try to visit one of the Geoparks near you! And if there isn't one (New Zealand and Australia -- we're talking to you, here!), it's about time to start one!

Annie R

Photo: from the Geopark Naturteja da Meseta Meridional of Portugal, trace fossils from ~480 million year old “Trilobite Town” of Penha Garcia: http://bit.ly/1HqGrH2 Map: Courtesy University of the Aegean

UNESCO and the Global Geoparks: http://bit.ly/1dQbdqO

The European Geoparks: http://www.europeangeoparks.org/

Some Geoparks you’ll recognize from The Earth Story; http://bit.ly/1DbMMBm

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cheishichiyo/6404221835/

And our “aspiring” Geopark: http://bit.ly/1DbMMBm

Let’s go ahead and end Earth Day 2015 with John Oliver’s version of trying to improve it. Language/topic warning: NSFW.

Green roofs

The concept of the green roof is not a new phenomenon; with its basic functionality being utilised for several centuries. A green roof (also known as an eco-roof, nature roof, living roof or roof greening system) is a living, vegetative system that contains a substrate (growing media) and a vegetation layer at its outermost surface. Green roof systems can be used as a way of compensating for the increase of impervious surfaces, providing a visual and recreational escape from the ‘concrete jungles’ of urban landscapes.

One of the most attractive qualities of green roofs is that they wholly encompass the idea of sustainability. Sustainability can be broadly defined as an attempt to provide the best outcomes for the human and natural world both now and into the indefinite future. It relates to the continuity of economic, social and environmental aspects of human society, as well as the non-human environment.

Green roofs offer advantages socially, economically and environmentally which are all necessary to fully achieve any step towards sustainable development.

Environmental Benefits:

•Storm-water management Retrofitting a green roof system on a pre-existing rooftop can become an onsite water retention facility. Depending on the rain intensity and the soil depths runoff can be reduced by 15 to 90 %.

•Reduction of the urban heat Island effect:

Concrete and asphalt structures absorb the ultraviolet radiation from the sun during the day. At night however, this radiation is released as thermal infrared radiation which creates a dome of higher temperatures over cities. Because green roofs store water in the growing media and plants, latent heat loss is accomplished via transpiration from plants and evaporation of moisture from the growing medium collectively referred to as evapo-transpiration.

•Reduction of air pollution:

Plants can reduce the concentration of airborne pollutants in a number of ways. The leaves of the plant fix particulates, and then when it rains the particulates are washed down into the soil substrate where they become trapped in the soil substrate or growing medium. Through plant photosynthesis and respiration air containing carbon dioxide and toxins is absorbed through the stomata and transformed into glucose and water. Airborne particulates become trapped on the plant foliage until it rains. The particulates are then washed into the soil substrate and become entrained in the substrate mix preventing the dusts being dispersed downwind.

•Promotes Biodiversity:

Green roof offer habitat patches in areas which otherwise would be void of ecosystem services. Even in densely populated areas green roofs can attract a range of beneficial species of birds, bee’s, butterflies and other insects. The fact that the habitats are created at a height is actually beneficial, particularly to species that do not interact with human beings. By creating new habitats for plants and animals valuable ecosystem services can be reinstated into urban areas.

Economic Benefits:

•Prolonging the existing roofs life:

The average life span of a conventional roof is only 20 years attributed to damage and stress from cooling, heating and exposure. If a green roof system is incorporated into design the temperatures do not get too high due to evaporative cooling and frost damage to the roof structure is avoided as the soil takes the worst of it. It is estimated that the installation of a green roof can double or even triple the life span of a roof, hence reducing maintenance costs significantly for a small by comparison initial investment.

•Reduction in Energy Costs:

Accredited to the natural thermal insulating properties of vegetative cover green roofs discourage heat build-up. This results in a decreased need for air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter. It is estimated that a one story building can save anywhere between 20 and 30% of electrical energy requirements with the addition of a green roof.

Social Benefits:

•Green roofs can help to visually ease the stress created by a lack of green space in urban communities. By intertwining culture and nature, we can actively design to regenerate human and ecological health.

