The Insignificance of Earth in the Universe - the Pale Blue Dot - by Carl Sagan

Below is a video clip made in 1994 by Carl Sagan, the astronomer. 

It is an old clip but it is just as pertinent today as it was then.  

It speaks to the issue of the insignificance of our planet and the way we treat it.  It also addresses the way we treat each other. 

Carl Sagan died in 1996 at age 62.  

In the past, it has been stated by astronomers that the number of stars in the Universe equals the number of grains of sand on all of the beaches on the Earth. Now, scientists and astronomers state that there may be 5 to 10 times more stars than there are grains of sand on all of the world's beaches.  

Stars are Suns and Suns have Solar Systems.  Solar Systems have planets.  Our Solar System has 8 planets. 

If you take all of the stars in the Universe as 5 or 10 times the number of grains of sand on all of Earth's beaches and multiply that by 8, you could possibly come up with the number of planets in the Universe.  If only 1/2 of 1 percent of these planets were inhabitable (or Earthlike) then there would be hundreds of millions of them.  

There are millions of Earths and many are inhabited.  Just like us. 

We really are just a pale blue dot in the Universe.  And we do a really lousy job as custodians of our planet.  We do an even worse job as guardians of the human race. We destroy the planet through war, exploitation and corporate greed and we kill each other in the process.

God save us.  Amen.