What One Year in Space Taught Astronaut Scott Kelly About Need to Protect Earth

Sometimes you have to travel very far away to appreciate our little planet. For some, that means billions of miles away.

During his 340 days in space, astronaut Scott Kelly had the chance to gaze upon our planet every single day. By observing everything from polluted cities to typhoons, Kelly realized how important it is to for us to protect the environment, fight climate change, and save the only planet we’ve got.

“The Earth is a beautiful planet. It’s practically everything to us. It’s very important to our survival, and the Space Station is a great vantage point to observe it, and to share our planet in pictures,” Kelly said during a press conference in Houston.

“We’ve got to take care of the environment,” he said. “I do believe we have an impact on that [the health of the environment], and we do have the ability to change it if we make the decision to.”

“You also notice how the atmosphere looks and how fragile it looks,” Kelly said. “It makes you more of an environmentalist after spending so much time looking down at our planet.”

While we might not all be able to travel to space, we can all take a page from Kelly in learning to appreciate the planet. As he says, we’ve only got one and despite it’s vastness, it is extremely fragile. To learn more about how you can combat Climate change through your food choices, join One Green Planet’s #EatForThePlanet movement.

All image source: Scott Kelly/Twitter