As a whole, the need to divorce our relationship with consumerism and resource use is of utmost importance and the relationship between humanity and nature must be rekindled. Green roofs are not only a tool towards environmental sustainability, but can act as a visual reminder of the importance of nature in our lives!

-Jean

Photograph by Diane Cooke and Len Jenshel

Earth Day 1970

Perhaps we should go back to the time of the first Earth Day. It was a very troubled time, more troubled perhaps even than today if you can believe it.

We were stuck in the midst of the Viet Nam war: we were losing our schoolmates to the war, to the first wave of recreational drug use, social unrest and race riots were nearly daily phenomena. The killings at Kent State followed the first Earth Day by just a matter of days, showing how “afraid” the authorities were of “us.”

So there we were, about a hundred of us if I recall correctly, marching from our high school into downtown to “protest” for our love of the Earth: we had all read Rachel Carson’s The Silent Spring. Once the local businesses we passed figured out we weren't war protesters (this time), we were accepted, smiled at, treated with somewhat of a condescending acceptance by people passing by in their immense V8’s – this was also the time before the oil crisis, when smog levels were at their worst, when it was perfectly okay to dump mine wastes into streams, and only Lady Bird Johnson seemed concerned that the USA was becoming an eyesore.

20 million Americans participated in rallies and rather innocuous protest marches such as ours under the urging of US Senator Gaylord Nelson on April 22, 1970. There wasn't much we could do about the war in Viet Nam except yell; there wasn't much we could do about civil unrest except to naively believe in the power of love. But maybe, just maybe, we could save the planet. We believed we could just by marching down Main Street.

Hard to imagine, but it was, believe it or not, Richard Nixon who, following the Earth Day protests, created the Environmental Protection Agency and passed the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts. Subsequent administrations have been hacking at these ever since. It was the ‘70s when recycling centers began to appear and be utilized and when the “crazy” environmental movement took shape.

The Earth today seems even more threatened than ever before. Maybe that little march of ours in 1970 was useless and silly, but I like to believe that maybe it did help to initiate the age of environmental awareness. We did not save the planet, at least, not yet.

Call me "crazy"...

Annie R

Image: An Earth Day poster of 1970 by Ralph Bently. I had this poster in my dorm room at college for several years.

http://mrlreference.blogspot.gr/2011_04_01_archive.html http://www.earthday.org/earth-day-history-movement

For the #EarthDay 2015, we want to share with you this image entitled “Earthrise” taken by Astronaut William Anders in 1968 during the Apollo 8 mission. It has been dubbed the “most influential environmental photograph ever taken”. Neil deGrasse Tyson summed this idea up the most efficiently when he said “We went to the Moon, and discovered the Earth”.

Sitting at a desk looking at this image of our home is quite humbling, but, imagine how it would feel to experience it for yourself. Here is a list of quotes from astronauts who have seen Earth from space for themselves:

“When you're finally up at the moon looking back on earth, all those differences and nationalistic traits are pretty well going to blend, and you're going to get a concept that maybe this really is one world and why the hell can't we learn to live together like decent people.”— Frank Borman, Apollo 8, Newsweek magazine, 23 December 1968.

"[The Moon] was a sobering sight, but it didn't have the impact on me, at least, as the view of the Earth did."— Frank Borman, Apollo 8, Interview for the PBS TV show 1999

"It truly is an oasis—and we don't take very good care of it. I think the elevation of that awareness is a real contribution to saving the Earth."— Dave Scott, Apollo 9 & 15, interview for the 2007 movie In the Shadow of the Moon

"It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small."— Neil Armstrong

"You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, ‘Look at that, you son of a bitch.” ― Edgar D. Mitchell

While most of us will never experience Earth from outer space, we can listen to those who have and marvel at images like Earthrise. This image, if anything, serves as a symbol for unity. Earthrise shows us that we are delicate, exceptional creatures living on a delicate and exceptional planet, which we must protect. The photo was so influential that when it was originally published, it helped inspire the formation of the United States’ Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970 and sparked an environmental movement.

-Jean