Earthrise 1968
I see it’s Earth Day – and it’s trending on twitter.
Should we celebrate Earth day, commemorate it, note it, or ignore it? What does it mean? Is it an opportunity to sell product, or ideas. Should we take an Earth day selfie and post it on Facebook?
When I was growing up I had this photo on my bedroom wall. It was taken on Christmas Eve 1968 by NASA astronaut Bill Anders, during the Apollo 8 mission. I used to look at the picture and marvel at how small the earth was and how huge and black space was, all around it.
Seeing this image again 40 odd years later, fills me with a complex array of emotions.
But above all, it makes me think again about how special our planet is – because it is alive, it has nature.
Perhaps that’s the reason to have Earth Day, to remember and remind ourselves that we only have one planet, and we need to share it, because it’s not just ours.
Miles King
Photo By NASA / Bill Anders – http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/alsj/a410/AS8-14-2383HR.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=306267
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