Earth Day and The Flag of Earth

"Its anthem is the wind in her trees, and the waves of her seas." - James Cadle

[updated Apr 22 2024]

On April 22, 2024, I brought out my Flag of Earth again. It was a warm and sunny day with light breezes. Winter cold and rain lasted until mid-March, so my fruit trees bloomed in early April this year. I've raised the Flag of Earth over my lilac bush, this year. I'll have more details later.

On April 22, 2023, I brought out my Flag of Earth again (see left and right). It was a warm and sunny day, my apple tree in full bloom, but threats of thunderstorms in the early evening. The Covid pandemic is all but declared ended in the United States, with the last of state and national mask mandates ended. War in Ukraine and now Somalia, tensions around China. Meanwhile the planet gets hotter, storms in the northern hemisphere are stronger, droughts on the increase. Ice loss in the Arctic and Antarctic exceed projections. In short, the planet is burning, from war and climate change. National and local Earth Day events were modest.

One of my neighbors was putting out plastic storage bins, for garbage. I pointed out, recycling pickup was a week away. She said "These plastics can't be recycled, they don't have the right number. But people can come by and pick them for their use. After all, it's Earth Day, we have to be aware of what we discard!". She was right, these were #5 plastics (poly propylene). So at least ordinary people are keeping track. I rescued some of the bins for use.

June 9 2023: I said below on EarthDay 2023, "the planet is burning". On June 7th 2023, I took this photo (left) at 3PM of my southwestern sky. The amber-brown color in this photo was the actual color of daylight. It was due to hundreds of forest fires in the southeastern half of Canada, 700 miles to the north; and a counterclockwise Newfoundland high that circulated that burning air south and east. One quarter of the United States was under excessive to dangerous amounts of smoke. I could taste and smell the burnt wood.

At 3PM the AQI air quality index in Ewing NJ was about 280; by 7PM it peaked at over 394. The AQI stayed in the 400 to 200 range in the NJ-NY-eastern PA for about two days.

on April 22, 2022, I brought out my Flag of Earth again (see left-rigth). It was a warm and sunny day, with trees bluming and grass freshly green. After 1 million dead from Covid in the USA, covid masking is off-mandate, vaxinations stable at 70%. People are tired of fighing Covid, but the virus doesn't care. There's a war in Europe. Politics are in turmoil, even truth is contentious. And the planet is getting warmer, storms worsen, as nations fight about oil. Earth Day is barely noticed in the larger media.

On April 22 2021, I bought out my Flag of Earth again (see left), on a sunny but chilly EarthDay. The Covid pandemic, in the United States, is beginning to subside. And the United States government is working again to reduce climate change. There is some cause for optimism. - Herb

EarthDay 2020: Recognition, celebration

April 22 2020 was the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. That day, at the beginning of the Covid pandemic, I brought my Flag of Earth into sunlight and the New Jersey air, after 30 years in a dusty bag. I had not searched the Web for the Cadle flag, in many years. I saw there's a number of contenders for a "flag of Earth". In recent news, the Cadle flag seems to be under-reported or scarce. It seemed appropriate to consider the state of the Earth and our common connections on this planet, during the Covid crisis, and on this day in particular.So I created this Web page.

The Flag of Earth was created after the first Earth Day, a year after the Apollo 11 lunar landing. Our look back at the Earth during the Apollo missions, gave us the clearest image of the Earth as a single biosphere and a common home. These recent weeks of international shutdown, provide factual evidence of human industrial and urban contributions to CO2 and air-particulate levels - as evidenced by their swift decline during the slowdown. And, the near-global spread of the Virus, confirms we do not live in isolation from each other, nor is isolation a solution to this and other local problems. These and other things are in my thoughts for this day and days forward, as we continue into "the undiscovered country" of our global future. - Herb Johnson

My flag was previously seen by the public, in 1990 at the Air Force Adademy's library environmental exhibit during Earth Day's 20th anniversary, in Colorado Springs. Before that, it was exhibited or flown in Columbus, Ohio; at the Ohio State University Radio Telescope, devoted to the longest-running Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence survey for radio signals. That's where I bought the flag, in the 1980's. A Flag of Earth flew at the telescope, until the observatory was destroyed in the 1980's for land development. - Herb Johnson, Ewing NJ

The [Cadle] Flag of Earth

James W. Cadle of St. Joseph, IL got the idea for the Flag of The Earth, about the time of the Earth Day environmental demonstrations in 1970; one year after the Apollo 11 moon landing. [It's described best as] three spheres against a field of black. The beautiful blue Earth and its silvery Moon, riding tandem through the heavens in the golden lap of the Sun. - From a Columbus Dispatch article, June 14 1987 (US Flag Day).

As of 2020 The Flag of Earth Web site under the NAAPO organization apparently still offers the Cadle flag - however I suggest you contact them personally first as the Web site and organization seems inactive. Flag purchases support(ed) the North American AstroPhysical Observatory, a nonprofit successor to the OSU Radio SETI efforts of a few decades ago. Dr. Robert Dixon, who led the Ohio State SETI program and NAAPO, was also a supporter for the Cadle flag as endorsed by the Cadle family. Many SETI programs of the 1980's flew the flag at their facilities. A later organization which supports SETI research, The SETI League, also took up the Flag of Earth and reports on its circumstances. The League site reports the design was put into the public domain by Cadle in Nov 1 2003, and that James Cadle passed away in June 2004. They refer those interested in the [Cadle] flag to NAAPO.

Herb Johnson
New Jersey, USA
follow this link to email me @ my email address