The Overview Effect

Astronauts who have seen the Earth from space have often described the ‘overview effect’ as an experience that has transformed their perspective of the planet and mankind’s place upon it, and enabled them to perceive it as our shared home, without boundaries between nations or species.

OVERVIEW is a short film that will explore this perspective through interviews with astronauts who have experienced the overview effect. The film also features insights from commentators and thinkers on the wider implications and importance of this understanding for humanity as a whole, and especially its relevance to how we meet the tremendous challenges facing our planet at this time.

Astronauts are one of those people I truly envy. It seems to me that you have to be a genius and perfectly fit physically to be one, but more importantly, to be up there and see our dearly beloved planet in its entirety. I sometimes watch ISS earth observatory videos and I can only imagine how humbling and mesmerizing it  can be while in the Cupola for hours. It's one of my dream romantic date destinations. Here's what I know though, I don't have to fly to outer space to experience this thing they called the "overview effect".

The overview effect is a cognitive shift in awareness reported by some astronauts and cosmonauts during spaceflight, often while viewing the Earth from orbit or from the lunar surface. It refers to the experience of seeing firsthand the reality of the Earth in space, which is immediately understood to be a tiny, fragile ball of life, "hanging in the void", shielded and nourished by a paper-thin atmosphere. From space, the astronauts tell us,^[5] national boundaries vanish, the conflicts that divide people become less important, and the need to create a planetary society with the united will to protect this "pale blue dot" becomes both obvious and imperative.

I don't know exactly when it started for me, this environmental concern. It certainly took me long to act. But when I look at pictures of the earth, the Earthrise, the Blue Marble, I'm just in pure awe. It's like a parent looking at a newborn child, there's love and feeling of oneness, understanding its vulnerability   and a rush of overwhelming desire to protect it. I see nothing but beauty even though in reality, there are more chaos than what we see and hear in the news everyday. As what Bette Midler had sung, "from a distance, there is harmony... from a distance you look like my friend, even though we are at war". I wonder, how did the people feel when they first saw the pictures of our home planet? 

Mayon Encounter in 3 Days

My family owns a hard copy of Reader's Digest Natural Wonders of the World. My siblings and I frequently browsed the book when were younger, and I remember competing with my brother Oliver in flagging our own territories. The game is pretty simple, I'd choose a place that I want to go to, if I have chosen it first, it's mine and that means he can't go there. Silly game, but the book was one of the early roots of my interest in traveling. It was published in 1988. At the time, only one entry from the Philippines made it to the book, and you guessed it right (thanks to my spoiler title), only Mt. Mayon was featured from the Philippines. While my recent trip to Bicol was really all about Butanding (whale shark) watching, I am just as excited to see this majestic beauty.

I was warned beforehand, by my friend who lived in Legazpi for 4 years, that the tip of the volcano is not visible in most days because of the clouds. And you'd think, here in the Philippines, where it's "sunny everyday", it shouldn't be a problem, after all it's summer. But no, my encounter with Mt. Mayon was like a courtship! It took time before I see the Mayon in her conic glory.

On my first touchdown in Bicol, my first glimpse was really disappointing, the sky was overcasted and the Mayon looked like a creature in hiding. From Cagsawa Ruins, I was hoping to take an iconic postcard shot of the Mayon with the bell tower and the rice fields. But it was an epic fail...

Oh, if only I could blow those clouds away! So we left for Donsol and went back after 2 days. A visit to the parish church in Daraga proved to be very pleasant when the weather showed a little kindness, then Mayon slowly revealed herself.

Later that day, I felt the she finally offered friendship, but still unwilling to bare the conic tip. Here, the thin cloud capping the tip made her looked a little like Mt. Fuji with the ice cap on.

And that made me satisfied, I thought that was it and expected nothing more. But to my delight, on my departure, finally…

Oh Mayon! You are truly gorgeous!

My Trip to Puerto Princesa Palawan

Two down!

I was looking at my list of resolutions for the year and I crossed 2 items. I've went to the dentist (and had my tooth extracted) and I've traveled enough to appreciate the Philippines more than I ever did. Good job!

