The "Earthrise" photo taken on the Apollo 8 mission in 1968, and the "pale blue dot" photo of Earth (look just below the center of the orange band on the right) taken from deep space by Voyager 1 in 1990.
Earlier this week, NASA climate scientist Kate Marvel resigned from her position at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York City. In addition to her work as a scientist, Marvel is a well-known as a writer of accessible articles on climate science. She also wrote a book on the subject last year called Human Nature, which I found to be thoughtful, thought-provoking, and quirky in a good way. Ultimately, Marvel felt compelled to resign from NASA because she simply wanted to tell people the truth in an unfettered way, and that has become increasingly difficult at government agencies in the current political environment.
NASA GISS used to have office space on the Upper West Side in Manhattan. While my own time there did not overlap with Marvel’s and I have never met her, I did spend sixteen years there and know many former colleagues whose lives have been thrown for a loop over the last year. To quote Marvel in an interview with Scientific American this past week, the agency “used to have a lease on a building over Tom’s Restaurant at 112th and Broadway in New York City, and that lease was ended. We were kicked out. We were dispersed. We have been kind of couch surfing at various New York City universities and libraries. That was very disruptive.” Basically, NASA scientists have had their workspace taken away and are forced to meet at random locations to discuss their work in person. And that’s assuming that they have at least nominally been allowed to continue their work. I have a close friend, both a good person and a credit to her profession, who has been laid off. I’m sure she’s not alone. But GISS has a long history of being on the vanguard of climate science research, and that made it a target. Marvel discussed this in her resignation letter (available on Bluesky). “I anticipated that our work would be questioned, but only because its implications were politically inconvenient. I never expected that science itself would come under attack, simply because it — like journalism, history, and the best kind of art — is a way of seeking the truth.” But that’s where we are. And since the government is continuing to pay Columbia University for the Manhattan real estate they are no longer using, this has nothing to do with saving money. It has everything to do with spite. I can’t argue with anyone who is choosing to move on voluntarily.
Most poignantly, Marvel said “I’m leaving because I want to tell the truth.” This hit close to home with me. As I approach the thirtieth anniversary of my arrival at GISS and Columbia University as a graduate student, I remember being excited to be in the middle of something that I felt was really important. But I was also aware of climate denialism, both on talk radio and on the then-primitive World Wide Web. I naively assumed that quietly but persistently telling people the truth would be sufficient to keep the deniers at bay. I did know that scientists tend to be shorthanded in the salesmanship department. But I did not appreciate that while scientists are expected to show humility, which as a group we almost always do, we regularly have to contend with people who are under no such restrictions. And when the lack of humility is presented as confidence, it sells -- regardless of the truth (or the lack thereof) behind it.
But in a strange way, I’m still hopeful. Ignorance peddlers have a way of exposing themselves. They may do plenty of damage along the way -- and God knows that I’ve talked in all of my blog posts, in some form, about how every positive action we do now to combat climate change will prevent damage in the future -- but the reckoning will come. We just have to be there, still trying, still talking to anybody who’ll listen, finding ways even when the main road gets blocked. And we will.
So thank you, Dr. Marvel. I haven’t felt this spoken for in a while. I want to finish with one last quote from her: “We should remember what we’ve been shown: the beautiful marble, the Earth half in shadow from space, a pale blue dot seen by a little machine sent far from home. The more we learn about the Universe, the more we should cherish our perfect and irreplaceable home.”
NASA GISS used to have office space on the Upper West Side in Manhattan. While my own time there did not overlap with Marvel’s and I have never met her, I did spend sixteen years there and know many former colleagues whose lives have been thrown for a loop over the last year. To quote Marvel in an interview with Scientific American this past week, the agency “used to have a lease on a building over Tom’s Restaurant at 112th and Broadway in New York City, and that lease was ended. We were kicked out. We were dispersed. We have been kind of couch surfing at various New York City universities and libraries. That was very disruptive.” Basically, NASA scientists have had their workspace taken away and are forced to meet at random locations to discuss their work in person. And that’s assuming that they have at least nominally been allowed to continue their work. I have a close friend, both a good person and a credit to her profession, who has been laid off. I’m sure she’s not alone. But GISS has a long history of being on the vanguard of climate science research, and that made it a target. Marvel discussed this in her resignation letter (available on Bluesky). “I anticipated that our work would be questioned, but only because its implications were politically inconvenient. I never expected that science itself would come under attack, simply because it — like journalism, history, and the best kind of art — is a way of seeking the truth.” But that’s where we are. And since the government is continuing to pay Columbia University for the Manhattan real estate they are no longer using, this has nothing to do with saving money. It has everything to do with spite. I can’t argue with anyone who is choosing to move on voluntarily.
Most poignantly, Marvel said “I’m leaving because I want to tell the truth.” This hit close to home with me. As I approach the thirtieth anniversary of my arrival at GISS and Columbia University as a graduate student, I remember being excited to be in the middle of something that I felt was really important. But I was also aware of climate denialism, both on talk radio and on the then-primitive World Wide Web. I naively assumed that quietly but persistently telling people the truth would be sufficient to keep the deniers at bay. I did know that scientists tend to be shorthanded in the salesmanship department. But I did not appreciate that while scientists are expected to show humility, which as a group we almost always do, we regularly have to contend with people who are under no such restrictions. And when the lack of humility is presented as confidence, it sells -- regardless of the truth (or the lack thereof) behind it.
But in a strange way, I’m still hopeful. Ignorance peddlers have a way of exposing themselves. They may do plenty of damage along the way -- and God knows that I’ve talked in all of my blog posts, in some form, about how every positive action we do now to combat climate change will prevent damage in the future -- but the reckoning will come. We just have to be there, still trying, still talking to anybody who’ll listen, finding ways even when the main road gets blocked. And we will.
So thank you, Dr. Marvel. I haven’t felt this spoken for in a while. I want to finish with one last quote from her: “We should remember what we’ve been shown: the beautiful marble, the Earth half in shadow from space, a pale blue dot seen by a little machine sent far from home. The more we learn about the Universe, the more we should cherish our perfect and irreplaceable home.”
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