Sunday 21 April 2013

Earth View


1961: 2nd Manned Space Flight
Gherman Titov was the first person to take a photograph of Earth from space but I can't find any quotes from him about his experience of seeing this fragile blue planet floating in space but then he was suffering from space sickness for a great deal of his day in space. He did write on his photograph so maybe that is just as good.  Famously he did say or, I imagine, shout with the excitement of someone just one month short of his 25th birthday "I am eagle, I am eagle"
Crested Serpent Eagle (1996: Birds of Prey)

But lets gently swoop lower down upon Earth and
another Russian stamp which was issued for the UNESCO "Man and Biosphere Programme" in 1986. This is an intergovernmental program aiming to "set a scientific basis for the improvement of relationships between people and their environment globally" which was launched early in the 1970s. How to create sustainable developmental solutions for biodiversity loss in the world is a great conundrum and UNESCO has introduced programmes to address this for the various types of eco-systems across the world.  One initiative is the concept of a world network of biosphere reserves with international protection, one of which is the German  
2004: Wattenmeer National Park
Wattenmeer or as we know it in English, the Wadden Sea. This is an intertidal zone and wetland of the southern North Sea, parts of which are on the UNESCO World Heritage list.  I live by an intertidal bay, it is an endlessly fascinating environment which changes from day to day yet remains the same mysterious and beautiful expanse. 
1989: Nature Conservation
Next journey north to the Arctic, I always like stamps with an attached label and even better this one has a map.  The theme is the preservation of the Arctic which since this stamp was issued has been put under more threat both to its pristine nature and its inhabitants
c1972 definitive
who find the ice melting beneath them. This atmospheric stamp shows polar bears making their way across the ice floes. The polar bear is the largest land carnivore
1987: Polar Bears

so I suppose its preferred snack,  the seal,  may not take the same view of ice melting as it escapes into the water
 1978: Antarctic Fauna
 Although this one is laughing because it lives at the other pole.  I'm sure I've got a stamp with one of the many varieties of beautiful seal species  living in the Arctic but it is appearing as elusive as one hiding from a polar bear.  The stamp shown is the Southern Elephant Seal, the larger, bigger nosed cousin of the Northern Elephant Seal. They nearly became extinct in the 19th Century through hunting and after a recovery numbers are declining again, it is thought because of reduced levels of food in the sea. Most of their breeding areas are protected by international treaty and are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.   
An entry to Viridian Postcard's Sunday Stamps theme of - Earth Day

9 comments:

Lisa B said...

Lovely choices and thanks for the explanations with the Russian stamps, the one with the map attached is wonderful.

Mail Adventures said...

So many beautiful stamps! You did a great choice.

viridian said...

That first CCCP stamp is wonderful. But I also like the German stamp - not many stamps feature mud and a tidal flat!
Thank you for participating.

Maria said...

Wow! Really nice stamps! I love all of them especially the first one.

VioletSky said...

I can't decide which one i like best.... you did a good job of covering the earth from space to pole to pole.

agi said...

great idea and the choice of stamps :)

Master said...

Beautiful stamps and great info about them too!
Keep smiling and Keep Shinning!

Helen said...

Fantastic series of stamps you have sewn together. Great post. I love the Soviet one with the arctic map attached!

Scriptor Senex said...

A lovely selection. Would you like to do a one off swap? If so just drop a line to scriptorsenex at gmail dot com. Do you have a postcrossing profile? I live on the Wiraal and am wondering which inter-tidal bay you live near? Are we neighbours?