Blue Marble, the first photo of the Earth as a whole from space celebrates its 50th anniversary, Yann Arthus

On December 7, 1972, NASA released the first photograph of the Earth as a whole taken from Earth orbit. The image titled “Blue Marble” (the blue ball) becomes iconic and goes around the world. She is said to have helped raise awareness among humanity that we all share the same planet. The photographer, environmentalist director and president of the GoodPlane Foundationt Yann Arthus-Bertrand (76 years old) does not remember having seen the image at the time: on the other hand, I remember very well when, three decades later, the former vice-president of the United States Al Gore said during his presentation on the climate change found in the film “An Inconvenient Truth” that it is the most important photograph for the environment”. The photo taken during the Apollo 17 mission is not the first image of Earth from space, however, but it is the first to show the entire planet.

The photographer known for his aerial shots admits that he would have dreamed of taking this photograph from space and that we become ” completely in love with the earth when you see these images or that of Thomas Pesquet. Yann Arthus-Bertrand adds that ” of course a photograph can help change the world. Images have strength. It is an incredible step in the history of the world to see the Earth from afar. We could talk about a house to be protected, but the expression has been heard too much, it goes over my head. The NASA photo shows that the Earth is alive. It has a color, it smells of life. » Such an image helps to take a step back. Yann Arthus-Bertrand explains: “ with a vertical image, the vision becomes different. »

[À lire aussi « La Terre entre nos mains »: depuis l’espace, un plaidoyer pour la planète signé Thomas Pesquet]

Two phenomena marked the second half of the 20th century and led to a different perception of the Earth: ecological awareness and the first human incursions into space. These 2 movements are concomitant. Although we knew that the Earth was an isolated sphere in the stellar void, never before had we been able to see it. In 1968, the Apollo 8 mission brought back an image of an Earthrise taken from around the Moon.

The Earthrise captured by the Apollo 8 mission. Taken aboard Apollo 8 by Bill Anders, this iconic picture shows Earth peeking out from beyond the lunar surface as the first crewed spacecraft circumnavigated the Moon, with astronauts Anders, Frank Borman, and Jim Lovell aboard. ©NASA

Then, it was in 1972, the same year as the Stockholm Summit on the environment, that NASA unveiled the image of our blue planet floating in the void: the Blue Marble or Blue Marble. This iconic photograph reminds us that the Earth is the only home of the human species. What Yann Arthus-Bertrand confirms “ when you see Elon Musk who has the insane project of going to live on Mars. By putting an image of the Earth and Mars side by side, we can see that the Earth is full of life while Mars is unlivable. The ecologist deplores the current situation and the fact that 50 years later, after many summits on ecology, a dissemination of information: little has changed. We remain dependent on fossil fuels and growth. » However, it was already in 1972 that the Club of Rome published the Meadows report which warned the world of ” growth limits “. Based on computer models, it warns of upcoming environmental, economic and social challenges due to industrialization, resource depletion, increased consumption, extraction and human population. Republished and updated regularly, the work has sold several million copies worldwide and has been translated into around thirty languages.

[À regarder aussi Pourquoi (re)voir Soleil Vert, le film de SF de 1972 qui prédisait un 2022 pas si éloigné du nôtre]

At the end of this journey with the photograph of the Blue Marble, Yann Arthus-Bertrand expresses his perplexity and astonishment: “on takes refuge behind phony hopes based on technology such as the hydrogen plane or fusion. Basically, we don’t really want to change when everyone knows about it. I think about this basic question all the time, it worries me. » Nevertheless, he believes that change is still possible: “ I am currently preparing a film on biodiversity and I am surprised to see that in nature many species know how to place the collective above all. This is what is needed and for that we need a spiritual revolution, to be able to think collectively. Yet we continue to be prisoners of our egos and our individual desires. »

Julien Leprovost

See other images from the Blue Marble series on the NASA website

To read, to see also on GoodPlanert Mag’

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Blue Marble, the first photo of the Earth as a whole from space celebrates its 50th anniversary, Yann Arthus-Bertrand returns with us to this iconic image