Dr. Carl Sagan, the world-renowned astrophysicist, is professor
of Astronomy and Space Sciences at Cornell University, a position
he has held since 1968. He is author of The Dragons of Eden, published
in 1977, and was the host of Public Broadcasting System's Cosmos
science series in 1980.
Sagan has received numerous awards, including a Pulitzer Prize
for The Dragons of Eden and the Helen Caldicott Leadership Award,
presented by Women's Action for Nuclear Disarmament. One award
that Dr. Sagan is unlikely to include in his resume is the "Chicken
Little Honorable Mention," granted by the National Anxiety
Center of Maplewood, New Jersey in 1991. The "honor"
was bestowed on Dr. Sagan "for keeping everyone nervous with
theories about nuclear winter, global warming and even the possibility
of being hit by an asteroid."
Dr. Sagan was one of the early supporters of the Global Warming
Theory, the proposition that the build-up of CO2, methane and
refrigerant gases in the atmosphere could lead to a cataclysmic
rise in the earth's temperature. He was also one of first proponents
of the Nuclear Winter Theory, the proposition that nuclear war
would send so much dust and debris into the atmosphere that heat
from the sun would be blocked and the planet would freeze. Both
theories have been hotly contested by respected members of the
scientific community. A 1992 Gallup poll of scientists involved
in climate research, for example, showed that 53% of the respondents
did not believe global warming was occurring and 30% were undecided.
Sagan has also advocated legalizing the sale of drugs.
Though Dr. Sagan is one of the most frequently cited experts on
atmospheric issues by the media, his predictions are often wrong.
For example, at the outset of the Persian Gulf War, Sagan warned
that if Saddam Hussein delivered on his threat to set fire to
Kuwait's oil wells, so much black soot would be sent into the
stratosphere that sunlight would be blocked and a variation of
the "nuclear winter" scenario would occur. Hussein followed
through on his threat and by the close of the war over 600 wells
were on fire. But the fires had little environmental or climatic
effect beyond the Gulf region and virtually no ill effects globally.
Peter Hobbs, a University of Washington atmospheric sciences professor
who studied the atmospheric impact of the fires for the National
Science Foundation, said that the fires' modest impact suggested
that "some numbers [used to support the Nuclear Winter Theory]...
were probably a little overblown."
Selected Sagan Quotes
"It was an unmistakable chimpanzee pant-hoot." - Quoted
by Matt Crenson of The Dallas Morning News, November 18, 1992,
commenting on the noise made by supporters of Patrick Buchanan
at the Republican National Convention
"Quickly capping 363 oil well fires in a war zone is impossible.
The fires would burn out of control until they put themselves
out... The resulting soot might well stretch over all of South
Asia... It could be carried around the world... [and] the consequences
could be dire. Beneath such a pall sunlight would be dimmed, temperatures
lowered and droughts more frequent. Spring and summer frosts may
be expected... This endangerment of the food supplies... appears
to be likely enough that it should affect the war plans..."
- Sagan in op/ed he co-authored with Richard Turco, The Baltimore
Sun, January 31, 1991, commenting during the Gulf War on the impact
of oil well fires
"I am moderately hopeful that we can get out of this mess
-- but only by changes in behavior. We have been irresponsible
in technology. We've been greedy for short term goals and profits.
Now, we must change." - Quoted in the Phoenix Gazette, September
26, 1989
Version Date: August 31, 1993
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