The phrase 'spaceship earth' is believed to have been derived from a passage in Henry George's best known work, Progress and Poverty (1879).

In Bk IV, Ch 2 occurs the following passage: "It is a well-provisioned ship, this on which we sail through space. If the bread and beef above decks seem to grow scarce, we but open a hatch and there is a new supply, of which before we never dreamed. And very great command over the services of others comes to those who as the hatches are opened are permitted to say, "This is mine!" "