{"id":11514,"date":"2012-11-12T18:56:45","date_gmt":"2012-11-12T23:56:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?p=11514"},"modified":"2012-11-12T18:56:45","modified_gmt":"2012-11-12T23:56:45","slug":"a-belated-happy-carl-sagan-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/11\/12\/a-belated-happy-carl-sagan-day\/","title":{"rendered":"A belated happy Carl Sagan Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I\u2019d forgotten that Friday was Carl Sagan Day<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I had the privilege of working on part of his legacy in the 1990s during the launch of the Evangelical Environmental Network<\/a>. EEN was one branch of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment<\/a> \u2014 an effort sparked by Sagan\u2019s \u201cOpen Letter to the Religious Community<\/a>\u201d in 1990.<\/p>\n

That letter included some delightfully Sagan-esque language:<\/p>\n

The Earth is the birthplace of our species and, as far as we know, our only home.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u2026 As scientists, many of us have had profound experiences of awe and reverence before the universe. We understand that what is regarded as sacred is more likely to be treated with care and respect. Our planetary home should be so regarded. Efforts to safeguard and cherish the environment need to be infused with a vision of the sacred. At the same time, a much wider and deeper understanding of science and technology is needed. If we do not understand the problem, it is unlikely we will be able to fix it. Thus, there is a vital role for both religion and science.<\/p>\n

We know that the well-being of our planetary environment is already a source of profound concern in your councils and congregations. We hope this appeal will encourage a spirit of common cause and joint action to help preserve the Earth.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

* * * * * * * * *<\/p>\n

I think Sagan would have liked this piece from Grist\u2019s David Roberts, \u201cClimate science is Nate Silver and U.S. politics is Karl Rove<\/a>\u201c:<\/p>\n

In short, the Nate Silvers of climate science are forecasting a landslide \u2014 that is, humanity under a landslide of drought, floods, disease, and dislocation. They\u2019re telling us that unless we change our campaign strategy, i.e., undertake rapid, large-scale efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change, our chances of surviving and prospering are dim and getting dimmer.<\/p>\n

We simply haven\u2019t come to terms with what empirical science is telling us. The mainstream media hasn\u2019t come to terms with it. Most public intellectuals have not come to terms with it. And almost no politicians have come to terms with it. (Republicans deny it, most centrists ignore it, and Dems mouth platitudes about it.)<\/p>\n

We all sound like pundits, going with our \u201cguts.\u201d The science feels too scary, too abrasive, too implausible. The hippies out there protesting over climate change feel \u201cunserious.\u201d The notion that energy prices might have to rise or lifestyles change feels \u201calarmist.\u201d We talk about climate, if we talk about it at all, in terms of folk wisdom and time-worn prejudices. We sound like Peggy Noonan with her vibrations.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“As scientists, many of us have had profound experiences of awe and reverence before the universe. We understand that what is regarded as sacred is more likely to be treated with care and respect. Our planetary home should be so regarded. Efforts to safeguard and cherish the environment need to be infused with a vision of the sacred.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[15,30],"class_list":["post-11514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-environment","tag-science"],"yoast_head":"\nA belated happy Carl Sagan Day<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\""As scientists, many of us have had profound experiences of awe and reverence before the universe. We understand that what is regarded as sacred is more likely to be treated with care and respect. 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Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. You can reach him via email at slacktivist at hotmail dot com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/author\/fredclark1\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A belated happy Carl Sagan Day","description":"\"As scientists, many of us have had profound experiences of awe and reverence before the universe. We understand that what is regarded as sacred is more likely to be treated with care and respect. Our planetary home should be so regarded. 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A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. 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