Flag of the Earth

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The Earth Day Flag, the latest proposal of John McConnell for a flag of Earth

The flag of the Earth is a flag used to represent the Earth. Though there is no internationally agreed upon flag to represent the whole planet, some individuals and organizations have promoted designs for a flag; however, none of these designs have managed to gain much broad recognition.

[edit] World peace flag

The Universal Peace Congress developed a flag of "the earth on a blue field covered with white stars" to be used as a peace flag.^[1]

[edit] Earth Day Flag

A flag designed for the first Earth Day (1969) by John McConnell is a dark blue field charged with The Blue Marble, a famous NASA photo of the Earth as seen from outer space.

First Early Earth Flag design

Because of the political views of its creator and its having become a symbol of Earth Day, this flag is also associated with environmental awareness, and the celebration of the global community.^{[citation needed]} It was offered for sale in the Whole Earth Catalog, which is currently endorsed by John McConnell.^[2]

The first Earth flag used screen-printing and the colors of the Earth were reversed: the ocean was white and the clouds were blue. With only two colors, one color was for clouds and the other color was for both ocean and land. This image of a later Earth flag shows the correct colors.

[edit] James W. Cadle's "Flag of Earth"

Another Earth flag was created around the same time in 1970 by a farmer from Illinois named James W. Cadle. Cadle's version of the Earth flag consists of a blue circle representing Earth in the center of the flag representing Earth, a segment of a large yellow circle representing the sun and a small white circle for the moon, all on a black background. It is particularly popular amongst SETI researchers and is used by SETI worldwide. It was flown half staff when Carl Sagan died^[3]. Flag of Earth Co. International was also founded by Cadle which sold the flag. The Flag of Earth became public domain in 2003^[4].

[edit] Other contenders

Probably the de facto flag of the world is the Flag of the United Nations. It has a geographical representation of the planet, and its high visibility usage makes it a well-known contender for representing Earth. Indeed, during the planning for NASA's moon landings of the 1960s, it was suggested that a UN flag be used in place of the flag of the USA.^[5]

Proposal of Pedro M. Quesada

Fibitz Reality Adjustment suggested a Flag for "Planet Terra" which represented the planet by a segment of a blue circle against a black background. A green and light blue band represent the atmosphere and a crescent moon is shown in the canton.^[6]

David Bartholomew’s "One World Flag" consists of a blue and green Taijitu (similar to that used in the flag of South Korea). The flag has a border of white, black, red and yellow, with one color per side.^[7]

George Dibbern’s "citizen of the world" flag is different from most proposed flags in that it contains nationalist and religious symbols. On a white field is a red cross (St George's Cross), behind which is a blue circle. A blue star is in the canton.^[8]

The World Service Authority has also designed a World Citizen flag with a green and white globe in the center with a green man on a yellow field.^[9] The World Service Authority is perhaps best known for its issuing of World Passports.

Jean-Sylvain Delroux's world flag was designed in 1970. It represents Earth in the same way as James W. Cadle's "Flag of Earth", but instead of showing the sun and moon, the rest of the flag is divided into four colors to represent the four families of humanity.^[10] It was published in the French magazine La Vie.

The World Unity Flag Project's World Unity Flag has a multi-colored flag superimposed with a picture of earth in the center. The image for Earth is the same Blue Marble image used in the Earth Day Flag.^[11]

Spanish vexillologist Pedro M. Quesada presented a new proposal at the 2008 national congress of vexillology organized by the Spanish Society of Vexillology in Basauri.^[12] His proposal has proportions 2:3, and includes four vertical stripes. At the hoist a dark blue (B+) stripe 3/4 of the length, then a dark green (V+) stripe 1/10 of the length, a brown (M) stripe 1/10 of the length, and finally an orange (O) one, 1/20 of the length.

[edit] Earth Flags in Science Fiction

In Futurama, the flag of Earth, known as Ol' Freebie, has a picture of Earth replacing the stars on an otherwise unaltered American flag.
In Star Trek: Enterprise, a white flag with an image of Earth in blue (not too dissimilar to that of the UN) is shown.
In the Looney Tunes cartoons, a plain yellow flag with an image of earth is used; a similar flag is used for Mars.
In the cartoon Invader Zim, a white flag with a color representation of Earth is used.
In Gundam, a red flag with a plant is used; the flower on the plant is a blue circle representing Earth, with a white crescent on it. The moon is also shown.
In the sequel Gundam Wing, a red flag with a gold disc is used. The disc is surrounded by olive leaves, similar to the flag of the UN. Another flag in the same series shows a gold bird in the center.
In Space: Above and Beyond, a white flag with a blue image of Earth and three blue stars is used to represent the UN, and hence, Earth.
H. G. Wells's novel The Holy Terror has the Flag of Scotland made to represent Earth.^[13]
In the science fiction video game Starcraft, the Earth Flag (also known as the U.E.D, or United Earth Directorate) is red, black and yellow. The symbols are the Earth with a hawk standing at the North Pole, two lightning bolts aimed near its head. This is surrounded by 3 curved triangles. According to the game, it is usually flown on an orange background.