As someone fascinated by worlds real or fictional, I was ecstatic to hear about the landing of NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars. News of the successful touchdown represents a great triumph for the downsized agency and helped to rekindle my own interest in looking to the heavens. I sometimes have trouble communicating my passion of the cosmos to others. People occasionally ask: Why is space exploration important? As an environmentalist, shouldn’t you deal with all the problems we have here on Earth before worrying about the stars?
What good is it all?
Fortunately, there are other much more capable and articulate communicators out there to address these legitimate questions – People like Carl Sagan. One of the world’s most well-known astronomer, astrophysicist, and science popularizer, Sagan’s ability to captivate millions with his Pulitzer-winning Cosmos and the subsequent TV series of the same name is no small feat. It takes an extraordinary storyteller to distill esoteric knowledge down to digestible form and transform it into meaningful and inspiring messages for people of different ages and backgrounds.
I came across Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space several years ago. Within its pages, I found the voice of a passionate spirit who understands the significance of space exploration for humanity. Pale Blue Dot is not just about one man’s call to look ever outward. It is also a thoughtful contemplation of humanity’s place on this planet, on this speck of dust we call home. The themes and connections found throughout this book make it, in my opinion, a very powerful Ekostory.
