What are they thinking?

Music video by A Perfect Circle performing Imagine

The Green Universe: Jor-El Foretells Krypton's Apocalypse

Link: http://sierraclub.typepad.com/greenlife/2012/03/green-perspectives-jor-el.html

March 29, 2012

The Green Universe: Jor-El

Sensational news stories can make badly behaved celebrities and bickering politicians seem larger than life. Luckily, the scientists who study the vast universe maintain a different perspective. This week, we'll bring you quotes and videos that reveal nature's star power.

Jor-El Foretells Krypton's Apocalypse

Today's quote draws from the realm of fiction. When Superman's home planet of Krypton faces certain destruction, Jor-El presents his scientific data to the governing council. Rather than heed the warning, the politicians laugh it off: "This is an insult to our intelligence! . . . What does he take us for, fools?"

Hmm, does this sound familiar?

Watch this classic video clip to see an eerily current scenario.

--image courtesy of NASA; video clip from The Adventures of Superman

The Green Universe: Richard Feynman and "The Beauty of a Flower"

Link: http://sierraclub.typepad.com/greenlife/2012/03/green-perspectives-richard-feynman.html

March 28, 2012

The Green Universe: Richard Feynman

Sensational news stories can make badly behaved celebrities and bickering politicians seem larger than life. Luckily, the scientists who study the vast universe maintain a different perspective. This week, we'll bring you quotes and videos that reveal nature's star power.

Richard Feynman and "The Beauty of a Flower"

"I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing; I think it's much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers, which might be wrong."

 Watch the video below to hear Feynman's thoughts on beauty and doubt.

--photo courtesy of NASA; video by Reid Gower

The Green Universe: Neil deGrasse Tyson's "Most Astounding Fact"

Link: http://sierraclub.typepad.com/greenlife/2012/03/green-perspectives-neil-degrasse-tyson.html

March 27, 2012

The Green Universe: Neil deGrasse Tyson

Sensational news stories can make badly behaved celebrities and bickering politicians seem larger than life. Luckily, the scientists who study the vast universe maintain a different perspective. This week, we'll bring you quotes and videos that reveal nature's star power.

Neil deGrasse Tyson's "Most Astounding Fact"

"I know that, yes, we are part of this universe, we are in the universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts is that the universe is in us."

Watch the video below to hear the astrophysicist explain this awe-inspiring concept.

--photo courtesy of NASA; video by MaxSchlick

The Green Universe: Carl Sagan and the "Pale Blue Dot"

Link: http://sierraclub.typepad.com/greenlife/2012/03/green-perspec.html

March 26, 2012

The Green Universe: Carl Sagan

Sensational news stories can make badly behaved celebrities and bickering politicians seem larger than life. Luckily, the scientists who study the vast universe maintain a different perspective. This week, we'll bring you quotes and videos that reveal nature's star power.

Carl Sagan and the "Pale Blue Dot"

It might look like a grainy photograph, but take a closer look. See that tiny little dot in the middle of the yellowish band of light? Carl Sagan asked the NASA operators of the Voyager I to snap this picture as the spacecraft was leaving our solar system, to remind us of this very simple fact: "Everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was lived out their life . . . lived there."

Watch the video below to see our home planet in a new light:

--photo courtesy of NASA; video by Pale Blue Films