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" Earth is going to lose its oceans in the future, just as Venus did in the past. How long planets retain their oceans is a function of distance from the sun, all other things being equal. "
David Grinspoon
Sun
Past
Long
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" I think chemists always think they know more than they know, because nature has a lot of possible pathways it can try. "
David Grinspoon
Try
Always
Know
" We have all this very clever technology and all these abilities to manipulate the world in all these ways, yet we are faced with the very real question of whether we can be sustainable on this planet - whether or not, in fact, we can endure. "
David Grinspoon
Technology
Question
Clever
" It's one of the big mysteries about Venus: How did it get so different from Earth when it seems likely to have started so similarly? The question becomes richer when you consider astrobiology, the possibility that Venus and Earth were very similar during the time of the origin of life on Earth. "
David Grinspoon
Earth
Life
Question
" What I wonder most about the Anthropocene is not when did it start - but when, and how, will it end? Will it end? Or is it possible that our own growing awareness of our role on Earth can itself play a pivotal role in shaping the outcome toward one that we would desire? "
David Grinspoon
Wonder
Start
Earth
" Why should we consider defining intelligence as something global and as something that hasn't actually yet appeared on Earth? It may be useful for envisioning the future of our own civilization and any others that may be out there among the stars. It might give us something to strive for. "
David Grinspoon
Intelligence
Future
Earth
" Humans are possessed, to some degree, with the power of foresight. Yet we so often learn things the hard way, through disaster. "
David Grinspoon
Disaster
Some
Way
" Astrobiology is the science of life in the universe. It's an attempt to scientifically deal with the question of whether or not we're alone in the universe, looking at the past of life, the present of life, and the future of life. It's an interdisciplinary study incorporating astronomy, biology, and the Earth sciences. "
David Grinspoon
Past
Alone
Future
" I think a lot of people interested in space exploration tend to hear stories about the great missions, how they work technically, what we learned. But they don't really hear the story of what it takes to get a mission from scratch to the launch pad and into space. "
David Grinspoon
Work
Great
People
" Mars does not have an atmosphere and does not have a magnetic field today, so the planet doesn't have the protection from radiation that our atmosphere and magnetic fields provide us on Earth. "
David Grinspoon
Earth
Mars
Protection
" When I first went to college, I went into physics, and my goal was to help perfect nuclear fusion so I could solve the energy crisis and global warming. I probably would have done it, too, if I'd stuck to it. "
David Grinspoon
College
Help
Perfect
" Titan has rivers and lakes of liquid methane and ethane, methane weather systems of clouds and storms that mirror Earth's hydrologic cycle, and seasonal cycles that rival Earth's in complexity. "
David Grinspoon
Mirror
Storms
Clouds
" What I'm interested in is the conversations going on about the Anthropocene and what it means to view ourselves as a part of Earth's geological history. "
David Grinspoon
View
Earth
History
" My high-school friends and I felt part of a community of smart, forward-looking space and technology freaks. "
David Grinspoon
Community
Smart
Space
" Earth's biosphere gave birth to humans and our thoughts, which are now reshaping its planetary cycles. A planet with brains? Fancy that. "
David Grinspoon
Earth
Our
Now
" Venus and Mars are our next of kin: they are the two most Earth-like planets that we know about. They're the only two other very Earth-like planets in our solar system, meaning they orbit close to the sun; they have rocky surfaces and thin atmospheres. "
David Grinspoon
Two
Know
Solar
" I'd been politically active ever since my parents wheeled me in a stroller in a 'ban the bomb' march in Boston in 1963. "
David Grinspoon
Active
Been
Boston
" Fixing global warming is more important than astronomy. "
David Grinspoon
Astronomy
Global Warming
Important
" We can look out on an alien landscape that no one has seen before and find it beautiful. "
David Grinspoon
Landscape
Look
Find
" The planet Mars - crimson and bright, filling our telescopes with vague intimations of almost-familiar landforms - has long formed a celestial tabula rasa on which we have inscribed our planetological theories, utopian fantasies, and fears of alien invasion or ecological ruin. "
David Grinspoon
Bright
Mars
Planet
" There's something cool about being involved in new missions to other planets. "
David Grinspoon
Cool
Something
Planets
" We're going to stop looking at Earth from orbit because we don't like what we are seeing and the conclusions that leads us to? That's nonsense. "
David Grinspoon
Earth
Stop
Seeing
" Even as our unwitting alterations to Earth's carbon and hydrological cycles slowly make storms more damaging, our ability to monitor our planet from space and make reliable short-term forecasts have equipped us enormously to withstand them. "
David Grinspoon
Space
Storms
Ability
" I think the best SF writers are very aware of what we, in the scientific community, are doing, thinking, and discovering. "
David Grinspoon
Think
Thinking
Community
" As Earth's climate changes, we can expect more destructive hurricanes. As sea level and surface temperatures rise, more solar energy is trapped in the atmosphere, revving up the hydrological cycle of evaporation and precipitation and sometimes manifesting in terrifying storms. "
David Grinspoon
Rise
Solar
Sea
" Humanity has at least a dim, and growing, cognisance of the effects of its presence on this planet. The possibility that we might integrate that awareness into how we interface with the Earth system is one that should give us hope. "
David Grinspoon
Growing
Earth
Presence
" There is a real danger of unintended consequences, of encouraging people to give up. Pessimism, if it becomes a habit, can reinforce a narrative of unstoppable decline. If there is nothing we can do, that releases us from our obligations. "
David Grinspoon
Nothing
People
Consequences
" I intend to apply the perspective of astrobiology, which is a deep-time way of looking at life on Earth, towards the question of the Anthropocene. What does the human phenomenon on Earth look like viewed from an interplanetary perspective? "
David Grinspoon
Earth
Life
Perspective
" It's quite possible there's as much lightning on Venus as on Earth. "
David Grinspoon
Earth
Possible
Venus
" There are other planets besides the Earth and Mars. I'd like to remind you that studying Venus is vital to understanding life elsewhere. "
David Grinspoon
You
Understanding
Life
" Through space-based climate studies, my colleagues and I have learned that a stable and comfortable climate is not something to take for granted. "
David Grinspoon
Take For Granted
Colleagues
Through