Astronaut shares the profound 'big lie' he realized after seeing the Earth from space

[Pluvious]

I just pray we, as a species, wake up in time

Sixty-one years ago, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to make it into space and probably the first to experience what scientists now call the "overview effect." This change occurs when people see the world from far above and notice that it’s a place where “borders are invisible, where racial, religious and economic strife are nowhere to be seen.”

…

“When I looked out the window of the International Space Station, I saw the paparazzi-like flashes of lightning storms, I saw dancing curtains of auroras that seemed so close it was as if we could reach out and touch them. And I saw the unbelievable thinness of our planet's atmosphere. In that moment, I was hit with the sobering realization that that paper-thin layer keeps every living thing on our planet alive,” Garan said in the video.

“I saw an iridescent biosphere teeming with life,” he continues. “I didn't see the economy. But since our human-made systems treat everything, including the very life-support systems of our planet, as the wholly owned subsidiary of the global economy, it's obvious from the vantage point of space that we're living a lie.”

It was at that moment he realized that humanity needs to reevaluate its priorities.

“We need to move from thinking economy, society, planet to planet, society, economy. That's when we're going to continue our evolutionary process,” he added.

https://www.upworthy.com/astronaut-shares-big-lie-space

[dalton99a]

1. Kick

Actor William Shatner had a similar experience to Garan's when he traveled into space.

"It was among the strongest feelings of grief I have ever encountered," Shatner wrote. "The contrast between the vicious coldness of space and the warm nurturing of Earth below filled me with overwhelming sadness. Every day, we are confronted with the knowledge of further destruction of Earth at our hands: the extinction of animal species, of flora and fauna … things that took five billion years to evolve, and suddenly we will never see them again because of the interference of mankind."

[cilla4progress]

28. I heard him interviewed and bought

husband his book - memoir - for Christmas!

The grief... so striking...

[CrispyQ]

2. We paved paradise & put up a parking lot. -nt

[patphil]

8. Joni Mitchel

[Otto_Harper]

10. Don't it always seem to go

that you don't know what you got till its gone.

[Genki Hikari]

71. Yep

[Pluvious]

15. Now I got the ear worm ! Here's a fun cover for those who enjoy inspired tributes...

Counting Crows - Big Yellow Taxi ft. Vanessa Carlton

[Glaisne]

41. And as things fell apart Nobody paid much attention

[Pluvious]

60. Perfect !

[markodochartaigh]

24. "We make a desert and call it peace." nt

[Evolve Dammit]

56. Good recall of a great song. So true then, truer today. Dammit...

[IronLionZion]

66. Don't it always seem to go

that you don't know what you got til it's gone

[OldBaldy1701E]

3. Oh, it is obvious down here as well.

At least to some of us. But, it is a very, very few of us. Which is why no one else worries about it. Why listen to someone who keeps pointing out that the foundations are bad and it is not going the fixed with a few new windows and some paint? Especially when the majority is saying everything is fine and will work out?

[airplaneman]

43. Just look at YouTube

Real climate scientists 50-5,000 hits in a week
Conspiracy nut cases 50,000 to 250,000 hits in a week

Were doomed

-Airplane

[Javaman]

4. "Why that's down right socialism!!!"

Fine by me 😀

[Hekate]

5. KnR

[TheBlackAdder]

59. 1) Is Earth flat or is he in on the conspiracy? ; 2) Capricorn None - He's in a warehouse in Nevada!

[SouthernDem4ever]

6. Maybe we should launch all climate deniers into space

just a thought.

[A HERETIC I AM]

7. Let's start with the flat earthers.

We need to excise that idiocy ASAP

[Ford_Prefect]

9. The is no planet B. No magical Ark ship to take us there either. Abuse it and you'll lose it.

[Pluvious]

62. Are humans the only creatures that foul their own nests ? (nt)

[malthaussen]

11. Worthy of a rant all by itself.

Oddly, it was the Communists who first suggested that Man was an economic being, but the capitalists were all over that one like white on rice. These days, even those who should know better are convinced that people are primarily driven by economic interests, even though there is plenty of evidence to dispute this. The idea that this nebulous thing called "the Economy" is something separate from, and apparently superior to, the people who create it is insidious and so widespread as to be fundamental. And it just ain't so, but it provides plenty of excuse to service the one while neglecting the other.

