I’m nine years old in a single-engine
plane with my grandmother and a pilot
with whiskey on his breath we’re flying
high above Lake Tanganyika just south of
the Equator Kongo on our right Tanzania
on our left heading for you Gigi I am
captivated by the view it’s a blue green
jewel like world as fresh as the
primordial garden as the time when
humans were just becoming human
I see no borders it’s a continuum from
Horizon to Horizon I think for the first
time that everything in the earth is
connected to everything else making one
whole years later I’m with my friend
piers we’re flying above Washington DC
suburbs out to the Chesapeake Bay
it’s another single-engine plane my
first since Africa it’s a very fragile
feeling sort of like flying a lawnmower
he says okay if I do some maneuvers and
we go around and having survived that I
say I love to fly low and we descend to
200 feet above the bay just skimming the
waves piers is an extraordinary person a
pilot a former astronaut a distinguished
climate scientist director of Earth
Sciences at Goddard Space Flight Center
deputy director of Sciences and
exploration there and even better he’s
an extraordinary human being unfailingly
generous gracious witty funny and best
of all an incredible optimist
infectiously positive
he and his brilliant colleagues send
satellites into space with names like
aqua and Terra they circle the globe
gathering detailed information about the
planet’s climate systems the data
arrives in billions of ones and zeros
night and day and they’re transformed by
the scientific visualization studio into
animations here is an example this these
are aerosols they’re tiny particles that
you can’t see with your eyes they’re
color coded for temperature for
substance they’re color coded for their
substance white for sulfur orange for
dust green for carbon dioxide some of
them are natural like that huge dust
storm you see rolling from the Sahara
here you see hurricanes turning across
the Pacific crashing into Asia and the
red are fires the blue salt pulled into
the air from the ocean some are
human-made impacts here’s an animation
of sulfur dioxide and sulfate aerosols
you see them across the globe in pink
and red you see China to the left of
center look what’s pouring into the
atmosphere and look where it’s going
straight for the US sea surface currents
the currents are color-coded for
temperature at the equator they move
consistently from east to west and west
to east north and south they separate
into gyres and meanders up close to the
equator you see these beautiful swirls
and from my part I’m put in mind of
artists who do intuitive work like I see
here forms that remind me of Vincent van
Gogh brush strokes or Art Nouveau forms
piers and his colleagues introduced me
to the dark devastation of climate
change of what will happen if we do too
little too late but they also introduced
me to the brightness to the incredible
see temperature beautiful science and I
see the hints of other artists for
instance if Mark Rothko’s paintings were
animated by NASA they might look a
little like this the earth is alive it
lives in cycles of growth and summer to
winter it has a pulse pulsing
intertwined natural systems that act
together to create an environment we can
here’s another pulse carbon dioxide
winter summer constant here to the left
of center South America we see an engine
of carbon dioxide pulsing it out every
day over and over and the northern
hemisphere a flame in carbon dioxide the
earth has multiple systems and they
mingle with each other they influence
each other and together they sustain our
environment a phone call comes peers is
diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer
he’s given months possibly a year to
live we his family and friends are
devastated his reaction he increases his
eloquent Climate Change messaging as
much as possible he becomes an activist
he undergoes harsh chemotherapy and
after each round he goes back to work he
gets on a plane to deliver his message
confidence that we can meet the
challenges of climate change there is
still time to act but not much time his
limited time left mirrors the planets
urgency both are facing extinctions both
are facing extinctions my reaction alarm
I must act I must leave my studio and
find an art form that could help raise
consciousness for climate change at
Goddard I speak to scientists analysts
animators I follow the visualizations
what is thrilling to me
these images are based in science and
yet my reaction to them is primal and
others have a similar reaction even when
we don’t know what the images mean they
often provoke reaction that is emotional
or even visceral I envision a labyrinth
incorporating the NASA data a five space
walk through sculpture and a communal
lounge for exchanging ideas across
pollination begins an open collaboration
of artists and scientists musicians
architects builders poets astronauts
people of many disciplines it seems a
metaphor for what we need to do as a
Ouroboros is the name of the project
after the ancient symbol of life’s
endless cycles of creation and
destruction winter summer and our cycles
as we move through time everything on
the earth is connected to everything
else and it would seem that since
ancient times people have been able to
understand some of these systems that
