Earth in culture 1

Earth in culture

The first photograph ever taken of an "Earthrise,"on Apollo 8.

The cultural perspective on the Earth, or world, varies by society andtime period. Religious beliefs often include a creation belief as well aspersonification in the form of a deity. The exploration of the world hasmodified many of the perceptions of the planet, resulting in aviewpoint of a globally integrated ecosystem. Unlike the remainder ofthe planets in the Solar System, mankind didn't perceive the Earth as aplanet until the sixteenth century.

Etymology

Unlike the other planets in the Solar System, in English, Earth does notdirectly share a name with an ancient Roman deity. The name Earthderives from the eighth century Anglo-Saxon word erda, which meansground or soil. It became eorthe later, and then erthe in MiddleEnglish. These words are all cognates of Jörð, the name of the giantess of Norse myth. Earth was first used as thename of the sphere of the Earth in the early fifteenth century. The planet's name in Latin, used academically andscientifically in the West during the Renaissance, is the same as that of Terra Mater, the Roman goddess, whichtranslates to English as Mother Earth.

Planetary symbol

The standard astronomical symbol of the Earth consists of a cross circumscribed by a circle. This symbolis known as the wheel cross, sun cross, Odin's cross or Woden's cross. Although it has been used invarious cultures for different purposes, it came to represent the compass points, earth and the land.Another version of the symbol is a cross on top of a circle; a stylized globus cruciger that was also used as an earlyastronomical symbol for the planet Earth.

Earth in culture 2

Religious beliefs

The Hindu Earth goddess

Earth has often been personified as a deity, in particular a goddess. Inmany cultures the mother goddess is also portrayed as a fertility deity.To the Aztec, Earth was called Tonantzin—"our mother"; to the Incas,Earth was called Pachamama—"mother earth". The Chinese Earthgoddess Hou Tu is similar to Gaia, the Greek goddess personifying theEarth. To Hindus it is called Bhuma Devi, the Goddess of Earth. (Seealso Graha.) In Norse mythology, the Earth giantess Jörð was the motherof Thor and the daughter of Annar. Ancient Egyptian mythology isdifferent from that of other cultures because Earth is male, Geb, and skyis female, Nut.

Creation myths in many religions recall a story involving the creation ofthe world by a supernatural deity or deities. A variety of religiousgroups, often associated with fundamentalist branches of Protestantismor Islam, assert that their interpretations of the accounts of creation insacred texts are literal truth and should be considered alongside orreplace conventional scientific accounts of the formation of the Earthand the origin and development of life. Such assertions are opposed bythe scientific community[1] as well as other religious groups. Aprominent example is the creation-evolution controversy.

Physical form

In the ancient past there were varying levels of belief in a flat Earth, withthe Mesopotamian culture portraying the world as a flat disk afloat in anocean. The spherical form of the Earth was suggested by early Greek philosophers; a belief espoused by Pythagoras.By the Middle Ages—as evidenced by thinkers such as Thomas Aquinas—European belief in a spherical Earth waswidespread.[2]

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Modern perspectiveThe technological developments of the latter half of the 20th century are widely considered to have altered thepublic's perception of the Earth. Before space flight, the popular image of Earth was of a green world. Science fictionartist Frank R. Paul provided perhaps the first image of a cloudless blue planet (with sharply defined land masses) onthe back cover of the July 1940 issue of Amazing Stories, a common depiction for several decades thereafter.

Earth and Moon from Mars, imaged by Mars GlobalSurveyor. From space, the Earth can be seen to gothrough phases similar to the phases of the Moon.

Earth was first photographed from space by Explorer 6 in 1959.Yuri Gagarin became the first human to view Earth from space in1961. The crew of the Apollo 8 was the first to view an Earth-risefrom lunar orbit in 1968. In 1972 the crew of the Apollo 17produced the famous "Blue Marble" photograph of the planetEarth from cislunar space. This became an iconic image of theplanet as a marble of cloud-swirled blue ocean broken bygreen-brown continents. NASA archivist Mike Gentry hasspeculated that "The Blue Marble" is the most widely distributedimage in human history. Inspired by the Blue Marblepoet-diplomat Abhay K has penned an Earth Anthem describingthe planet as a "Cosmic Blue Pearl".[3] A photo taken of a distantEarth by Voyager 1 in 1990 inspired Carl Sagan to describe theplanet as a "Pale Blue Dot."

Since the 1960s, Earth has also been described as a massive"Spaceship Earth," with a life support system that requiresmaintenance, or, in the Gaia hypothesis, as having a biosphere that forms one large organism.

Over the past two centuries a growing environmental movement has emerged that is concerned about humankind'seffects on the Earth. The key issues of this socio-political movement are the conservation of natural resources,elimination of pollution, and the usage of land. Although diverse in interests and goals, environmentalists as a grouptend to advocate sustainable management of resources and stewardship of the environment through changes in publicpolicy and individual behavior. Of particular concern is the large-scale exploitation of non-renewable resources.Changes sought by the environmental movements are sometimes in conflict with commercial interests due to theadditional costs associated with managing the environmental impact of those interests.

References[1] Science, Evolution, and Creationism (http:/ / books. nap. edu/ openbook. php?record_id=11876& page=R1) National Academy Press,

Washington, DC 2005[2] ; but see also Cosmas Indicopleustes[3] An Anthem for the Earth (http:/ / www. ekantipur. com/ the-kathmandu-post/ 2013/ 05/ 24/ related_articles/ voices/ 249135. html)

Kathmandu Post, May 25, 2013

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Article Sources and ContributorsEarth in culture  Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=609329513  Contributors: Agyle, Cerebellum, Chris the speller, Crzer07, Grafen, Icairns, Kalhause, Kar95k,Knightofbaghdad, PigFlu Oink, Praemonitus, RJHall, Redtigerxyz, Rjwilmsi, The Mummy, Vsmith, Who is like God?, 3 anonymous edits

Image Sources, Licenses and ContributorsFile:AS8-13-2329.jpg  Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:AS8-13-2329.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Frank BormanFile:Earth symbol.svg  Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Earth_symbol.svg  License: unknown  Contributors: OsgoodeLawyerFile:Bhudevi.jpg  Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bhudevi.jpg  License: Creative Commons ShareAlike 1.0 Generic  Contributors: Eternal-Entropy, Foroa, Jastrow,Ranveig, Roland zh, Stefan4, 1 anonymous editsFile:Earth and Moon from Mars PIA04531.jpg  Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Earth_and_Moon_from_Mars_PIA04531.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors:Complex01, Curps, Felix Stember, Jacopo Werther, Lotse, Quasipalm

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