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https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250422-how-50-years-of-climate-change-has-changed-the-face-of-the-blue-marble>
'"I'll tell you," said astronaut Harrison Schmitt as the Apollo 17 hurtled
towards the Moon, "if there ever was a fragile-appearing piece of blue in
space, it's the Earth right now".
It was Thursday 7 December 1972, that humanity got its first look at our planet
as a whole. In that moment, the photograph "The Blue Marble" was taken – one
which changed the way we saw our world.
"I can see the lights of southern California, Bob," said Schmitt to ground
control about one and a half hours into the flight. "Man's field of stars on
the Earth is competing with the heavens."
The crew of the Apollo 17 – commander Eugene Cernan, command module pilot
Ronald Evans and lunar module pilot Harrison "Jack" Schmitt – were watching
their home recede into the distance as they journeyed into space for the last
manned mission to the Moon.
Looking back towards the Earth, Cernan commented: "the clouds seem to be very
artistic, very picturesque. Some in clockwise rotating fashion… but appear to
be… very thin where you can… see through those clouds to the blue water below."
It is an enduring image of the beauty but also the vulnerability of our planet
– adrift as it is in the vastness of the Universe, which hosts no other signs
of life that we have been able to detect to date. But ours is also a planet of
great change. The tectonic movements that shift the landmasses move too slow
for our eyes to notice. Yet another force – humanity itself – has been
reshaping our planet at a pace that we can see. Urbanisation, deforestation,
pollution and greenhouse gas emissions are altering the way the Earth looks. So
how, over the 50 years since that iconic image was taken, has the Blue Marble
changed?'
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
