David Grinspoon

Thinking about the new epoch - often called the Anthropocene, or the age of humanity - challenges us to look at ourselves in the mirror of deep time, measured not in centuries or even in millennia, but over millions and billions of years. ”

We definitely don't want to go through another Ice Age or another natural cycle of global warming. Both happen over a long period of time. It would be disastrous for our civilization, and not just for us but many other species. ”

In order to have a decent chance to be a communicating species, you would have to learn to think and plan and act over time scales of a century or a millennium. ”

As a young planet, Venus was losing hydrogen rapidly to space. The oceans boiled off, and after some period of time, perhaps 600 million years, there was no surface water. ”

Time and time again, our species has escaped existential threats by reinventing ourselves, finding new skills not coded in our genes to survive new challenges not previously encountered. ”

In my Ph.D. thesis, written in 1989, I discussed the fact that when a civilization develops the technology to prevent catastrophic asteroid impacts, it marks a significant moment in the evolution of the planet. ”

Our most valuable resources - creativity, communication, invention, and reinvention - are, in fact, unlimited. ”

As long as we can imagine a better path, of course we are obligated to seek it. This is why unwarranted pessimism about our future is actually irresponsible. ”

We need to have a vision of the world we want to create so that we can see ourselves as collaborators with future generations in the project of shaping it. ”

Through space-based climate studies, my colleagues and I have learned that a stable and comfortable climate is not something to take for granted. ”