From my friend
M.. who spends most of her time, energy, and money taking care of people and the planet in social justice and sustainability work, came these:
A Gift of Space: A series of 42 images w/text, ranging from the three quarks within a proton within a carbon atom within a virus on a bacterium on a pollen grain on the eye of a bee collecting pollen from a lily in San Francisco's Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park ... through the Milky Way Galaxy, "an average galaxy within the Virgo Cluster" ... and out into deep space.
From our vantage point 20 light years from home, I hope you can appreciate how truly alone we are. At this time we have no way of knowing how common life is among the stars. For the 99.999 999% of us who will never leave the surface of our planet, Earth is the only home we will ever know. Earth is unique -- and will continue to be unique even if we find that life is a common result of the formation of stars and planets.
(A Question of Scale) A Gift of Time: A series of 80 images w/text that explores life from the formation of the sun and earth 4600 million years ago up to the present, with a glimpse into the future. For a sense of perspective, think about this: humans show up at image #77 where we learn that "The entire history of man makes up just one percent of the history of life on Earth." The series concludes with an excerpt from the
Earth Charter:
We stand at a critical moment in Earth's history, a time when humanity must choose its future. As the world becomes increasingly interdependent and fragile, the future at once holds great peril and great promise. To move forward we must recognize that in the midst of a magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms we are one human family and one Earth community with a common destiny.
(A Walk Through Time)
Haloscan:
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Blogger:
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Thanks, Dave. I appreciate the feedback. Flow ... I love that word.
And thanks for the Hit Map link. How cool!