Informed by comparative planetology and a survey of the major episodes in Earth history, this lecture will offer a taxonomy of planetary catastrophes meant to illuminate the unusual nature of the “Anthropocene”, the current era of human-driven planetary scale changes, and re-frame our current environmental and technological predicaments as part of a larger narrative of planetary evolution. This saga has now reached the pivotal moment when humans have become a dominant force of planetary change, and geological and human history are becoming irreversibly conjoined.

Is this a likely or even inevitable challenge facing other complex life in the universe? Possible implications for exoplanet characterization and SETI will be considered, as well as the choices our civilization faces in attempting to create a wisely managed Earth.

To join using a videoconferencing system:

Please RSVP to Mike Toillion (mike.toillion@nasa.gov) if you will be joining by Polycom.

To view the slides, connect to http://connect.arc.nasa.gov/nai_directors_seminar/

To join using a web browser:

The slides and audio/video for this meeting will be presented using Adobe Connect. To join the meeting, connect to:

http://connect.arc.nasa.gov/nai_directors_seminar/

There will be a Virtual Option for this lecture.

TITLE: (Sagan Lecture) Terra Sapiens: The Role of Science in Fostering a Wisely Managed Earth.

ABSTRACT: Carl Sagan was sometimes shunned by the scientific community for his successful popularizations, but another factor was his activism on issues such as nuclear weapons and climate change.

The question of whether Earth has entered a new geological epoch characterized by human influence has gained significance beyond the narrow question of stratigraphic nomenclature. The anthropocene has raised new questions about the “nature of nature”, about the false – or at least fluid – dichotomy between wild and managed environments, about what it is that, in a world already profoundly altered by human activities, we should be trying to conserve, and ultimately about how humanity can learn to live comfortably with world-changing technology. It also raises challenging questions about the role of scientists in the public arena.

Astrobiology is largely a scientific study of the relationship between planets and life. On Earth this relationship has taken a dramatic new turn – a planetary transformation potentially as significant as the origin of life, the great oxygenation or the Cambrian “explosion”. We are not the first species to cause catastrophic change in the quest for a new energy source. The cyanobacteria, in perfecting photosynthesis, liberated vast quantities of free oxygen, wreaking havoc on the global biosphere and climate. And yet, obviously, there seems to be something important differentiating us from cyanobacteria. When we try to describe that difference we use poorly defined (some may even say ironic) words like “intelligence”, “consciousness”, “foresight”, “awareness” and “responsibility.”

Looking at the anthropocene as an event in planetary evolution gives us new perspective on the meaning of these terms. We may also ask if these phenomena could somehow be unique to Earth and if, given the plethora of exponential changes occurring now, they can become part of a stable or long-lived planetary epoch. It can be shown quantitatively that the prospect for successful SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) may hinge on this latter question and is thus linked to our own hopes for developing a sustainable planetary civilization.

Activism makes scientists uncomfortable for good reasons. It doesn’t mesh easily with honest skepticism. And yet, if you discover a house on fire you don’t just measure the infrared emissions and write a paper about it. It’s not up to us to save the world, but we have to play our part. There is a saying about education: “Don’t teach a child what to think, teach them how to think.” To some degree, more than specific policy debates, that is our task. Simply by revealing, in a compelling and accessible way, the truths that we have seen, we can promote global thinking, and long-term thinking. The concept of the anthropocene is an ideal framing device to help people see how we are situated in deep time, and tied intimately to all life on the planet. Carl Sagan often spoke of the need to increase our “identification horizon”, about the historical progression from caring only for one’s self, family, tribe, or nation, to ultimately identifying with global humanity and other species as well, with all of life. Science renders visible the hidden connections between past, present and future life, and the web of cyclic interactions that bind the globe together.

Whatever else we choose to argue for, we can persuasively advocate for this perspective simply by more effectively showing the world what we know.

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Also, check out the upcoming events page so you don’t miss out!

The daylong symposium will address the longevity of human civilization on Earth in light of world-changing technologies that can affect the Earth’s climate, food supply, changes to the biosphere, and the detection and prevention of disease. David H. Grinspoon, the first Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology at the Kluge Center, will lead the discussions.

The symposium occurs from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 12, and is free and open to the public. The events will take place in room 119 of the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. S.E., Washington, D.C. (view map). The event will be tweeted with the hashtag #LongCiv.

The full list of panel times and participants includes:

8:30 a.m.
Introductory Remarks
Mary A. Voytek, Senior Scientist for Astrobiology at NASA; and Carolyn T. Brown, Director of the Office of Scholarly Programs at the Library of Congress

9:00 a.m.
Greeting
Hon. Lamar Smith, U.S. Representative for Texas’s 21st Congressional District and Chairman of the House Committee on Science Space and Technology

9:05 a.m.
Setting the Stage
David Grinspoon, Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology at The John W. Kluge Center

9:15 a.m. – 10:25 a.m.
The Nature of Nature: What Should We Choose To Save?
David Biello – Journalist covering environmental issues in the United States and internationally
Odile Madden – Materials Scientist & Engineer, Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute
Rick Potts – Paleoanthropologist, director of the Smithsonian’s Human Origins Program and curator of anthropology at the National Museum of Natural History

Break

10:45 a.m. – 11:55 a.m.
Seeing What’s in Store: The Future in the Literary and Scientific Imagination
Kim Stanley Robinson – Science fiction author
Ursula Heise – Professor of English, UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and Immediate Past President of the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment
Steven Dick – Astronomer, author, historian of science, and 2014 Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology

Lunch Break

1:15 p.m. – 2:40 p.m.
Living with Ourselves: Can we Form a Healthy, Stable, Long-term Relationship with Technology and the Biosphere?
Seth Shostak – Senior Astronomer at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute in Mountain View, California
Andrew Revkin – Non-fiction, science and environmental writer, New York Times DotEarth blog
Ken Caldeira – Atmospheric scientist at the Department of Global Ecology of the Carnegie Institution for Science
Jacob Haqq-Misra – Planetary Climatologist with a specialty in environmental ethics

Break

3:00 p.m. – 4:20 p.m.
Concluding Thoughts
An open discussion with all ten panelists and audience on questions posed throughout the day.

Each panel will be moderated by David Grinspoon, Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology at The John W. Kluge Center.

Full details are available on the event webpage:
http://www.loc.gov/loc/kluge/news/nasa-program-2013.html.

Join the conversation on Twitter: #LongCiv

The John W. Kluge Center was established at the Library of Congress in 2000 to foster a mutually enriching relationship between the world of ideas and the world of action, between scholars and political leaders. The Center attracts outstanding scholarly figures to Washington, D.C., facilitates their access to the Library’s remarkable collections, and helps them engage in conversation with policymakers and the public. Learn more at:http://www.loc.gov/kluge.