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 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.-- Source other than the Library of Congress Acknowledgements 8 Contents 10 1: Introduction 15 Know Thyself 16 Observing the Earth as a Totality 17 The Ecological Crisis 17 2: Cosmology and Astronomy from Prehistory to the Roman Empire 20 The Timaeus and the Old Testament 21 Greek Philosophy, Religion, Tragedy 23 Hellenistic and Babylonian Astronomy 26 Rome 26 3: Aquinas to Newton 29 Aquinas 29 The Great Chain of Being 30 The New Science and Philosophy: Copernicus, Galileo, Bacon, Descartes 31 Galileo 33 Francis Bacon: The New Philosophy 35 The Mechanisation of Nature: Descartes 37 Dissenting Voices: More, Hermeticism 37 Newton 38 Kepler’s Harmony of the World and Newton’s Alchemical Works 39 Globes 39 4: The Enlightenment, The Romantic Rebellion, The Industrial Age, The Nature Conservation Movement, The Twentieth Century and Total War 40 Diderot 40 Swift 41 The Romantic Rebellion 42 Wordsworth 42 Goethe 43 The Modern Prometheus 44 The Industrial Revolutions and The Industrial Age 45 The Luddites 46 The Industrial Age and The Victorian Reform Movement: Ruskin, William Morris 49 The Nature Conservation Movement 50 The Twentieth Century: World War, Total Devastation, the Rise of the Environmental Movement 51 5: The Post-War Period and the Rise of Ecological Consciousness 53 Silent Spring and Earthrise: The “First Wave” of Environmentalism 54 Philosophical Background to Green Politics: Deep Ecology, Arne Naess, Aldo Leopold, Heidegger/Enframing 56 The Later 1970s and 1980s: The Concept of Sustainability; The Rise of Neo-liberalism 58 Global Warming or Climate Change 59 The Backlash: The Rise of Denialism 61 Our Growing Estrangement from the Natural World 62 Rewilding 64 6: Wider Attitudes to Environment 66 Islam, Persia 67 Sufi Poetry 67 Zoroastrianism 68 Taoism 68 Buddhism 69 Wabi-sabi 70 Hinduism and Jainism 70 Egypt 71 Yoruba 71 San 72 Pre-Columbian and Native American Cultures’ Attitudes to Environment 72 Australasia 73 Conclusion 73 7: The Slow Evolution of Environmental Ethics 74 Aristotelian Ethics 75 New Testament Environmental Ethics 76 Saint Francis of Assisi 76 Spinoza 76 Kant 77 Self and Other: Hegel, Merleau-Ponty, Levinas 77 Hegel 78 Merleau-Ponty 79 Levinas: Responsibility for the Other 79 Pope Francis: Laudato Si 81 The Globalization of Ethics 81 Intra- and Inter-Generational Justice 82 The Ethics of Discounting 82 Beyond Legality and Instrumentality 83 Speciesism: Peter Singer 84 Animal Rights 85 Conclusion 85 8: A Short History of Earth Observation 86 The Earliest Times; Balloons; Aerial Photography 86 The First Satellites 87 The Global Weather Experiment 88 From Metsats to Earth Observation 89 EUMETSAT 89 Enter the EU: Towards GMES/Copernicus 90 Baveno and Kyoto 90 European Responsibility 91 Values and Principles 93 International Co-operation: GEO and GEOSS 95 Conclusion 96 9: The Resistances 97 The “Merchants of Doubt” Thesis 98 “Big Tobacco”’s Attempt to Undermine the link Between Tobacco-Smoking and Cancer 98 Science and Uncertainty 99 Tobacco and Uncertainty 99 Acid Rain and Ozone 101 Global Warming 103 The Concept of Journalistic Balance 104 Cultural Resistance 105 Julian Simon and Cornucopianism 105 Psychological Resistances 107 Denial 108 Science and Advocacy 109 Science and Rhetoric 110 Reversal of the Burden of Proof 111 Should Copernicus Be Neutral? 111 How EO Can Help 111 10: The Aesthetic Potential of Earth Observation 113 Earth Observation and Remote Sensing 113 An Aesthetic History of Lunar and Earth Observation 114 Different Art-Forms and Media 115 Earthrise 115 Joseph Cornell’s Collages: Observations of a Satellite (1) and Weather Satellites 116 The Power of Images and Poetry 117 World War One Poets 117 Eco-Poetry, Land Art 118 Pop Music 119 Dramatic Potential: Phylae and the Story of Envisat 119 Emotional Connection 121 Psychoanalysis and Emotional Connection 121 Conclusion: Implications for Communication 122 11: EO for Whom? Towards an Environmental Democracy 123 Competing Ideas of Science and Environment 123 EO as Market Failure; The Limits of Market Thinking 124 The Precautionary Principle 126 Citizen Science and Citizen Involvement 129 Towards an Environmental Democracy 131 What is Environmental Democracy? 131 Environmental Democracy as Green Governance 133 Why an Environmental Policy? 134 12: Conclusion: Earth Observation and the Anthropocene 136 The Anthropocene and Adaptation 138 Geoengineering 139 The Anthropocene, Earth Observation and Human Responsibility 140 The Migration Crisis 140 Earth Observation and the UN Sustainable Development Goals 140 Epilogue 142 1. Introduction Know thyself Observing the Earth as a totality The ecological crisis 2. Cosmology and astronomy from prehistory to the Roman Empire The Timaeus and the Old Testament Greek philosophy, religion, tragedy Hellenistic and Babylonian astronomy Rome 3. Aquinas to Newton Aquinas The great chain of being The new science and philosophy: Copernicus, Galileo, Bacon, Descartes Galileo Francis Bacon: the new philosophy The mechanisation of nature: Descartes Dissenting voices: More, Hermeticism Newton Kepler's harmony of the world and Newton's alchemical works Globes 4. The Enlightenment, the Romantic rebellion, the Industrial Age, the nature conservation movement, the twentieth century and total war Diderot Swift The Romantic rebellion Wordsworth Goethe The modern Prometheus The Industrial Revolutions and the Industrial Age The Luddites The Industrial Age and the Victorian reform movement: Ruskin, William Morris The nature conservation movement