Dawn from Space

Fragile edge of our planet

Thin blue line

Mysterious rhythm

Our next breath

Heart struck with wonder

Mind dizzy with awe

-- Astronaut Douglas Wheelock‏ @Astro_Wheels

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"Look at how thin our atmosphere is. This is all there is between humankind and deadly space."

-- Astronaut Alexander Gerst @Astro_Alex

"Thin Blue", Life-Enabling Atmosphere

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Environmental Security & the 'Thin Blue' Layer

Environmental Security

Strategic Demands: New Definitions of National Security and Environmental Security

● "Thin Blue" ● A Thin Blue Layer protecting the home planet ● Thin Blue @ Pinterest ● Thin Blue @ Google+

"Thin Blue" -- a Global Trust, Earth's Atmosphere

Astro Wiseman's point of view

Astro Gerst's point of view

A Moment to Appreciate Earth’s Atmosphere / On Thanksgiving Day 2014

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Driving Up There, From Down Here

Look, "a twelve-minute drive" to the top of the troposphere...

"Perspective... from an Astronaut's point of view the thinness of the Earth’s life-supporting envelope is clear to see. Yet, from the surface of the Earth, looking up, it is not clear at all how far the atmosphere goes. It is not clear how this 'thin blue' layer acts to protect our planetary ecosystems, our biosphere.

"A collapse of the biosphere due to anthropogenic climate change is not an impossible scenario when seen with an overview perspective. The words of astronauts speaking of the thin layer of Earth's protective atmosphere are as if a modern Cassandra is warning without being heard or listened to by those too busy to hear..."

"Let's talk in common language then, the language of cars and these cars are being driven up into the sky, not on highways to work or play. How far is it before we reach the edge of space, the border to life as we know it down here on Earth? How can kids in schools get a lesson that simply says "the 'thin blue' atmosphere that protects life on Earth is at risk and needs to be carefully taken care of and preserved. Our planet's health is in your care..." -- SJS / Siterunner

ThinBlueLayer.com

Looking @ the Troposphere and Atmosphere

Astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson

Overview

One of the earliest known experiences of space travel, a whole earth perspective shared by returning astronauts, what author Frank White has called the “Overview Effect”

“For the first time in my life, I saw the horizon as a curved line. It was accentuated by a thin seam of dark blue light: the atmosphere...”

“This was not the ‘ocean’ of air I had been told it was ... I was terrified by its fragile appearance.” -- Astronaut Merbold

Earthviews from Astronauts

Astronaut Gerst: “Some things that on Earth we see in the news every day and thus almost tend to accept as a “given”, appear very different from our perspective.”

“We do not see any borders from space. We just see a unique planet with a thin, fragile atmosphere, suspended in a vast and hostile darkness.”

“From up here it is crystal clear that on Earth we are one humanity.”

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"An Experiment of Epic Scale: Anthropogenic Change of Our Atmosphere"

Atmosphere of Earth - Wiki Isn't It About Time? ... We are in the first era of geo-monitoring the thin blue atmosphere, earth systems and biosphere from space ... [1] [2]

Beginning with first-ever images of our home planet, Earth, taken from the Apollo era ... [3] [4]

Now #Earth360 follows with first-generation #EarthObservations

An #EarthPOV, an "Overview" that, over time, will educate and open all to new challenges

Our generation faces new possibilities and challenges as citizens of the planet ...

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Steven Schmidt / GP360 Siterunner: "A chemical experiment with unknown consequences is taking place above and around us. The Earth's atmosphere, a thin layer that enables and protects life, is being impacted by potentially deadly human-produced emissions, even as a first generation of data and science is being produced with atmospheric observations from space. We are beginning to realize the extent of an existential experiment humanity is conducting in the atmosphere of the planet. The Anthropocene era is a gathering storm that is changing 'nature' and our responsibility to future generations is profound."

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Elon Musk: "The greater the change to the chemical composition of the physical, chemical makeup of the oceans and atmosphere [due to increased carbon emissions], the greater the long-term effect will be... [W]hy would you run this crazy experiment to see how bad it'll be? We know it's at least some bad, and the overwhelming scientific consensus is that it'll be really bad."

“Even if you put the environmental consequences of dramatically changing the chemical composition of the oceans and atmosphere aside, we will eventually run out of oil. If we don’t find a solution to burning oil for transport, and we then run out of oil, the economy will collapse and civilization will come to an end as we know it. And so if we know that we have to ultimately get off oil no matter what — we know that is an inescapable outcome, it’s simply a question of when, not if — then, why would you run this crazy experiment of changing the chemical composition of the atmosphere and oceans by adding enormous amounts of CO2 that’ve been buried since the pre-Cambrian era? That’s crazy. That is the dumbest experiment in history, by far. Can you think of a dumber experiment? I honestly cannot. What good could possibly come of it?”

-- Interviewed by Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s in 'Star Talk'

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