Cross-Cultural Blog

Taken during the Apollo 8 space voyage in 1968, Earthrise is the first photograph of Earth to be seen by humans. Rising above the pale, lifeless cratered surface of the moon is our planet appearing small and fragile in the distance. In the inky darkness of the vast universe, it emits a bright glow displaying a swirl of white clouds intermixed with the rich blue color of the oceans. The Earth looks like a child’s toy---as if it could be cradled in one’s hands and tossed about like a small ball. In contrast, the moon’s surface stretches endlessly and appears icy and barren. Due to the position of the lunar cycle, the spherical shape of Earth is shown only halfway illuminated with the bottom fading into total darkness.

By: Safiyyah Abdul-Khabir

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This image portrays a simple scene of a sun setting over the hills, and the simplicity is shown to be essential to balance the relationship between humans and nature. By showing a limited amount of manmade objects in a beautiful nature scene to objects that respect nature, this image suggests the relationship between humans and nature should be kept pure and simple for the preservation of nature as a whole and the benefit that humans can receive from such scenes as this.

The nature in this image portrays a sunset over the hilly land in Hood River, Oregon. The nature is layered; from the immediate grass and shrubs near the bench to the pine trees and finally the tree covered hills in the background. There is little impact from humans, perhaps a farm on one of the hills. The sunset, romanticized for its beauty, illuminates the branch of a tree overhanging a bench. The abundance of greens and the pale sky also makes the sunset stand out for being the brightest color, the simplicity allowing the beauty to be more noticeable.

This image only contains two manmade objects, the bench and the bucket. The bench has a sense of innocence in that although it is manmade, it is unobtrusive and not destructive to nature. It is built and placed in this spot to enjoy and observe the beauty in nature. One does, however, take advantage of the resources in nature by sitting and watching the sunset but in a simple and pure way. It is not using nature as a space to place our waste but as a way to decrease the waste in our minds. The bucket hung in the tree, is perhaps a makeshift garbage can revealing the two manmade objects in this image to function to respect nature and keep it clean.

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This image reveals my belief to live simply. In the words of Henry Thoreau, “Rise free from care before the dawn, and seek adventures. […] Grow wild according to thy nature. […] Enjoy the land, but own it not.” A simple life not only is better for the environment, but it is better for mankind. To sit on a bench and observe the land, or better yet to sit on a log, and also explore one’s own mind is a valuable and educational experience. I always need to read my own books, and do my own things outside of the institution of school for my own education. I cannot point out exactly what nature has to offer that is so valuable, only to point out that I could not have the same experience in a busy shopping mall. I doubt anyone in a shopping mall is concerned with the nature of their being in that moment while they are busy looking for things to buy and consume and complicate and decorate. Nature is simple and pure and allows you to simply live without the society-imposed pressure to make a living. The relationship between humans and nature does not involve ownership, or it should not. One does not own a piece of land that one lives on; rather one lives wherever one is in that moment of time. I believe that humans are a part of nature, but their complex lifestyles remove them from it. We are the only species I can think of that tries to build bigger and fancier houses to keep nature out, while the birds have built simple nests for all time and continue to do so.

By: Cassandra Carroll

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I believe in the interconnectedness of all things. In western culture, children are taught to live by the “golden rule” of treating others the way they'd like to be treated. In Buddhist doctrine, the idea of karma describes how one's good deeds and interactions with others actively shape past, present, and future experiences. In the movie Star Wars, the universe is united by a metaphysical and ubiquitous power “the force”, whose energy the characters can harness and channel. Whatever its title, I believe that there is an energy that connects all life forms; no creature is fully alone or independent, and each action inevitably affects the life around it.

I first came to this understanding of the world as a nine year old at summer camp in the Sierra Nevadas. I realized that the earth has a pulse, and this energy is the basis of all altruism and mutualism. When a human does something to improve the energy around him or her, they inherently improve the energy within themselves. This is not solely an abstract, spiritual concept, but in fact the foundation of many interactions between all life forms. In fact, evolution selects for and gives rise to countless mutualistic relationships. The ant-plant symbiosis depicted by this photograph is a prime example of species working together. The plant Verbenaceae secretes nectar in excess, which the Peruvian ants then eat to nourish themselves and their young. In return, the ants are faithful protectors of the plant. They prevent insect herbivory by biting and driving away caterpillars and other insects on the plant. The ants also shred other surrounding plants that may be a threat to the Verbenacceae. They even attack and bite large herbivores that disrupt their plant.

These companions of nature have a symbiotic relationship based on balanced mutualism. Human interactions are also about helping one another. When people upset the balance and take more than they give in a relationship, symbiosis is destroyed. Likewise, if we abuse our relationship with nature, we will inevitably pay for it by losing advantages the harmonious relationship brings. However, when humans work together in reciprocal coexistence with nature, combining strengths and celebrating our common energy, dynamic progress is made possible.

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Plant-animal interactions are the foundation for the vast majority of dynamic ecosystems in nature. The coevolution of species in these interactions is a large driver of biodiversity. Plants provide necessary nourishment and shelter for animals, while animals help with plant regeneration and shape species diversity and composition. However, in the past one hundred years, deforestation, human infestation, and poaching have reduced the fauna, large and small, in countless natural ecosystems. The loss of these species can have profound effects on an entire interconnected system, not simply one species directly affected by humans.

In our everyday lives, most people do not directly observe or acknowledge the intricate webbing of natural ecosystems, let alone appreciate their delicacy. If one does look closely, however, it becomes evident how precious and awe-inspiring nature truly is. Something as small as an ant can play a major role in in the life around it. If an ant species goes extinct, a plant that relies on the ants' protection may also die, which could affect large mammals that eat that plant, which could potentially destabilize the ecosystem of an entire forest. Despite its small size, the ant plays a key role in the world and is made from the same basic genetic material as any human.

