Michael helped keep me trudging along in a cruel jungle

“What is real? What is important? What is possible?” – the key questions Michael would ask in his talks – have much informed my ongoing 30+ year trudge as a deeply concerned licensed professional engineer (PE), federal agency employee, American, Christian, and crew member of planet Earth. Michael and Connie entered my life about a dozen years ago with their class Evolutionize Your Life.

As Michael shared, many times, he had an epiphany about climate change about that time. And, as a result, stopped trying to integrate science/technology and evolution/spirituality as a techno-optimist.

Michael’s presentation “Evolution and the Global Integrity Crisis” at Caltech in 2009

I’m not optimistic my grandchildren, born in 2022 and 2023, will get to die natural deaths. How much self-sacrificing, supererogatory love of neighbor actions – where “neighbor” could be half a world away or decades in the future – has Michael’s work and witness helped motivate and sustain? I do not know, but I hope this tribute page can be a place to recount it.

– Joseph (Joe) Carson, PE