In honor of Earth Day, rather than bombarding you with eco-friendly lifestyle gadgets and accessories, or assuaging your enviro-guilt with "how to green your life" tips (though we have those too!), I'm going to ask simply that you click through these mesmerizing images posted and sent along by our friends at at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
It's hard for us young folks to understand, but the first ever full image of Planet Earth—the shot that has come to be known as the Blue Marble—taken on December 7, 1972 by someone in the Apollo 17 crew, played an essential roll in the birth of the environmental movement. Who took the shot remains a heated controversy to this day (see this great account in The Atlantic), but for the first time in history, humans had some perspective of this planet we all rely on, and could better comprehend the limits to the natural resources that our society is dependent on.
Above is a more recent full size shot of this pale blue dot we call Earth. NASA calls it "the most detailed true-color image of the entire Earth to date." It's certainly the most spectacular we've seen.
Photo taken February 8, 2002. Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Image by Reto Stöckli (land surface, shallow water, clouds). Enhancements by Robert Simmon (ocean color, compositing, 3D globes, animation). Data and technical support: MODIS Land Group; MODIS Science Data Support Team; MODIS Atmosphere Group; MODIS Ocean Group Additional data: USGS EROS Data Center (topography); USGS Terrestrial Remote Sensing Flagstaff Field Center (Antarctica); Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (city lights).
Ben Jervey
