That is here, that is home, that is us

Photo by Woodleywonderworks

The words for the title of this post are excerpted from a lecture which Carl Sagan, the astronomer, gave at Cornell University on October 13, 1994. The here he was referring to was a minuscule blue dot, in a photo that had been taken by the interstellar space probe Voyager 1, 13 years after it was launched into space.

"Having completed its primary mission, Voyager at that time was on its way out of the Solar System, on a trajectory of approximately 32 degrees above the plane of the Solar System. Ground Control issued commands for the distant space craft to turn around and, looking back, take photos of each of the planets it had visited. From Voyager's vast distance, the Earth was captured as a infinitesimal point of light." (www.bigskyastroclub.org)

Today, the earth celebrates Pangea Day. It is the first ever event of its kind. Through a great feat of organization, some of our major cities, Rio de Janeiro, Los Angeles, Cairo, Mumbai, London and others, will broadcast a program of 24 short movies to millions of people around the world.

The purpose of the event is to inspire, transform, and allow us to see the world through another person's eyes... because in a world where people are often divided by borders, difference, and conflict, it's easy to lose sight of what we all have in common... through the power of film, Pangea Day seeks to overcome that - to help people see themselves in others.

Sagan's lecture at Cornell, will play a part in Pangea Day. His voice acts as soundtrack to one of the 24 movies that will be shown. His, is called Pale Blue Dot and gets its name from a book of that same title that Sagan first published in 1994. Though short in length, it packs a powerful punch. At its heart lies the unspoken hope (my interpretation) that man will somehow come to this realization: As a people, we either stand together, enlightened in our common bond on this little piece of turf we call our planet or, we continue divided, capable of ignoring all our similarities, destroying ourselves and our world in the process. It is worth taking a look at and I'm hoping you will. Below, is a Pale Blue Dot.



"The entire Earth is but a point, and the place of our own habitation but a minute corner of it."
Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor, Meditations, Book 4 (CA 170)

Quote taken from Chapter 1 of Sagan's Pale Blue Dot.