“When we do passes over parts of the world where you can see the human impact to the world, you get to really see the magnitude of the impact. When we’re flying over North America, we come up over Vancouver, and a short five minutes later we’re flying over Houston. We’d just cross over all of the Western United States. And during the daylight, you may not really see a whole lot of human influence, with all the great plains are stretched out and the cities blending into everything.
“But when we’d do that same view over South America, at what at one point was rainforest, as far as we can see, has all been deforested. You can understand the reasons why people are doing it. They’re trying to survive. But you also know at your core that we’re having a significant impact on how life is balancing on the world. And so, I walked away with a deep sense of stewardship of the planet. My wife chuckles at this being my mid-life crisis. I came home and signed up for 100% renewable energy and looked at EV cars and everything.
“When you look out into space, and you see all those stars and all those galaxies — there’s just so much stuff out there. But the only thing you see with any life on it is what’s right below you. You know that we’re on this island out in the middle of this vast darkness, and we need to just take care of it as best we can.”
— Astronaut Nick Hague
Image Credit: NASA / Aubrey Gemignani
Interviewer: NASA / Thalia Patrinos