Abstract
On December 24, 1968, the crew of Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon, entered the lunar orbit. As Commander Frank Borman initiated a planned roll of the spacecraft, crewmember Bill Anders was photographing the moon’s surface through a side window. All of a sudden, Anders caught sight of Earth emerging over the lunar horizon. With an “Oh my God” from Anders, Borman and James Lovell also took in the view of the exquisite blue-and-white orb. A calm but urgent search began for a roll of color film. “Hurry. Quick,” Anders is heard uttering on the mission’s tape recording. Lovell found the film just too late, but moments later, through a different window, the lonely planet appeared again. Anders then snapped what became one of the most iconic and transformative photographs of the twentieth century: Earthrise.
One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice.
—Mary Oliver
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Notes
- 1.
Simulation and broadcast at Deborah Byrd, “This Date in Science: Earthrise.”
- 2.
US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), “Apollo 8: Christmas at the Moon”; 1 billion from Greenspan, “Remembering the Apollo 8 Christmas Eve Broadcast.”
- 3.
McKibben, Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet.
- 4.
This section draws upon Postel, “How the Yampa River, and Its Dependents, Survived the Drought of 2012.”
- 5.
Shuttleworth, “Agreement Entitles Whanganui River to Legal Identity”; Postel, “A River in New Zealand Gets a Legal Voice.”
- 6.
Kendall, “A New Law of Nature”; Vidal, “Bolivia Enshrines Natural World’s Rights with Equal Status for Mother Earth.”
- 7.
Stone, Should Trees Have Standing? Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects; US Supreme Court, Sierra Club v. Morton (1972); Postel, “The Missing Piece: A Water Ethic.”
- 8.
This section draws upon Postel, “A Dam, Dying Fish, and a Montana Farmer’s Lifelong Quest to Right a Wrong.”
- 9.
Opening of habitat from French, “Bypassing the Barrier.”
- 10.
Leopold, A Sand County Almanac, 203; Postel, Last Oasis, 183–91.
- 11.
Bratter, “Sustainability Straight Talk: Working across the Public and Private Sector to Solve the Global Water Crisis.”
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© 2017 Sandra Postel
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Postel, S. (2017). Share. In: Replenish. Island Press, Washington, DC. https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-791-9_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-791-9_12
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