"I think a lot about planets, in particular whether the planets we discover would be good or bad places for life in the universe — since Earth is the only planet we know of that has life, Earth is kind of the gold standard for places to live (at least for us humans!). Although we now know that the universe is literally teeming with other worlds, these other planets we're discovering are too far for us to travel to in a human lifetime, given our current technology. So when I think about our Earth in that context, it gives me a feeling of being on a very precious island in the midst of a vast cosmos. I call this 'planetary-scale thinking,' a sense of oneness with and appreciation for the value of our beautiful natural world and the many life forms that we share the planet with."