Ron Garan Says 178 Days in Space Exposed a 'Living a Lie' Worldview
Updated
Updated · Bored Panda · Aug 25
Ron Garan Says 178 Days in Space Exposed a 'Living a Lie' Worldview
2 articles · Updated · Bored Panda · Aug 25
Summary
Ron Garan said his 178 days aboard the International Space Station in 2011 left him convinced humanity is "living a lie" by putting economic systems ahead of Earth's life-supporting biosphere.
2,842 orbits and more than 71 million miles in space gave Garan a view of Earth's atmosphere as a paper-thin blue layer, which he said drove home how fragile all life on the planet is.
That realization led him to argue that people treat the planet's resources as subordinate to markets, growth and geopolitical borders rather than protecting the ecosystem they depend on.
The experience fits the "Overview Effect," a term for the psychological shift many astronauts report after seeing Earth from orbit and feeling both the arbitrariness of borders and a stronger sense of human interconnectedness.