5 ms·

This guy has incredible tact, and knows his audience well. > Ever since this picture was first published, voices have become louder and louder warning of the g

This guy has incredible tact, and knows his audience well. > Ever since this picture was first published, voices have become louder and louder warning of the grave problems that confront man in our times: pollution, hunger, poverty, urban living, food production, water control, overpopulation. He even took care not to mention climate change, which I assume was in case the reader has a strong bias against it.

jmah 14y ago
I'm not sure climate change was particularly well-known in 1970.
- chris_wot 14y ago
  Not true. While not as widely known, it was still causing concern amongst scientists. Wikipedia is particularly helpful here: see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_climate_change_science#Scientists_increasingly_predicting_warming.2C_1970s http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_climate_change_scien...
btilly 14y ago
That letter was written in 1970. The possibility of human-caused climate change did not start come to the awareness of the general public until 1988, and did not become a political issue until this millennium. He therefore cannot legitimately be criticized for his inability to predict where science would go in future decades. However he can legitimately be praised for being prescient about the role of satellites in researching a number of environmental problems, including global warming.
- mturmon 14y ago
  "he can legitimately be praised for being prescient about the role of satellites in researching a number of environmental problems" Good catch to notice that. I was impressed this too, but didn't post until I saw your reply. To me, Earth remote sensing is the most clear-cut example of near-term benefit to humanity by space technologies. It's amazing what can be done -- way beyond inputs for weather forecasts. You can assess health of forest canopy from space (because you can measure water content of leaves -- it's a delicate measurement, but it can be done). (Hyperspectral radiometer) You can measure full-air-column CO2, CO, and other gases, from space. You can measure sea surface salinity and temperature, and even surface wind velocity, from space. (microwave radiometer, radar scatterometer) You can measure tiny post-earthquake land deformations -- not at selected sites, but continuously over a broad area. (Radar interferometry) All this is way beyond where it started, with pictures of cloud formations. Having these physical inputs allows much better modeling and prediction of all kinds of activity: weather/ecology/seismicity.
deleted 14y ago
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jmah 14y ago

I'm not sure climate change was particularly well-known in 1970.

chris_wot 14y ago
Not true. While not as widely known, it was still causing concern amongst scientists. Wikipedia is particularly helpful here: see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_climate_change_science#Scientists_increasingly_predicting_warming.2C_1970s http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_climate_change_scien...

btilly 14y ago

That letter was written in 1970. The possibility of human-caused climate change did not start come to the awareness of the general public until 1988, and did not become a political issue until this millennium. He therefore cannot legitimately be criticized for his inability to predict where science would go in future decades. However he can legitimately be praised for being prescient about the role of satellites in researching a number of environmental problems, including global warming.

mturmon 14y ago
"he can legitimately be praised for being prescient about the role of satellites in researching a number of environmental problems" Good catch to notice that. I was impressed this too, but didn't post until I saw your reply. To me, Earth remote sensing is the most clear-cut example of near-term benefit to humanity by space technologies. It's amazing what can be done -- way beyond inputs for weather forecasts. You can assess health of forest canopy from space (because you can measure water content of leaves -- it's a delicate measurement, but it can be done). (Hyperspectral radiometer) You can measure full-air-column CO2, CO, and other gases, from space. You can measure sea surface salinity and temperature, and even surface wind velocity, from space. (microwave radiometer, radar scatterometer) You can measure tiny post-earthquake land deformations -- not at selected sites, but continuously over a broad area. (Radar interferometry) All this is way beyond where it started, with pictures of cloud formations. Having these physical inputs allows much better modeling and prediction of all kinds of activity: weather/ecology/seismicity.

deleted 14y ago

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