Improving our understanding of nature and the complex interactions within it is important not only for the sake of conservation biology in itself but for the greater good of our own human species. While it is often easy to separate ourselves from nature, we too are part of a complex global ecosystem. Phenomena like the current changing of our climate are direct results of an imbalance in what is meant to be a symbiotic relationship with nature. The solution to these problems, I feel, is to truly take a closer look at nature and its wonders and humbly acknowledge that we too are a part of this delicate and intricate web of interactions of the world.

By: Kelsie Pombo

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A grey circle sits on a plain background of lighter grey. There is no color, only shades of black and grey. Two dark ellipses mark the poles of the circle, and the faded outline of a diamond shape is visible inside the circle spreading from the poles. Inside the diamond is an area of lighter grey, and inscribed in this area is the silhouette of an even paler circle. The image grows increasingly lighter as it proceeds towards the center, and the lightest point of the image is a single small circle of white at the very center of the larger grey circle. The white is outlined by black and framed with small black rectangle and two small black triangles on the sides of the rectangle that point horizontally away from the center. Radiating outward from the white center is a faint cross that spreads to the boundaries of the diamond silhouette. The cross is not solid, but formed by small spots of darker shade. There are four spots in each arm of the X, darkest near the center but becoming progressively lighter towards the boundary of the diamond. Formed of primary shapes and without color, it has an understated elegance. The beauty of DNA derives chiefly from its simplicity.

I do not brag when I say that I grew up in a very scientific setting. In fact, it was something that I disliked for many years. Both my parents are professors of biology, and I spent many weekends of my formative years in labs. Instead of coloring in coloring books, I decorated autoclave tape. While my classmates were watching TV and playing video games, I racked pipette tips for my mother, earning a quarter for each box I finished. I never heard my parents complain about their bosses, but I heard plenty about grants and papers. Before I even understood what a grant was, I grasped that this mysterious word represented stress and anxiety. I can remember few occasions when my parents discussed politics over dinner, but highly technical scientific conversations were commonplace. Growing up, I particularly resented these discussions that left me completely out the dialogue. Today, I recognize this background as the root of my interest in biology, but for much of my life I felt no pride in it. As soon as I realized that there was something that set my family apart from others, I resented it. I was especially bitter that my parents’ profession that meant that they worked almost constantly and had few free weekends, and so swore that I would never become a biologist.

My freshman year of high school, something changed when I started taking biology in school. Every lesson unlocked new secrets to me. When I learned a new concept in class, something I remembered my parents discussing suddenly made sense, and now my parents’ conversations helped me understand new things about class material. To be sure, most of what they said still went over my head, but I could understand just enough to give me a taste and make me want to learn more. Everything my teacher told the class somehow fit into an orderly space in my brain, next to everything that I had absorbed over fourteen years without even realizing it. I was making connections I never knew I could, and it all made sense. I had always done well in my classes, but I excelled in biology. When I realized that the majority of the classes I wanted to take were in college were in the biology department, I resigned myself to majoring in biology and following in my parents’ footsteps.

Rosalind Franklin’s Photo 51 represents many of the qualities that I love in biology, and that finally led me to realize that I did in fact love science despite our rocky beginnings. It’s simple elegance epitomizes what I think science should ideally be. It shows the central dogma of life as something neat, orderly, and precise. It can be qualified, quantified, and it makes sense. Most importantly, it explains how nature works and gives me a new way to view and understand the world around me. And above all, it reminds me that science can and should be as beautiful as the natural world it illuminates.

By: Emma Sedivy

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Below by: Safiyyah Abdul-Khabir

Before the Apollo 8 space voyage in 1968, never before has any human ever seen the entirety of Earth. We’ve seen the grey polluted rivers drain into the oceans, the grime and crime of the cities, the numerous global conflicts on TV, but it was only until this photo was taken that we were able to fully view and appreciate the planet we live on. Its unique beauty and fragile presence in the dark universe captivated us and made us take a closer look at our lives. We became breathless and shocked as we realized everything that had ever happened—every war, every life, everything that had ever meant anything in the billions of years of Earth’s existence—had happened on this small, delicate planet.

This now famous photograph was taken during the height of the Cold War—an intense battle that dominated international affairs for decades. In the same time period, tension in the Middle East had escalated into the Six Day War and the world was also still reeling from the high-profile assassinations of Martin Luther King, Malcom X, and John F. Kennedy. Then a single photograph came along and made us stop for a moment to truly contemplate our existence. Should we be taking better care of our Earth, our only home? Why is our majestic planet being dominated by violence? What exactly is our purpose in life? Our problems usually mean the world to us, but in those few moments of viewing our little planet for the first time we realized how insignificant and purposeless our problems truly were compared to the sheer magnitude of the universe.

As our perspective of our world changed, we gradually began to shift the focus away from man. We realized we weren’t that powerful after all and our dominance might just be a temporary illusion. Inspired by this photograph, Earth Day was founded in 1970 and became a movement to motivate the masses to cherish our Earth. Following afterwards in response, a slew of legislations passed in the 1970s including most notably the Clean Air Act, the Water Pollution Control Act, and the National Environmental Protection Act which established the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

This iconic photograph has undoubtedly caused a profound change and allowed every one of us to take a closer look at the intricate simplicity of our lives and the planet we live in. At first glance, this place we call home may seem simple. However, when one zooms in and takes a closer look at the incredible natural phenonomena that our planet holds -- the peaceful sunsets, complex species interactions, and precise microscopic details of life -- one cannot help but appreciate that Earth is our home.