The Photo That Changed the World
What were you doing on Christmas Eve 1968?
If you are younger than 40 you weren’t even alive. I hit 50 next month, and I remember it well. Not just because I was 9 years old and Christmas morning was a few hours away. Apollo 8 was circling the Moon, and I was (and still am) a Space nut. Human beings on that Christmas Eve were for the first time in human history, looking at the Earth from another World. We take it for granted now, but in 1968, this was an almost unbelievable event. My Grandfather never did really believe it.
The Crew of Apollo 8: Borman, Anders and Lovell
The Crew of Apollo 8: Borman, Anders and Lovell
When Apollo 8 went around the edge of the Moon, all contact was lost with Earth. NASA had a nervous half hour plus waiting for the Spacecraft to re-emerge. Hopefully the Astronauts would have successfully fired their engine, and slowed down enough to fall into Lunar Orbit. Finally, through the static the voice of Frank Borman said, “OK Houston, you can tell the world, we have arrived.”
Those words were spoken just after the astronauts saw something incredible. Earth rise. The Bright Blue Earth rose above the gray Moon as they rounded the back side. Bill Anders grabbed a camera and took a quick snap. It has become one of the most famous photos ever taken. Probably, it is THE most famous photograph ever made.
It also changed the World.
Earthrise from Apollo 8. 24 Dec. 1968 By Bill Anders
From the Dawn of human history through the 1960′s the human mindset was “us against nature”. A popular song in the 70′s was titled “You and me against the World”. This was how Humans thought of our relationship with the planet. Over the last 4,000 years, humans had learned to shelter ourselves, and develop agriculture. We built cities, and in the 1800′s America tamed the continent. The idea that we could significantly harm the planet was not really considered. Nature was the enemy to be battled against. Humans were tiny. The world was huge. It could care less about us.
In reality however, it was no longer true in 1968, and it’s much more a falsehood now.
You could argue that we can’t harm the planet, and you would be right. It’s probably more correct to say that humans are harming themselves, and the other life on the planet. The Earth will adjust. New life will evolve suited to the changed Earth. This itself is nothing new. 99.9% of the species that have ever lived on Earth are now extinct. The Biologists tell us that the more successful a species is, the sooner it goes extinct. Go figure that. We humans have been around for less than 5 million years. Dinosaurs lasted well over 100 million years. The Trilobytes lasted even longer before they died suddenly in the great Permian extinction.
Bill Anders photo changed the human mindset. For the first time in Human history, we humans saw just how insignificant a home we have in the vast Universe. A small island of colourful life in lonely cosmos. The foundations had been layed before Anders took that photo. Rachel Carson had written “SILENT SPRING”. It was perhaps the first environmental best seller. A popular public service announcement on TV against littering and pollution, featured an Indian who cried at the site of a littered landscape. It was a powerful 60 second spot.
Rachel Carson wrote the first environmental best seller. wiki.
Just 16 months after Bill Anders pressed the shutter release on Apollo 8, the planet celebrated the first EarthDay.
Scientists in the late 1960′s warned that if we did not change our ways, that by the end of the century, the majority of our rivers would be seriously polluted, and that Ocean fishing stocks would crash. Others warned that millions would suffer health affects from air pollution. Still other scientists warned Congress that there was growing evidence that we were risking our stable climate by continuing to burn fossil fuel at an increasing rate. President Lyndon Johnson was first warned of this in 1965!
Asian Brown Cloud from NASA/NOAA
So here we are 40 years later, and most every one of those predictions have come true, and much more. Nearly every major river on this planet is heavily polluted. The air pollution is so bad in Asia that a giant brown cloud blocks the sunlight, over the planet from India to China. The Asian brown cloud has reduced sunlight by more than 10%, in huge swaths of the planet. Invasive species are costing governments, and citizens billions each year. With the Arctic ice melting at an alarming rate, it seems that humans have, at last, gotten the message. Is it too late?
A series of papers in the journal NATURE last week, have shown that we may have less than 40 years to make DRASTIC cuts in greenhouse gases. That’s IF we want to hold the warming of our planet to 2C. This will still be a major change to our Climate, but almost no serious Climate Scientist thinks we can hold it below 2C now.
We humans learn slowly it seems. Still, we should all be glad that the crew of Apollo 8 thought to grab a photo of the Earth rise on Christmas Eve 1968.
Later,
Dan