sustain us I wanted to knit together the
ancient more intuitive way of knowing
with contemporary satellite data an art
form that brings the two ways of knowing
together in a single experience might
have a deepen
act on the psyche and the rational mind
I knew I needed to start with the data
information the beautiful visuals and
aim to make an intense aesthetic
experience by blending science with art
or a Boris would celebrate this amazing
system that we live in and make it real
and once it’s real to ask for action my
friend Chris clay and I worked to make
this an exhibition I’d like to show it
to you the first area you enter is
origin it’s takes some trust to enter
because it’s dark reflective material
like that used by NASA on their
telescopes and satellites throws
reflections across the chamber and onto
you it is as if you’re joining with the
cycles of nature as if the universe is
forming around you you enter space and
here translucent scrims give a feeling
of depth and as you wander among them
the celestial bodies are projected onto
you are made of the same stuff we are
next is live data streams into a
labyrinthine tunnel and on to you it is
a portrait of the Earth’s natural
it is also a portrait of us humans and
the impacts that our actions are having
on those systems you emerge into
currents and here the NASA animations
blend with video based on them reimagine
through artistic license and algorithms
you see how patterns repeat across the
universe as above so below from the
it’s a world in order masquerading as
chaos the patterns are all around us and
they are within us the earth works in
cycles and rhythms and we are
intertwined with them we are a part of
those rhythms and cycles but only a part
and those systems once they are
disturbed could become unpredictable and
bring devastating changes to us in
consequences a passageway mirrors the
data tunnel you see how you’ll be
affected how we will all be affected
we’re walking towards a common future
there is human nature and there is
you emerge in resilience the common
communal lounge where you’re invited to
exchange ideas and commit to action
climate educators urge us to make adopt
do one thing if we all do one thing the
result will be huge if we do two things
imagine the result every one has an
impact everyone is important as I
realized in that little plane above Lake
Tanganyika this spaceship we’re on
contains all tribes it has no borders
from up high it is a gorgeous blue jewel
turning in the darkness it is also a
caldron with a fiery heart a wild and
untamed place and it is where we live it
is ours to protect shall we begin
thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
you [Applause]
plane with my grandmother and a pilot
with whiskey on his breath we’re flying
high above Lake Tanganyika just south of
the Equator Kongo on our right Tanzania
on our left heading for you Gigi I am
captivated by the view it’s a blue green
jewel like world as fresh as the
primordial garden as the time when
humans were just becoming human
I see no borders it’s a continuum from
Horizon to Horizon I think for the first
time that everything in the earth is
connected to everything else making one
whole years later I’m with my friend
piers we’re flying above Washington DC
suburbs out to the Chesapeake Bay
it’s another single-engine plane my
first since Africa it’s a very fragile
feeling sort of like flying a lawnmower
he says okay if I do some maneuvers and
we go around and having survived that I
say I love to fly low and we descend to
200 feet above the bay just skimming the
waves piers is an extraordinary person a
pilot a former astronaut a distinguished
climate scientist director of Earth
Sciences at Goddard Space Flight Center
deputy director of Sciences and
exploration there and even better he’s
an extraordinary human being unfailingly
generous gracious witty funny and best
of all an incredible optimist
infectiously positive
he and his brilliant colleagues send
satellites into space with names like
aqua and Terra they circle the globe
gathering detailed information about the
planet’s climate systems the data
arrives in billions of ones and zeros
night and day and they’re transformed by
the scientific visualization studio into
animations here is an example this these
are aerosols they’re tiny particles that
you can’t see with your eyes they’re
color coded for temperature for
substance they’re color coded for their
substance white for sulfur orange for
dust green for carbon dioxide some of
them are natural like that huge dust
storm you see rolling from the Sahara
here you see hurricanes turning across
the Pacific crashing into Asia and the
red are fires the blue salt pulled into
the air from the ocean some are
human-made impacts here’s an animation
of sulfur dioxide and sulfate aerosols
you see them across the globe in pink
and red you see China to the left of
center look what’s pouring into the
atmosphere and look where it’s going
straight for the US sea surface currents
the currents are color-coded for
temperature at the equator they move
consistently from east to west and west
to east north and south they separate
into gyres and meanders up close to the
equator you see these beautiful swirls
and from my part I’m put in mind of
artists who do intuitive work like I see
here forms that remind me of Vincent van
