The “Earthrise” picture from the Apollo missions, and the Church Forests of Ethiopia, both “extend the circle of ourselves to nature”

We’re delighted to bring you some of our signature video/film curation from a different source this week - the eco-civilisational magazine Emergence. As they write in their newsletter: “Awakening a love for the Earth is dependent on broadening our care and attention beyond ourselves. These two films ask us to extend the circle we place around our sense of self to include the living world.”

Firstly, The Church Forests of Ethiopia. From Emergence: “Over the past century, farming and the needs of a growing population have replaced nearly all of Ethiopia’s old-growth forests with agricultural fields. This film tells the story of the country’s church forests—pockets of lush biodiversity, protected by hundreds of churches, that are scattered like emerald pearls across a brown sea of farm fields.” See also the accompanying essay.

Secondly, Earthrise: The Story of the Photo That Changed The World. From Emergence: “[In] all this inky black void, the Earth was there with this beautiful blue hue to it. The blue marble.” —Frank Borman

“It has been over half a century since Apollo 8 astronauts took the first photograph of the Earth, vivid and alone, from the surface of the Moon. To see its fragility and beauty within the dark expanse of space was to see the true nature of our planet and humanity’s place on it. This iconic image had a profound impact on the astronauts and the world, offering a perspective that transcended national and political boundaries and laid bare the need to care for our living world. In Earthrise, we revisit this powerful moment of recognition: that we are, and always have been, an inseparable part of a living whole.” Multimedia essay also here.