Two years ago, Benjamin Grant typed 鈥渆arth鈥 into the search bar of Apple Maps, expecting a view of our planet from space. Instead, the program zoomed in on the town of Earth, Texas, and from above, he saw huge perfect circles filling the landscape (he soon learned they were the products of a certain type of irrigation). 鈥淚 had no idea what I was seeing at the time, but I was awestruck,鈥 Grant says of the fortuitous mistake. 鈥淚 became completely obsessed with finding new perspectives.鈥
He soon launched a website () called , where he posts one hauntingly beautiful satellite images of human impacts on the planet every day. Grant鈥檚 project is named for the Overview Effect, which describes the psychological shift that occurs when the planet is viewed from outer space (it was documented by astronauts in the recent film ). From above, the Earth looks small and frail, those who have seen it this way say, inspiring a sense of commonality between all people and all life, and a responsibility for the planet.
Grant deliberately constructs each shot. He first researches a topic (like agriculture, mining, energy or infrastructure) and then narrows down a list of potential locations. Then, through a partnership with satellite image provider DigitalGlobe (which offers higher resolution than free mapping software), he stitches together 16 or 17 shots to create each overview. After using one of these shots on the cover of our January-February special issue on the Arctic, we spoke to him about the project鈥檚 origins and progression (he鈥檚 developing it into a book due out in the fall of 2016).
约炮视频: The idea of the Overview Effect has been evoked many times before. What makes this project different?
Benjamin Grant: There are many examples, either with , or Carl Sagan鈥檚 , or with the . All of those examples touch on the idea of the Overview Effect, of the whole Earth, but they don鈥檛 focus in as well as we鈥檙e able to do now with satellites. The satellites can zoom in to show human impacts like agricultural developments or sprawl or encroachment on the Arctic. Each image is not a whole overview, but it鈥檚 an overview of a certain idea or place, which I think people connect with better.
A: The is beautiful and awe-inspiring. Your images invoke that feeling of awe鈥攂ut many are also disturbing. How do you reconcile those feelings?
BG: There are times when an image is purely beautiful. But often there鈥檚 the dual existence of the beauty and also the realization that what you鈥檙e seeing is the opposite [of beauty]鈥攚hether it鈥檚 that we鈥檙e destroying the planet or destroying each other, or whatever it might be. I think that鈥檚 when the images are most powerful.
There鈥檚 one image of the , which has these beautiful red striking colors of the landscape and a grid system, which people really enjoy looking at. But once you read the caption you realize that what you鈥檙e seeing is 400,000 displaced Somali refugees. And you have this weird moment where you鈥檙e like鈥擨 enjoy this, but can I really enjoy that?
A: The project鈥檚 impact is as much in the captions as the images. How do you put those together?
BG: The challenge has always been to present the captions and information in an unbiased way that gives an accurate picture of what is going on. I think an underlying tenet of the whole project is this idea of awareness, and that if people are more aware of what is going on in the world, hopefully we will take action together to make it a better, safer planet. But I鈥檓 not going to say, 鈥渢his is bad鈥 or 鈥渢his is good.鈥
A: Let鈥檚 turn to your Arctic image from the Jan-Feb issue. What kinds of human impacts are visible so far up north?
BG: Three major themes stood out. The first is energy and oil extraction, and the issue鈥檚 cover photo shows an oil platform in Russia. Another is human settlement and presence. A very small proportion of the population lives in the Arctic in these extreme conditions, and it鈥檚 amazing to see what that looks like. The last theme is territorial or geopolitical issues. Both the U.S. and Russia are building bases in the Arctic. We are in this constant search for territory and power, and we鈥檙e going to the remotest places on Earth to find it.
Overall, there isn鈥檛 much human presence in the Arctic compared to other areas of the world. But the Arctic is where we鈥檙e seeing the manifestation [of climate change] clearly with ice melt and shrinking glaciers. So it鈥檚 interesting that it鈥檚 harder to find images of human impact up there even though it鈥檚 where we see the grand result of human impact from other areas around the world. That too taps into the idea of the Overview Effect: that what happens in one corner of the globe really does impact the entire planet.
A: And that ceaseless hunt for energy seems so pointless if we鈥檙e all on this planet together flying through space towards who knows what.
BG: A lot of that comes together to me as鈥攚here does this stop? Where does this end? Because it鈥檚 this never-ending search for fossil fuels, a never-ending quest to have more space and more power. The Arctic is a wonderful example: We鈥檙e even going here to do this?
A: What do you hope people will take from the Daily Overview ultimately?
BG: I hope they are simply more aware about what鈥檚 going on on the planet and our role in that impact. The topics of climate change and human impact aren鈥檛 the most uplifting or enjoyable; they鈥檙e usually things we look away from. But if I鈥檓 able to [make people look at] it once a day with a beautiful image and 3-4 sentences, maybe I can get people interested in this to the point where they seek it out for themselves. Or that鈥檚 my hope.
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.