ABSTRACT
Views of Earth from space are the most impressive photographs ever taken. They are the most widely distributed ever, having been seen by well over half the persons on Earth. Few are not moved to a moment of truth, at least in their pensive moods. The whole Earth is aesthetically stimulating, philo sophically challenging, and ethically disturbing. “I remember so vividly,” said astronaut Michael Collins, “what I saw when I looked back at my fragile home-a glistening, inviting beacon, delicate blue and white, a tiny outpost suspended in the black infi nity. Earth is to be treasured and nurtured, something precious that must endure” (1980, p. 6). There is a vision of an Earth ethic in what he sees. Leopold’s land ethic needs to be upscaled to the planetary level. “What’s the use of a house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?” asked Thoreau a century and a half ago (1860/1906, p. 360).
