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Lamplighter · 08-18-2013, 09:25 AM

I almost put this into a thread for it's lyrical writing, but it is really
a technical piece about climate change and mankind's effect on the planet.

The long quote below struck my emotional strings.

NY Times
8/17/13

Gorgeous Glimpses of Calamity
<snip>
There’s a dispassionate quality to the view from on high.
On Aug. 2, 2005, the circuitous trajectory of Messenger, a NASA spacecraft,
brought it boomeranging back toward Earth on its way to explore Mercury.
Its steady stream of data offered a rare chance to watch our world grow larger in space,
as a visitor from another star system might first see it.

Initially, Earth was simply a pearl of milky white and ultramarine blue,
with the white — clouds, ice and snow — being other forms of life-giving water.
Eventually, hues of tawny gold appeared; more than a third of the visible land area, it seemed, was desert.
Only later, when the planet filled half the picture plane, did a hint of emerald emerge between the clouds.
A verdant, compelling green. The color of photosynthesis.

After this first direct evidence of life on Earth, and with the spacecraft
still a quarter of the distance to the Moon, another hue emerged.
Above the lush equatorial belt of South America, lower in altitude and distinct from the clouds,
it was a nebulous, smoky, profoundly unsettling gray-blue.

Could this be from fires, perhaps willfully set?
Could this first hint of intelligent life on Earth signify a species evidently busy creating still more desert?
<snip>
And this was the view from some 65,000 miles away.
Far closer in, NASA maintains a small fleet of Earth-observing satellites.
Unfortunately, their visual record makes it even clearer that something is going badly wrong in the garden.

Across the world, tremendous wildfires can be seen raging during the searing summers of the new millennium.
As the oceans warm, vast equatorial hurricanes have smashed North America.
In Canada, the Northwest Passage has twice become clear of ice during the last decade.

And the smog is no longer localized.
A gunmetal exhalation of coal and fuel smoke blankets China almost daily,
extending out across the sea toward the Korean Peninsula,
Japan and beyond.
We are tracking glaciers retreating, and immense polar icebergs calving into rising waters.
Gargantuan sandstorms extend out from expanding deserts, sometimes traversing the breadth of the Atlantic.
<snip>

There are several still images from space and a few videos in the article.
Here is just one of the embedded videos:
June 2013: Dense clouds of smoke from fires set on the Indonesian island of Sumatra choked neighboring Singapore.

08-18-2013, 09:25 AM	#1
Lamplighter Person who doesn't update the user title Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Bottom lands of the Missoula floods Posts: 6,402	I almost put this into a thread for it's lyrical writing, but it is really a technical piece about climate change and mankind's effect on the planet. The long quote below struck my emotional strings. NY Times 8/17/13 Gorgeous Glimpses of Calamity <snip> There’s a dispassionate quality to the view from on high. On Aug. 2, 2005, the circuitous trajectory of Messenger, a NASA spacecraft, brought it boomeranging back toward Earth on its way to explore Mercury. Its steady stream of data offered a rare chance to watch our world grow larger in space, as a visitor from another star system might first see it. Initially, Earth was simply a pearl of milky white and ultramarine blue, with the white — clouds, ice and snow — being other forms of life-giving water. Eventually, hues of tawny gold appeared; more than a third of the visible land area, it seemed, was desert. Only later, when the planet filled half the picture plane, did a hint of emerald emerge between the clouds. A verdant, compelling green. The color of photosynthesis. After this first direct evidence of life on Earth, and with the spacecraft still a quarter of the distance to the Moon, another hue emerged. Above the lush equatorial belt of South America, lower in altitude and distinct from the clouds, it was a nebulous, smoky, profoundly unsettling gray-blue. Could this be from fires, perhaps willfully set? Could this first hint of intelligent life on Earth signify a species evidently busy creating still more desert? <snip> And this was the view from some 65,000 miles away. Far closer in, NASA maintains a small fleet of Earth-observing satellites. Unfortunately, their visual record makes it even clearer that something is going badly wrong in the garden. Across the world, tremendous wildfires can be seen raging during the searing summers of the new millennium. As the oceans warm, vast equatorial hurricanes have smashed North America. In Canada, the Northwest Passage has twice become clear of ice during the last decade. And the smog is no longer localized. A gunmetal exhalation of coal and fuel smoke blankets China almost daily, extending out across the sea toward the Korean Peninsula, Japan and beyond. We are tracking glaciers retreating, and immense polar icebergs calving into rising waters. Gargantuan sandstorms extend out from expanding deserts, sometimes traversing the breadth of the Atlantic. <snip> There are several still images from space and a few videos in the article. Here is just one of the embedded videos: June 2013: Dense clouds of smoke from fires set on the Indonesian island of Sumatra choked neighboring Singapore. Last edited by Lamplighter; 08-18-2013 at 09:33 AM.