A Unique Image

10th Oct 2011

While considering the Footprints project I was reminded of this image. It was taken on Aug. 23, 1966, and was the first view of Earth taken by a spacecraft from the vicinity of the Moon. The photo was transmitted to Earth by the Lunar Orbiter I and received at the NASA tracking station at Robledo De Chavela near Madrid, Spain. Many believe that this image had a profound effect, it humbled us and gave power to the green movement, it somehow made people realise how fragile our planet was. [short]

We hope Footprints will reflect and illuminate not only our negative impact on the planet but also celebrate our interaction with it.
This month our title ‘The Tipping Point’ poses questions- are we reaching a point of no return a point where we might truly damage our ecosystem? Or, most frighteningly, has irreparable damage already been caused? To answer these questions in images is no easy assignment, however if we can go from a photograph of our fragile planet taken from the moon to an example of how we see how our daily environment has been or is being affected by our actions then we are already informing the debate…