I recently went to Puerto Princesa, Palawan, and everything about it is just amazing as I expected. From the flight to the food, I had a great time.

Boarding a plane was first time thing. Although, I was told that I've flown before, I was too young to appreciate the experience. So when I did it this time, the moment the plane lift off the ground, it was a wow moment! Seeing the world from the top makes me realize how small I am in a big, big world. Amazing! As I watch the Philippines from atop, I am reminded of the fact that we have 7107 islands, amazing islands. It's true when they say we have a lot of beaches and I never realized until then. I saw abundant beaches and coral reefs that seemed to have not been reached by anyone yet. I hope so. There are places and creatures that we should just leave alone.

I travelled with my friends Che and Cha who are experienced travellers. You don't wanna travel with anyone who doesn't know a thing about places do you? Hehehe. I am thankful for these two girls, they made my life away from home easier.

We started our 3 day stay with a city tour. We contracted a trike driver to take us to popular tourist spots in the city. We went to Butterfly Garden, Crocodile Farm, Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Plaza Cuartel, Tiange Tiange, Mitra's Ranch, Baker's Hill, Bay Walk. The city's tag line is "the city in the forest" and it is! A typical province ambience but with more greens. I was overwhelmed by the number of restaurants. But of course, it's a popular tourist destination after all. We decided to drop the visit to Iwahig Prison and the Firefly watching, they were too far, we had to add additional price and we felt that firefly watching is not unique to Palawan.

The next day we went to the Underground River and did a side-trip to the Ugong Rock. Che heavily promoted the Underground River to me, and I would say that it's the part of the trip that I anticipated the most. It is located 50 km from the city proper. Once we got to the site, I have to say, that I didn't expect too many tourists. We have to wait for our turn to navigate the river that runs through a cave using paddle boat that can accommodate 11 people including the boatman. The waiting time took half of my excitement, but once we got inside, I felt that it was really worth the wait. Contrary to the climate in the area, it was cold inside. The stalactites and stalagmites are awesome, they form various shapes like a dinosaur, a woman, the Holy Family, etc. It's amazing how nature works.

The side trip to Ugong Rock was not part of our travel package. Ugong is a term that locals use for echo. It was called as such because the stalactites inside the Ugong Rock creates a Wadaiko-like sound when tapped. The tour guide said that these Ugong Rocks were submerged in water million years ago. I tried to wiki it but found nothing about it yet.

the tallest Ugong Rock

So we did a brief spelunking on the smallest Ugong Rock, and as fun as it may sound, it was hard. Che told me that it was 50 times easier compared to the caving they did in Sagada. Once we got to the top, we had the option to take the zip line to go down but I (and Cha) didn't have the courage to do it. We had to take the same route we took going up. I realized that I'm physically weak and not made for outdoors. I'll never do that again.

the hardest moment of my life XD

The third day was the Honda Bay island hopping. The main activity is to swim and snorkel. I originally had no plans of dipping into the sea. I don't really enjoy swimming, simply because I don't know how and I hate to wear a swim suit. I thought that I'd just bum out there and enjoy the sight of the sea, but then there's snorkeling and I couldn't pass on that one. I skipped the snorkelling at the Pambato Reef but indulged once we got to Snake Island. I love looking at the corals and mingling with the fish. The scene under the sea reminded me of Finding Nemo (I think any kid would) and I just have no word to describe it other than awesome. After the lunch at Snake Island, we hopped to Pandan Island. There's really not much difference other than the finer sand and the abundance of Pandan trees. Snake Island by the way does not boast abundant number of snakes, but the island itself is shaped like a snake. The waves are stronger during our stay in Pandan Island so I opted to stay on the shore and made an attempt to make a snowman out of sand. I burned my skin for this cause but a mound was the closest thing it resembled. Epic fail hehehe.

The whole trip burned me out. The next day I called in sick for work. But it was really worth all that energy. By the time I post this, I'm already thinking of a next trip. Where to? I'll see...

I just want to share this cool animation I've come across in one of the forums I joined. Very cool.

BIG BANG BIG BOOM - the new wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.