-- Mal

[Doc Sportello]

16. Very well said

Insightful and all of it true.

[Pluvious]

17. Thank you for sharing this (nt)

[nightwing1240]

25. Well said

[Martin Eden]

36. GDP growth is the metric by which success is measured

Not quality of life for all people or protecting the environment which sustains life itself.

[Delphinus]

37. The economy,

or money as the new god. We, humans, don’t matter.

[Farmer-Rick]

73. Yeah, Richard Wolff said that originally economics and politics

We're considered the same thing.

And they affect each other directly.

We have an oligarchy because our economic system is so broken. It's all tied together on only one livable planet.

[Marthe48]

12. We all buy into needing more, wanting more

The movie, The Gods Must Be Crazy shows how easily possessions can lead us astray.

Read that ancient religions bestowed god qualities to springs, trees, rocks, and places. It was a long time before living trees were cut for firewood and other uses. You know about knocking wood for good luck? Druids thought a god lived in each tree, and if you needed help, you knocked wood to alert the god of your need. Each spring of water was thought to have qualities given by specific gods or goddesses, and early healers suggested different springs to drink from or bathe in for specific healing properties. I'm not up on rocks and stones in place as holy, but think of the healing powers of rocks and crystals that many people believe in. Maybe the Blarney Stone has lore that comes from early reverence. And think of places like Delphi, Lourdes, Jerusalem, or Mecca, places people go out of their way to visit.
Humans set aside the awe with which we viewed the world. Maybe not all cultures, but all of the peoples who embraced an economy that is based on profit, not need, made humans the poorer and planet Earth more fragile.

[Pluvious]

18. That was beautiful - thanks for sharing (TIL knocks on wood!) nt

[cilla4progress]

29. Indeed, I believe it is indigenous wisdom

that will save the planet.

Here's an amazing film we watched last night on YouTube. It goes to this issue.

[Marthe48]

54. Animals have so much patience

with us humans. I read a National Geo. story years ago about one of the groups that live in Lappland and rely on reindeer. Hard to believe there are still people who live so close to nature.

[cilla4progress]

55. Agreed!

It was so interesting learning about their social and spiritual life.

[Pluvious]

64. This very cool, thanks for sharing - IIRC, Reindeer are...

… the only mammal which can see into the UV range !

[llmart]

58. I know you don't really think "we all" do this.

Some of us don't. I've posted many times on here about how I chose voluntary simplicity back in my 40's. My siblings and I sometimes don't have much in common, but on the issue of conspicuous consumption we all agree and have lived that lifestyle. There was a movement back in the early 90's towards trying to get more people to think about their consumerism. It didn't seem to gain much attention by the majority of Americans.

It's not about living like a monk either. I have everything I need and it's very little in comparison to most people in this country, but it's still so much more than most people on the planet.

The original mantra of the environmental movement of the 70's was "reduce, reuse, recycle" but most people just focus on the "recyle" part and forget about the "reduce" part which means, don't buy it to begin with if you don't need it. My biggest pet peeve is all the packaging. It's ridiculous that everything is so ultra-packaged these days.

[Marthe48]

61. I know we don't all do this

but don't you think it takes a conscious effort to avoid consumerism? And practice respect for the planet? You made a commitment and I agree with your choices, and pretty much do what I can to live along the same lines. But, as you say, most people keep consuming. I am downsizing a lifelong collection and actually started a booth in a vintage mall. Capitalism relies on a vicious cycle of people buying what they don't need, and producers do all they can to feed need and want. I think another need for capitalism to remain a force is to keep moving people away from nature, and allowing more and more disrespect to the planet.

