The beauty and genius of a work of art may be reconceived, though its first material expression be destroyed; a vanished harmony may yet again inspire the composer; but when the last individual of a race of living beings breathes no more, another heaven and another earth must pass before such a one can be again.
— From William Beebe’s The Bird (1906)
Image: Walton Ford’s Falling Bough, which depicts the now-extinct passenger pigeon, Ectopistes migratorius, (click the image to enlarge it)
We simply must balance our demand for energy with our rapidly shrinking resources. By acting now, we can control our future instead of letting the future control us.
- Former President Jimmy Carter
—
Photo source for attribution. The author or licensor of this image does not endorse my work or me and their image is protected under an attribution license.
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
The quote, “We live on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam,” was inspired by a “photograph of planet Earth taken in 1990 by Voyager 1 from a record distance, showing it against the vastness of space.” Compared to our sun, our Earth might appear insignificant suspended in the sun’s radiating light, but even our sun is diminutive compared to other massive stars in the inconceivable vastness of our universe (see below). When I look at the Earth suspended in the sunbeam, I’m reminded why it’s important to preserve the biodiversity of our planet. Considering the hardiness of some microscopic life here on Earth, maybe life is somewhat common in our universe. However, the conditions to produce complex life—and especially cognizant, intelligent, or sentient life—might be very rare, since organic life is at the mercy of the workings of the cosmos (organic life is fragile). Consequently, environmentalism is an important idea in the preservation of life, which is a rare and remarkable phenomenon surrounded by an equally remarkable universe. Images via BonkBonk and NASA:
Here is Carl Sagan’s quote captured as wallpaper for your computer:
Via Gizmodo and the Hayden Planetarium: The video below illustrates just how small the Earth is within our vast universe:
Even our sun is itsy-bitsy compared to some massive stars that also shine much brighter in our universe:
Image via Naurunappula
:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::
Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world’s data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts do not go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein’s theory of gravitation replaced Newton’s, but apples did not suspend themselves in mid-air, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape-like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin’s proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered.
- Stephen Jay Gould
:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::
We are not an assimilative, homogeneous society, but a facilitative, pluralistic one, in which we must be willing to abide someone else’s unfamiliar or even repellant practice because the same tolerant impulse protects our own indiosyncracies.
- Justice Brennan in Michael H. v. Gerald D., 491 U.S. 110 (1989)
:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::
