The Pale Blue Dot and the Wellbeing Economy

By Elín Hirst

Carl Sagan the famous astronomer and science writer And The Pale Blue Dot, as Carl Sagan called Earth, was first seen from 6 million kilometers away in 1990.

“The connection between Earth Day and the Wellbeing Economy is rooted in a shared vision; of prioritising the health and future of the Earth and the people who live on it,” writes Elín Hirst on the occasion of Earth Day, which was April 22, and the Wellbeing Economy Forum in Harpa, May 8-9, 2025.

Our Earth is a unique place where life thrives and has never been seen from such a distance before. In 1990, the Voyager 1 spacecraft captured an image of Earth from 6 billion kilometers away. This was the first time humans had viewed our planet from such an immense distance.

The famous American astronomer Carl Sagan remarked that this distant image, which he called the "Pale Blue Dot," may serve as a profound testament to humanity's arrogance. He said, “Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. …The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate.  … To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known, ” were Carl Sagan famous words about this picture because it showed the Earth as an insignificant point of light amidst the black vastness of part of the universe.

The third annual Wellbeing Economy Forum will take place at Harpa on May 8-9. This Forum is an Icelandic initiative led by Dr. Dóra Guðrún Guðmundsdóttir, Director of Public Health at the Directorate of Health in Iceland. The President of Iceland, Mrs. Halla Tómasdóttir, serves as the patron of the Forum. The connection between Earth Day and the Wellbeing Economy is grounded in a shared vision: to prioritise the health and future of both the Earth and its inhabitants. Unlike traditional economic approaches focusing solely on quantitative measures, the Wellbeing Economy assesses wellbeing and quality of life based on various social and environmental factors and financial indicators.

The Wellbeing Forum in Harpa, Concert Hall and Conference Centre will gather representatives from leading international organisations, politicians, and experts dedicated to developing the Wellbeing Economy. The Directorate of Health organises the Forum in collaboration with the Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry of Health, Wellbeing Economy Governments (WEGo), OECD, UNESCO, the World Health Organization (WHO Europe), the Association of Icelandic Municipalities, the City of Reykjavík, Festa, the Centre for Sustainability, EuroHealthNet, the Club of Rome, Earth4all, and the Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WEAll). Please visit our website for more information and registration for the Wellbeing Forum.

This article was originally published on the official website of Heimildin news outlet, in Icelandic; Fölblái punkturinn - Heimildin

Elín Hirst is the Program Director for the Wellbeing Economy Forum.

Elín is a former Member of the Icelandic Parliament, head of News of the Icelandic National Broadcasting Company and the Private Broadcasting Company, Channel 2, a published writer, and a Documentary Filmmaker.