Seeing our planet whole
Subtitle: a cultural and ethical view of Earth observation
By: Harry Eyres
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 136
ISBN-13: 9783319406022
Subjects: Photographs from space; Cosmology
Description: This book shows how our new-found ability to observe the Earth from "the necessary distance" has wide and profound cultural and ethical implications. First of all, it is the outcome of speculations and investigations of human beings in relation to their home planet carried out over millennia. In particular, it reveals a split between the ancient idea of the Earth as nurturing mother and the more recent conception of the Earth as a neutral resource able to be infinitely exploited by humankind. The 1968 Earthrise photograph, showing the beauty and fragility of the Earth, helped spark a worldwide environmental movement; now the comprehensive coverage of global change provided by satellites has the potential to convince us beyond reasonable doubt of the huge alterations being wrought upon the Earth and its climate system as a result of human actions, and of the need to act more responsibly.--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
Table of contents: title: 1. Introduction; title: Know thyself; title: Observing the Earth as a totality; title: The ecological crisis; title: 2. Cosmology and astronomy from prehistory to the Roman Empire; title: The Timaeus and the Old Testament; title: Greek philosophy, religion, tragedy; title: Hellenistic and Babylonian astronomy; title: Rome; title: 3. Aquinas to Newton; title: Aquinas; title: The great chain of being; title: The new science and philosophy: Copernicus, Galileo, Bacon, Descartes; title: Galileo; title: Francis Bacon: the new philosophy; title: The mechanisation of nature: Descartes; title: Dissenting voices: More, Hermeticism; title: Newton; title: Kepler's harmony of the world and Newton's alchemical works; title: Globes 4. The Enlightenment, the Romantic rebellion, the Industrial Age, the nature conservation movement, the twentieth century and total war; title: Diderot; title: Swift; title: The Romantic rebellion; title: Wordsworth; title: Goethe; title: The modern Prometheus; title: The Industrial Revolutions and the Industrial Age; title: The Luddites; title: The Industrial Age and the Victorian reform movement: Ruskin, William Morris; title: The nature conservation movement; title: The twentieth century: World War, total devastation, the rise of the environmental movement; title: 5. The post-war period and the rise of ecological consciousness; title: Silent spring and the Earthrise: the "first wave" of environmentalism; title: Philosophical background to green politics: deep ecology, Arne Naess, Aldo Leopold, Heidegger/enframing; title: The late 1970s and 1980s: the concept of sustainability; the rise of neo-liberalism; title: Global warming or climate change; title: The backlash: the rise of denialism; title: Our growing estrangement from the natural world; title: Rewilding; title: 6. Wider attitudes to environment; title: Islam, Persia; title: Sufi poetry; title: Zoroastrianism; title: Taoism; title: Buddhism; title: Wabi-sabi; title: Hinduism and Jainism; title: Egypt; title: Yoruba; title: San; title: Pre-Columbian and Native American cultures' attitudes to environment; title: Australasia; title: Conclusion; title: 7. The slow evolution of environmental ethics; title: Aristotelian ethics; title: New Testament environmental ethics; title: Saint Francis of Assisi; title: Spinoza; title: Kant; title: Self and Other: Hegel, Merleau-Ponty, Levinas; title: Hegel; title: Merleau-Pnty; title: Levinas: responsibility for the Other; title: Pope Francis: Laudato Si; title: The globalization of ethics; title: Intra- and inter-generational justice; title: The ethics of discounting; title: Beyond legality and instrumentality; title: Speciesism: Peter Singer; title: Animal rights; title: Conclusion; title: 8. A short history of Earth Observation; title: The earliest times; Balloons; Aerial photography; title: The first satellites; title: The global weather experiment; title: From metsats to Earth Observation; title: EUMETSAT; title: Enter the EU: towards GMES/Copernicus; title: Baveno and Kyoto; title: European responsibility; title: Values and principles; title: International co-operation: GEO and GEOSS; title: Conclusion; title: 9. The resistances; title: The "merchants of doubt" thesis; title: "Big tobacco"'s attempt to undermine the link between tobacco-smoking and cancer; title: Science and uncertainty; title: Acid rain and ozone; title: Global warming; title: The concept of journalistic balance; title: Cultural resistance; title: Julian Simon and Cornucopianism; title: Psychological resistances; title: Denial; title: Science and advocacy; title: Science and rhetoric; title: Reversal of the burden of proof; title: Should Copernicus be neutral?; title: How EO can help; title: 10. The aesthetic potential of Earth Observation; title: Earth Observation and remote sensing; title: An aesthetic history of lunar and Earth Observation; title: Different art-forms and media; title: Earthrise; title: Joseph Cornell's collages observations of satellite and weather satellites; title: The power of images and poetry; title: World War One poets; title: Eco-poetry, land art; title: Pop music; title: Dramatic potential: Phylae and the story of Envisat; title: Emotional connection; title: Psychoanalysis and emotional connection; title: Conclusion: implications for communication; title: 11. EO for whom? Towards an environmental democracy; title: Competing ideas of science and environment; title: EO as market failure; The limits of market thinking; title: The Precautionary Principle; title: Citizen science and citizen involvement; title: Towards an environmental democracy; title: What is environmental democracy?; title: Environmental democracy as green governance 12. Conclusion : Earth Observation and the Anthropocene; title: The Anthropocene and adaptation; title: Geoengineering; title: The Anthropocene, Earth Observation and human responsibility; title: The migration crisis; title: Earth Observation and the UN sustainable; title: Development goals; title: Epilogue.