Seeing Our Planet Whole: A Cultural and Ethical View of Earth Observation /

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 parti...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Eyres, Harry
Corporate Authors: SpringerLink Online service
Published: Springer International Publishing : Imprint: Springer,
Publisher Address: Cham :
Publication Dates: 2017.
Literature type: eBook
Language: English
Subjects:
Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40603-9
Summary: 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
Carrier Form: 1 online resource(XIII,116pages)
ISBN: 9783319406039
Index Number: GE1
CLC: P159
Contents: Introduction -- Cosmology and astronomy from pre-history to the Roman Empire -- Aquinas to Newton -- The Enlightenment, the Romantic Rebellion, the Industrial Age, the nature conservation movement and total war -- The post-war period and the rise of ecological consciousness -- Non-western cultures' attitudes to environment -- The ethical dimension: the slow evolution of environmental ethics -- A short history of earth observation -- The resistances -- The aesthetic dimension -- Earth observation for whom? Towards an environmental democracy -- Conclusion -- Epilogue.