Gogh brush strokes or Art Nouveau forms
piers and his colleagues introduced me
to the dark devastation of climate
change of what will happen if we do too
little too late but they also introduced
me to the brightness to the incredible
see temperature beautiful science and I
see the hints of other artists for
instance if Mark Rothko’s paintings were
animated by NASA they might look a
little like this the earth is alive it
lives in cycles of growth and summer to
winter it has a pulse pulsing
intertwined natural systems that act
together to create an environment we can
here’s another pulse carbon dioxide
winter summer constant here to the left
of center South America we see an engine
of carbon dioxide pulsing it out every
day over and over and the northern
hemisphere a flame in carbon dioxide the
earth has multiple systems and they
mingle with each other they influence
each other and together they sustain our
environment a phone call comes peers is
diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer
he’s given months possibly a year to
live we his family and friends are
devastated his reaction he increases his
eloquent Climate Change messaging as
much as possible he becomes an activist
he undergoes harsh chemotherapy and
after each round he goes back to work he
gets on a plane to deliver his message
confidence that we can meet the
challenges of climate change there is
still time to act but not much time his
limited time left mirrors the planets
urgency both are facing extinctions both
are facing extinctions my reaction alarm
I must act I must leave my studio and
find an art form that could help raise
consciousness for climate change at
Goddard I speak to scientists analysts
animators I follow the visualizations
what is thrilling to me
these images are based in science and
yet my reaction to them is primal and
others have a similar reaction even when
we don’t know what the images mean they
often provoke reaction that is emotional
or even visceral I envision a labyrinth
incorporating the NASA data a five space
walk through sculpture and a communal
lounge for exchanging ideas across
pollination begins an open collaboration
of artists and scientists musicians
architects builders poets astronauts
people of many disciplines it seems a
metaphor for what we need to do as a
Ouroboros is the name of the project
after the ancient symbol of life’s
endless cycles of creation and
destruction winter summer and our cycles
as we move through time everything on
the earth is connected to everything
else and it would seem that since
ancient times people have been able to
understand some of these systems that
sustain us I wanted to knit together the
ancient more intuitive way of knowing
with contemporary satellite data an art
form that brings the two ways of knowing
together in a single experience might
have a deepen
act on the psyche and the rational mind
I knew I needed to start with the data
information the beautiful visuals and
aim to make an intense aesthetic
experience by blending science with art
or a Boris would celebrate this amazing
system that we live in and make it real
and once it’s real to ask for action my
friend Chris clay and I worked to make
this an exhibition I’d like to show it
to you the first area you enter is
origin it’s takes some trust to enter
because it’s dark reflective material
like that used by NASA on their
telescopes and satellites throws
reflections across the chamber and onto
you it is as if you’re joining with the
cycles of nature as if the universe is
forming around you you enter space and
here translucent scrims give a feeling
of depth and as you wander among them
the celestial bodies are projected onto
you are made of the same stuff we are
next is live data streams into a
labyrinthine tunnel and on to you it is
a portrait of the Earth’s natural
it is also a portrait of us humans and
the impacts that our actions are having
on those systems you emerge into
currents and here the NASA animations
blend with video based on them reimagine
through artistic license and algorithms
you see how patterns repeat across the
universe as above so below from the
it’s a world in order masquerading as
chaos the patterns are all around us and
they are within us the earth works in
cycles and rhythms and we are
intertwined with them we are a part of
those rhythms and cycles but only a part
and those systems once they are
disturbed could become unpredictable and
bring devastating changes to us in
consequences a passageway mirrors the
data tunnel you see how you’ll be
affected how we will all be affected
we’re walking towards a common future
there is human nature and there is
you emerge in resilience the common
communal lounge where you’re invited to
exchange ideas and commit to action
climate educators urge us to make adopt
do one thing if we all do one thing the
result will be huge if we do two things
imagine the result every one has an
impact everyone is important as I
realized in that little plane above Lake
Tanganyika this spaceship we’re on
contains all tribes it has no borders
from up high it is a gorgeous blue jewel
turning in the darkness it is also a
caldron with a fiery heart a wild and
untamed place and it is where we live it
is ours to protect shall we begin
thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
you [Applause]
Please follow and like us: