Flying around the far side of the moon earlier this month, astronauts on board the Artemis II space mission observed Earthset, a phenomenon only a handful of humans have witnessed before.

They beamed back photos of this beautiful, blue planet disappearing behind the moon, like the sun vanishing over the horizon back home when night falls.

Those aboard the tiny craft, including Canadian Jeremy Hansen, described it as a spiritual experience. For the earthlings who saw the pictures, it was a potent sign of the miracle of our existence in a vast galaxy seemingly devoid of other life.

But it was an all too brief moment of reverence.

Back down on Earth, things are a mess.

Wars rage and floodwaters rise as human-made crises threaten the planet and civilization.

American and Israeli bombs falling on Iran and the country’s retaliatory strikes on its neighbours are not only killing people, but are destroying the environment. Damage to oil infrastructure has contaminated air, water and soil.

Russia’s four-year-old invasion of Ukraine has targeted nuclear facilities on several occasions, risking untold carnage to humans, animals and nature.

Conflicts like these exacerbate the already significant toll of climate change while pushing it to the back burner of priorities for governments and citizens alike.

That is until something inevitably happens to put the climate crisis........

© Montreal Gazette