re: amateur astronomers
Hi Marcia,
Amateur astronomers very often appear in front of an audience and explain a space or astronomy related event.
It is a huge subject, which in a way is reassuring as there are always new or corrected things to talk about.
But to talk about our planet, for them, is a little unusual as we never can show it nor observe it.
Pictures from space or astronaut's stories are the tools to explain the Earth, but somehow, it isn't enough and they (the astronauts) know it and talk among themselves about the difficulties sharing their experience viewing our world.