[llmart]

63. I agree with everything you wrote.

And yes, in the beginning, at least for me, I had to make conscious choices all the time, but then it just became my lifestyle and habit. I was never a very materialistic person to start with, but I did have two children and a husband who was the opposite of me, so in my younger years I felt like I had to compromise.

I think I just get tired of people even here on DU who bemoan the trashing of our planet and then I read posts about all the things they're buying for Christmas or just in their lives. I think every one of us can do something more than we're doing right now. Growing up in the 50's and 60's we were able to live our lives without all the extraneous stuff that people feel they "need" these days. Don't get me started on the Amazon phenomenon. All that packaging!

[Marthe48]

65. We had to budget most of the time

so it became a habit to make do. We knew this older lady and she had a sampler in her kitchen: "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without." I was newly married when I saw that, and 50+ years later, have never forgot it. My parents lived their whole marriage in my paternal grandmother's home. I grew up in a time when it was assumed children would move into a place of their own. When we hosted exchange students, we learned that most countries don't have that expectation. The adult children live with their parents, and sometimes grandparents, until they marry, and then maybe even after that. Multigenerational homes make sense to me: one mortgage, one set of utility bills. I think anything we can share, we should. I remember hearing about an idea that didn't take hold: several people, such as neighbors, buying large pieces of equipment and sharing it as needed.

[burrowowl]

67. That movie is one of my all time favorites!

[GreenWave]

13. This reminds me of a song.

Please have crying rag nearby. I know I need one.

&t=172s

[republianmushroom]

14. to late

[Arthur_Frain]

19. So everyone who comes back from space is fundamentally changed?

WTF Elon? You got to go up and see the big picture, how come you’re the only one who insists on being a dick?

Maybe he was too scared to open his eyes.

[JonAndKatePlusABird]

23. I don't think he's been to space

I think that Bezos was the only one so far out of the billionaires that have been.

[cilla4progress]

30. And since he's been back he's decided to

offload his wealth... hmm....

https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/14/business/jeff-bezos-charity/index.html

[LastDemocratInSC]

35. Richard Branson, too.

[multigraincracker]

20. From the Generation that never left the planet and were still able to look back.....

[nightwing1240]

26. Great song

Well ahead of it's time and needed yet today.

[Deuxcents]

68. This always gets me. I sometimes wonder..what if he was still with us..

What if..awww..this song just gets me.

[Arazi]

21. Reminds of Bette Midlers great song "From a Distance"

[nightwing1240]

27. Another great song

I believe it came out during the first gulf war. That one and this one by Styx and of course, both are fitting for this topic.

Show me the way

[Warpy]

22. And I saw it right here on earth

I was a surgical nurse, often having to pack some pretty awful open wounds. I can tell you for a fact that we're all constructed exactly the same way under the very thin layer of our skin. We're all exactly the same species, and everything else is just a bunch of trivialities for idiots.

Culture, however, is vitally important, and no, I'm not talking about opera and ballet. Some people are wildly offended by it. and some (like me) have lived in ports of entry and are fascinated by it.

What has always struck me about pictures from space isn't the lack of obvious borders and such, it's how thin the biosphere really is, not even an eggshell, more like that layer between the eggshell and the egg inside. We can barely see the atmosphere, and the lithosphere is even thinner in many places. It shows you just how fragile life on this planet really is.

And yes, we're all in it together, whether or not we can stand being around each other.

[cilla4progress]

32. You hit on a point, Warpy, that I have been thinking about..

culture. As you say, some people just can't tolerate, aren't interested in, and DISDAIN other cultures! They just can't wrap their minds around it.

Grateful I was raised in tolerance and APPRECIATION of other cultures! When I was growing up we had exchange students from India, Yugoslavia; my parents always took us to museums - something I still obsess over today! And we attended a secular humanist association of fellow seekers on Sunday mornings. https://essexethical.org/

It all stuck.

Thanks, Mom and Dad!