The twentieth century: World War, total devastation, the rise of the environmental movement 5. The post-war period and the rise of ecological consciousness Silent spring and the Earthrise: the "first wave" of environmentalism Philosophical background to green politics: deep ecology, Arne Naess, Aldo Leopold, Heidegger/enframing The late 1970s and 1980s: the concept of sustainability; the rise of neo-liberalism Global warming or climate change The backlash: the rise of denialism Our growing estrangement from the natural world Rewilding 6. Wider attitudes to environment Islam, Persia Sufi poetry Zoroastrianism Taoism Buddhism Wabi-sabi Hinduism and Jainism Egypt Yoruba San Pre-Columbian and Native American cultures' attitudes to environment Australasia Conclusion 7. The slow evolution of environmental ethics Aristotelian ethics New Testament environmental ethics Saint Francis of Assisi Spinoza Kant Self and Other: Hegel, Merleau-Ponty, Levinas Hegel Merleau-Pnty Levinas: responsibility for the Other Pope Francis: Laudato Si The globalization of ethics Intra- and inter-generational justice The ethics of discounting Beyond legality and instrumentality Speciesism: Peter Singer Animal rights Conclusion 8. A short history of Earth Observation The earliest times; Balloons; Aerial photography The first satellites The global weather experiment From metsats to Earth Observation EUMETSAT Enter the EU: towards GMES/Copernicus Baveno and Kyoto European responsibility Values and principles International co-operation: GEO and GEOSS Conclusion 9. The resistances The "merchants of doubt" thesis "Big tobacco"'s attempt to undermine the link between tobacco-smoking and cancer Science and uncertainty Acid rain and ozone Global warming The concept of journalistic balance Cultural resistance Julian Simon and Cornucopianism Psychological resistances Denial Science and advocacy Science and rhetoric Reversal of the burden of proof Should Copernicus be neutral? How EO can help 10. The aesthetic potential of Earth Observation Earth Observation and remote sensing An aesthetic history of lunar and Earth Observation Different art-forms and media Earthrise Joseph Cornell's collages observations of satellite and weather satellites The power of images and poetry World War One poets Eco-poetry, land art Pop music Dramatic potential: Phylae and the story of Envisat Emotional connection Psychoanalysis and emotional connection Conclusion: implications for communication 11. EO for whom? Towards an environmental democracy Competing ideas of science and environment EO as market failure; The limits of market thinking The Precautionary Principle Citizen science and citizen involvement Towards an environmental democracy What is environmental democracy? Environmental democracy as green governance 12. Conclusion : Earth Observation and the Anthropocene The Anthropocene and adaptation Geoengineering The Anthropocene, Earth Observation and human responsibility The migration crisis Earth Observation and the UN sustainable Development goals Epilogue. El libro muestra cómo la actual posibilidad de observar la Tierra desde la “distancia necesaria” tiene amplias y profundas implicaciones éticas y culturales. Se trata en primer lugar de los resultados de especulaciones e investigaciones de seres humanos en relación con su planeta, llevadas a cabo durante milenios. En particular, el libro revela la ruptura existente entre la antigua idea de la Tierra como madre naturaleza y el más reciente concepto de la Tierra como recurso neutral susceptible de ser explotado indefinidamente por la humanidad. La fotografía de la Tierra en 1968 mostrando toda su belleza y fragilidad dio lugar a un movimiento medioambiental mundial. Actualmente, la amplia cobertura acerca del cambio global que proporcionan los satélites puede mostrar sin asomo de duda las enormes alteraciones ocasionadas en la Tierra y su sistema climático como resultado de la acción humana, y la necesidad de actuar con más responsabilidad A key part of the evidence base for practitioners and policymakers includes the costs of interventions and the returns yielded from incurring those costs. However, to date crime reduction work economic analyses have been uncommon and even when undertaken have been partial, technically weak and insufficiently informed by economic theory. This book explains what economic analysis is, why it is important, and forms it can take. Costs are important in all forms of economic analysis although their collection tends to be partial and inadequate in capturing key information. A practical guide to the collection is therefore also provided. The book will be of great interest to students in economics and advanced students in policing and crime reduction as well as to analysts and decision makers in policing and crime reduction Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Introduction....Pages 1-5 Cosmology and Astronomy from Prehistory to the Roman Empire....Pages 7-15 Aquinas to Newton....Pages 17-27 The Enlightenment, The Romantic Rebellion, The Industrial Age, The Nature Conservation Movement, The Twentieth Century and Total War....Pages 29-41 The Post-War Period and the Rise of Ecological Consciousness....Pages 43-55 Wider Attitudes to Environment....Pages 57-64 The Slow Evolution of Environmental Ethics....Pages 65-76 A Short History of Earth Observation....Pages 77-87 The Resistances....Pages 89-104 The Aesthetic Potential of Earth Observation....Pages 105-114 EO for Whom? Towards an Environmental Democracy....Pages 115-127 Conclusion: Earth Observation and the Anthropocene....Pages 129-134 Back Matter....Pages 135-136