Environmental Monitoring from Space

Abstract

In the late 1990s, the author Frank White visited Huntsville, Alabama, and lectured at the local university on what he called the “overview effect.” White had just authored a book by that title and was touring the country speaking on the subject and promoting his book. According to White, most of the world’s astronauts experience an epiphany when they first gaze back from space upon this wonderful cradle of life we call Earth. With its magnificent blue oceans, swirling cloud formations, and obvious land formations, these space explorers experience a sense of belonging to the globe, not necessarily as citizens of the United States, Russia, or whatever country was responsible for their making the journey, but as human citizens of planet Earth.

“The people know the salt of the sea

And the strength of the winds

Lashing the corners of the earth.

The people take the earth

As a tomb of rest and a cradle of hope.

Who else speaks for the Family of Man?

They are in tune and step

With constellations of universal law.”

—From the poem “The People Will Live On” by Carl Sandburg