Ron Garan, a former NASA astronaut, spent 178 days in space across his missions on the space shuttle, Soyuz spacecraft, and International Space Station. During his time among the stars, Garan experienced a profound shift in perspective that led him to a sobering realization about life on Earth. In an interview, Garan described the awe-inspiring sights he witnessed from the space station’s window.
He saw lightning storms flashing like paparazzi, dancing curtains of auroras that seemed within reach, and the incredibly thin layer of Earth’s atmosphere. It was this view that brought Garan to a clear understanding of our planet’s fragility. “I saw an iridescent biosphere teeming with life.
I didn’t see an economy,” Garan recalled.
Garan’s view from space
But since our human-made systems treat everything, including the very life-support systems of our planet, as a subsidiary of the global economy, it’s obvious from the vantage point of space that we’re living a lie.
Garan’s experience, known as the “Overview Effect,” caused him to recognize the interconnectedness and interdependence of all life on Earth.
He realized that issues such as global warming, deforestation, and biodiversity loss are not standalone problems but rather symptoms of a deeper, underlying issue. We keep trying to deal with these issues as stand-alone when in reality, they’re just symptoms of the underlying root problem – that we don’t see ourselves as planetary,” Garan explained. The astronaut believes that humanity is paying a high price for this lack of perspective.
He argues that by prioritizing the economy over the planet and society, we are unable to effectively address the challenges we face. “We need to move from thinking ‘economy, society, planet’ to ‘planet, society, economy,'” Garan urged. “That’s when we’re going to continue our evolutionary process.”
Since returning to Earth, Garan has been working towards creating a cleaner, safer, and more peaceful world.
He emphasizes the need for a shift in perspective and the recognition of the interrelated structure of all reality to achieve lasting peace on our planet.
