Earth in culture

The cultural perspective on the Earth, or world, varies by society and time period. Religious beliefs often include a creation belief as well as personification in the form of a deity. The exploration of the world has modified many of the perceptions of the planet, resulting in a viewpoint of a globally-integrated ecosystem.

Etymology

The name "Earth" originates from the 8th century Anglo-Saxon word "erda", which means ground or soil. In Old English the word became "eorthe", then "erthe" in Middle English. [cite book
month=July | year=2005 | title=Random House Unabridged Dictionary
publisher=Random House | id=ISBN 0-375-42599-3 ] Earth was first used as the name of the sphere of the Earth around 1400. [cite web
last = Harper| first = Douglas | month = November | year = 2001
url = http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=earth
title = Earth | publisher = Online Etymology Dictionary
accessdate = 2007-08-07 ] It is the only planet whose name in English is not derived from Greco-Roman mythology.

The standard astronomical symbol of the Earth consists of a cross circumscribed by a circle. This symbol is known as the wheel cross, sun cross, Odin's cross or Woden's cross. Although it has been used in various 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 early astronomical symbol for the planet Earth. [cite book
first=Carl G. | last=Liungman | year=2004
chapter=Group 29: Multi-axes symmetric, both soft and straight-lined, closed signs with crossing lines
title=Symbols -- Encyclopedia of Western Signs and Ideograms
pages=pp. 281–282 | publisher=Ionfox AB
location=New York | id=ISBN 91-972705-0-4 ]

Religious beliefs

Earth has often been personified as a deity, in particular a goddess. In many cultures the mother goddess, also called the Mother Earth, is also portrayed as a fertility deity. See also "Graha". To the Aztec, Earth was called Tonantzin—"our mother"; to the Incas, Earth was called Pachamama—"mother earth". The Chinese Earth goddess Hou-T'u [cite book | first=E. T. C. | last=Werner | year=1922 | title=Myths & Legends of China | publisher=George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd. | location=New York | url=http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/15250 | accessdate=2007-03-14 ] is similar to Gaia, the Greek goddess personifying the Earth. To Hindus it is called Bhuma Devi, the Goddess of Earth. In Norse mythology, the Earth goddess Jord was the mother of Thor and the daughter of Annar. Ancient Egyptian mythology is different from that of other cultures because Earth is male, Geb, and sky is female, Nut.

Creation myths in many religions recall a story involving the creation of the Earth by a supernatural deity or deities. A variety of religious groups, often associated with fundamentalist branches of Protestantismcite journal | author = Dutch, S.I. | year = 2002 | title = Religion as belief versus religion as fact | journal = Journal of Geoscience Education | volume = 50 | issue = 2 | pages = 137–144 | url=http://nagt.org/files/nagt/jge/abstracts/Dutch_v50n2p137.pdf | accessdate = 2008-04-28|format=PDF] or Islam, [cite book
author = Taner Edis | year = 2003 | title = A World Designed by God: Science and Creationism in Contemporary Islam | publisher=Amherst: Prometheus | url = http://www2.truman.edu/~edis/writings/articles/CFI-2001.pdf | isbn = 1-59102-064-6 | accessdate = 2008-04-28|format=PDF] assert that their interpretations of the accounts of creation in sacred texts are literal truth and should be considered alongside or replace conventional scientific accounts of the formation of the Earth and the origin and development of life.cite journal | author = Ross, M.R. | year = 2005 | title = Who Believes What? Clearing up Confusion over Intelligent Design and Young-Earth Creationism | journal = Journal of Geoscience Education | volume = 53 | issue = 3 | pages = 319 | url = http://www.nagt.org/files/nagt/jge/abstracts/Ross_v53n3p319.pdf | accessdate = 2008-04-28|format=PDF] Such assertions are opposed by the scientific community [cite journal |author=Pennock RT |title=Creationism and intelligent design |journal=Annu Rev Genomics Hum Genet |volume=4 |issue= |pages=143–63 |year=2003 |pmid=14527300 |doi=10.1146/annurev.genom.4.070802.110400] [ [http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11876&page=R1 Science, Evolution, and Creationism] National Academy Press, Washington, DC 2005] and other religious groups.cite journal | author = Colburn, A. | coauthors = Henriques, L. | year = 2006 | title = Clergy views on evolution, creationism, science, and religion | journal = Journal of Research in Science Teaching | volume = 43 | issue = 4 | pages = 419–442 | doi = 10.1002/tea.20109] cite book | author = Roland Mushat Frye | year = 1983 | title = Is God a Creationist? The Religious Case Against Creation-Science. | publisher = Scribner's | isbn = 0-68417-993-8] cite journal | author = Gould, S.J. | year = 1997 | title = Nonoverlapping magisteria | journal = Natural History | volume = 106 | issue = 2 | pages = 16–22 | url = http://www.jbburnett.com/resources/gould_nonoverlapping.pdf | accessdate = 2008-04-28|format=PDF] A prominent example is the creation-evolution controversy.