[Warpy]

47. I didn't have any of those advantages. What I did have

was a mother who took me on buses and trains to park me here and there because they were always moving. Once, when I had to be between 2 or 3, she was drinking coffee during a layover stop and I saw an older man in funny clothes pouring his coffee into a saucer and drinking it out of the saucer. I asked my mother why he did that and she told me he was different, that being different wasn't right or wrong, it was just different. It stuck.

Being raised Irish Catholic didn't. I'm thrilled to say it didn't stick with my parents, either, both of whom died unbelievers and unafraid of judgment or hell.

(That was the trip where she fished a cockroach out of her coffee and drank the coffee. I must have looked horrified, she said the coffee was hot enough to kill anything the cockroach had. That stuck, too)

[cilla4progress]

48. Cool!

Yay mom!

[NNadir]

31. Nevertheless there is Elon Musk. Thanks though. A nice perspective. n/t.

[TheProle]

33. You got it, you got it

[lambchopp59]

34. Global perspective

Rendered presbyopic for the RW-media consumer craving idiotic, crass justification of egregious consumption and caste structure maintenance.
A few years in a small, isolated town had shocking revelations for me at precisely how ignorant of the larger ecosystem some can get:
Practically in the same breath, old granny rocking chair stated how she recalled that tiny village from yesteryear, didn't want it to ever change, then rolls out the pictures of all 18 grandchildren. Consequences not given an inkling of thought.
I'm not certain it gets much smaller minded than to be consumed with hatred for LGBTQ people on such a resource limited world. But... religion is doing more damage than good on the whole, especially utilized as some idiotic greed justification so prevalent in the prosperity gospel.

[moniss]

38. John Prine

[rubbersole]

44. The wonderful late John Prine.

Thanks.

[LuckyCharms]

39. Spinning

[Blue Owl]

40. Pale blue dot time

[Deuxcents]

69. Absolutely

[Glaisne]

42. Take out trees, Take out wildlife at a rate of species every single day

Take out people who've lived with this for 100, 000 years...

[Baitball Blogger]

45. Just don't call it the plight of the Commons.

Too many have built a resistance to this idea.

[roamer65]

46. My gut tells me we have one more world war and resulting MAJOR depopulation...

before the human race experiences the “epiphany” that we ALL need to get along and respect the planet we live upon.

[cilla4progress]

49. Boy,

I hear you there!

[Tommymac]

50. Re Garinan, it's already starting to happen. Today's global society is transforming slowly...

to be more planet/people oriented. Been going on for at least a few generations.

A lot of pain and chaos ahead in the next 50 years, the proverbial Chinese 'interesting times'. But to be fair there will be more and more good happening for all the Peoples to help ease the pain.

A true read of history shows that this happens a lot - dangerous authoritarian/monarchies tend to fall, and fall violently to a People powered movement; the issue is that that authoritarians etc. ALWAYS GO TOO FAR.

(Tough, good read on the subject: The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity is a 2021 book by anthropologist and anarchist activist David Graeber, and archaeologist David Wengrow.)

Trump. Putin. Musk. These are the popular public faces of the 1%, a greedy self-centered 1% that is currently waaaaaaaaaaayyyyyy overstepping it's welcome.

And going too far.

Just ask President Zalenskyy.

[Skittles]

51. you don't need to go to outer space to come to that realization

you just have to truly CARE

[stage left]

52. K&R

Thank you. A great watch.

[BigmanPigman]

53. Humans are a crappy species.

We deserve to die of before we kill all the other species with our "advanced intelligence". We are going to destroy the other life on the planet.

[Evolve Dammit]

57. We are well on our way. William Shattner described driving hundreds of miles in CA and had one bug

on his windshield the entire drive, when in years past it would have been hundreds. We have really fucked up our home.
"We will be known forever by the tracks that we leave." Chief Seattle

[SheltieLover]

70. Kicking for visibility

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

72. That is a beautiful photo of our planet.

And it is interesting to see Antarctica and Australia in that perspective.

[AllaN01Bear]

74. neal armstrong never talked about his time on the moon.