Does seeing Earth from space alter your perspective?
By David Wogan
This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
Whenever I watch videos of Earth from space I’m struck by how thin the atmosphere is. Seen from above, our atmosphere is nothing more than a thin shell, enveloping life on Earth. It looks fragile. For me, it makes it even harder to rationalize polluting the environment or letting carbon emissions run wild when you realize that there isn’t an infinite repository for our industrial scale excreta.
For the 40th anniversary of the “Blue Marble” photograph, a group called Planetary Collective has put together a short film (20 minutes) documenting the perspective-altering experience of seeing Earth from space featuring interviews with five astronauts.
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Is it just me, or does seeing our home planet from space invite contemplation?
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