Physical form

In the ancient past there were varying levels of belief in a flat Earth, with the Mesopotamian culture portraying the world as a flat disk afloat in an ocean. 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 was widespread. [cite web | last = Russell | first = Jeffrey B. | url = http://www.asa3.org/ASA/topics/history/1997Russell.html | title = The Myth of the Flat Earth | publisher = American Scientific Affiliation | accessdate = 2007-03-14 ; but see also Cosmas Indicopleustes] Prior to circumnavigation of the planet and the introduction of space flight, belief in a spherical Earth was based on observations of the secondary effects of the Earth's shape and parallels drawn with the shape of other planets. [cite web
last = Jacobs
first = James Q.
date =1998-02-01
url =http://www.jqjacobs.net/astro/aegeo.html
title =Archaeogeodesy, a Key to Prehistory
accessdate = 2007-04-21]

Modern perspective

The technological developments of the latter half of the 20th century are widely considered to have altered the public's perception of the Earth. Before space flight, the popular image of Earth was of a green world. Science fiction artist Frank R. Paul provided perhaps the first image of a cloudless "blue" planet (with sharply defined land masses) on the back cover of the July 1940 issue of "Amazing Stories", a common depiction for several decades thereafter.cite book
last = Ackerman | first = Forrest J
authorlink = Forrest J Ackerman | year = 1997
title = Forrest J Ackerman's World of Science Fiction
publisher = RR Donnelley & Sons Company
location = Los Angeles | id = ISBN 1-57544-069-5
pages = 116–117 ]

Earth was first photographed from space by Explorer 6 in 1959. [cite web | author=Staff | month = October | year = 1998 | url = http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/pdf/106420main_explorers.pdf | format=PDF | title = Explorers: Searching the Universe Forty Years Later | publisher = NASA/Goddard | accessdate = 2007-03-05 ] Yuri Gagarin became the first human to view Earth from space in 1961. The crew of the Apollo 8 was the first to view an Earth-rise from lunar orbit in 1968. In 1972 the crew of the Apollo 17 produced the famous "Blue Marble" photograph of the planet Earth from cislunar space (see top of page). This became an iconic image of the planet as a marble of cloud-swirled blue ocean broken by green-brown continents. NASA archivist Mike Gentry has speculated that "The Blue Marble" is the most widely distributed image in human history. A photo taken of a distant Earth by "Voyager 1" in 1990 inspired Carl Sagan to describe the planet as a "Pale Blue Dot."cite web
author=Staff
url = http://gtrc911.quaker.org/pale_blue_dot.html
title = Pale Blue Dot | publisher = SETI@home
accessdate = 2006-04-02 ]

Since the 1960s, Earth has also been described as a massive "Spaceship Earth," with a life support system that requires maintenance, [cite book
first=R. Buckminster | last=Fuller
authorlink=Buckminster Fuller | year=1963
title=Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth
edition=First edition | publisher=E.P. Dutton & Co.
location=New York | id=ISBN 0-525-47433-1
url=http://www.futurehi.net/docs/OperatingManual.html
accessdate=2007-04-21 ] or, in the Gaia hypothesis, as having a biosphere that forms one large organism. [cite book
first=James E. | last=Lovelock
authorlink=James Lovelock | year=1979
title=Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth
edition=First edition | publisher=Oxford University Press
location=Oxford | id=ISBN 0-19-286030-5 ]

Over the past two centuries a growing environmental movement has emerged that is concerned about humankind's effects 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. [cite book
first=Anthony J. | last=McMichael | year=1993
title=Planetary Overload: Global Environmental Change and the Health of the Human Species
publisher=Cambridge University Press
isbn=0521457599 ] Environmentalists advocate sustainable management of resources and stewardship of the environment through changes in public policy 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 the additional costs associated with managing the environmental impact of those interests.or|date=July 2008 [cite web
last = Meyer | first = Stephen M.
date = 2002-08-18
url = http://web.mit.edu/polisci/mpepp/
title = MIT Project on Environmental Politics & Policy
publisher = Massachusetts Institute of Technology
accessdate = 2006-08-10 Rs|date=July 2008]

References