^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Earth flags

Earth flags

See also:

Earth flags

There is no wordlwide accepted flag of Earth. Many flagmakers have in their stocks several designs that they call “Earth flag”, which have no official status, of course.
James Dignan, 27 May 1996

Why isn’t there a widely accepted Earth flag?

The UN flag, by virtue of its visibility and the organization behind it, is probably the consensus “flag of the world” today. However many world flag designers either don’t feel represented by the UN, or are trying to create some kind of an idea which cannot be adequately represented by a political entity. Very few of the world-flaggers actually advocate world government or world federalism. They seem to be attempting to represent universal ideals in their designs. It’s odd that there would be so many world flag designs if the concepts they are trying to reflect are indeed so universal. Perhaps the ideals aren’t as universal as they thought… or more likely, these grand and all-encompassing ideals can’t be neatly summed up in a single flag design.
Steve Kramer, 21 Jan 2003

[World flag proposal designs] attempt to symbolize a non-political idea with a symbol most of us regard as political, i.e., a flag. Flags have always had this sort of connotation, and there’s nothing intrinsically wrong about that. But you can’t use political language, so to speak, to express a non-political idea. One suspects that the proponents of this concept are trying to say «Let’s all join together and rise above national and ethnic differences and proclaim the unity of the human race and the oneness of mankind.» Now there, mes amis, is an idea worth promoting. I’m just not sure a flag — any flag — can carry the message.
Bill Dunning, 22 Jan 2003

I think the problem is a bit different. A flag is a symbol of both inclusion and exclusion. It’s a ceiling under which we get reunited, and exclude them, the guys who do not belong under our flag. A flag, to work, needs both: a set of “us“ and set of “them”. So, a flag for the planet is not viable, because there’s no “them”. If, or when, we find or establish extraterrestrial populations, then a flag of Earth will naturally emerge, probably as a response of flags adopted by “them”, since the majorities are usually the last to adopt a flag.
Jorge Candeias, 21 Jan 2003

Why are there so many Earth flag proposals?

One possible explanation for so many world flag designs could also be, that these world flags are all fairly unknown to most people. Thus, when someone comes up with the idea that there should be a world flag, they don’t know that there already exist a couple of flags like that.
Elias Granqvist, 21 Jan 2003

I also don’t see how each new design actually improves the situation.
John Ayer, 21 Jan 2003

I’m afraid the goal is to improve the manufactor’s and vendor’s financial situation.
António Martins, 22 Jan 2003

Needless to say, [world flag proposal designers] have got their design all picked out. And the entire world, which as we know agrees on so much else, will naturally agree on it. Perhaps just as there are parks in Russia containing the fallen statues of Stalin, there should be a special section of our site for all these vanity Earth flags…
Nathan Lamm, 20 Jan 2003

[World flag proposal designers] were wondering if you might like to list [their] flag on your site and thus give prominence to the idea.
Anselma Torres, 19 Jan 2003

However unnofficial, naive or plain ugly, if any of these designs ever catches up, however slightly and efemerously, we should report it in these pages. Considering that unflattering comments may end up added to the pages, having these designs on our site may not be the best way to publicize your very own world flag…
António Martins, 22 Jan 2003 and 24 Jan 2003

Anything below this line was not added by the editor of this page.