In the early part of 1990, as Voyager 1 was hurtling out into the outer reaches of the solar system, on past the orbital paths of Neptune and Pluto, NASA did something unusual. Voyager’s mission, having long since completed its primary goal of close fly-bys of Jupiter and Saturn, was to look outward, towards the far fringes of the system. But at the request of Carl Sagan, NASA turned Voyager’s camera around to look back from whence it had come. In 1990, Voyager took the most remarkable photo of Earth in human history:
Today is Earth Day, an observance that was inspired at least in part by the previous most distant photos of the Earth ever taken, Apollo 8′s Earthrise and Apollo 17′s Blue Marble.
Consider that image and the words of Dr. Sagan. Consider the idea that the entire epic scope of human history, everything from the cave paintings at Lascaux to last night’s “American Idol,” happened on a speck that is nearly invisible from just a few light-hours away. And consider that this speck is all we’ve got. What’s more, for every man, woman and child alive on this speck today, it’s all we’ll ever have.
We need the Earth far more than it needs us. People say, “we’re destroying the planet,” which is just another bit of human ego. Even to say, “we’re destroying the environment” is a bit iffy. All we’re doing is making the environment of the planet inhospitable to ourselves and our fellow life. If we proceed in this course, if we wipe ourselves out through nuclear holocaust or environmental catastrophe, Earth will remain. She’ll continue rotating on her axis once every 24 hours and completing an orbit of the sun once every 365.25 days. Unless something catastrophic beyond even the very twisted limits of human imagination occurs, life will go on. Just not human life. But life will go on, adapting, evolving, transforming the landscape as it has done for billions of years. If someone tells you we need to save the planet, don’t you believe it. We need to save ourselves.
In spite of what the cynics say, I think we’re worth saving. And I’d like to think that Carl Sagan would agree with me.