Forum for the Future

Using the systems thinking 'iceberg model' to explore the civil rights movement shows us how different parts of a system interact and influence one another. It becomes

Forum for the Future

Using the systems thinking 'iceberg model' to explore the civil rights movement shows us how different parts of a system interact and influence one another. It becomes clear that no single event started the movement, but rather it evolved through collaboration and decades of perseverance. By working together, we can change how power and privilege it is allocated, we can design societies that are free, democratic and support everybody on the planet to flourish.

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We need sustainable space tech. One solution - bees? Watch the newest video from Big Think: https://bigth.ink/NewVideo Learn skills from the world's top minds at Big Think Edge:

We need sustainable space tech. One solution - bees? Watch the newest video from Big Think: https://bigth.ink/NewVideo Learn skills from the world's top minds at Big Think Edge: https://bigth.ink/Edge ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The objects humans send to space teach us a lot about the universe, but they are also cluttering it up. While some objects are close enough to be retrieved, others become dangerous, fast-moving bullets that can cause serious damage. In addition to cleaning up what's already there, MIT Assistant Professor Danielle Wood says that we need to think more sustainably about the technology used in future missions. "We have to ask the question, will we respect the rights of people and the environment as we go forward in space," Wood says. One possible solution is a wax-based fuel source (made of beeswax and candle wax) for satellites that would be less toxic and more affordable than currently used inorganic compounds, and that would help bring the objects closer to Earth for deorbiting and destruction. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DANIELLE WOOD: Professor Danielle Wood serves as an Assistant Professor in the Program in Media Arts & Sciences and holds a joint appointment in the Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Within the Media Lab, Prof. Wood leads the Space Enabled Research Group which seeks to advance justice in Earth's complex systems using designs enabled by space. Prof. Wood is a scholar of societal development with a background that includes satellite design, earth science applications, systems engineering, and technology policy. In her research, Prof. Wood applies these skills to design innovative systems that harness space technology to address development challenges around the world. Prior to serving as faculty at MIT, Professor Wood held positions at NASA Headquarters, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Aerospace Corporation, Johns Hopkins University, and the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs. Prof. Wood studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she earned a PhD in engineering systems, SM in aeronautics and astronautics, SM in technology policy, and SB in aerospace engineering. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRANSCRIPT: DANIELLE WOOD: If you think about the view we have of the Earth from satellites, we're able to observe the oceans, the atmosphere, changes in the land. We have amazing views of the global changes. Traditionally, the goal has been to build satellites to last as long as possible, and to make sure they have all the technology to operate in the dangerous environment of space. Everything in space is going very fast. Astronauts who travel on the Space Station, they're traveling about 17,500 miles per hour. Because everything in space is traveling so fast, even when small objects hit each other, it means that they're likely to have a very dangerous collision. Very small objects have hit parts of the Space Station. And even a very small fleck of paint, or a lens cap that was dropped off a satellite can cause major damage, because everything's moving so quickly. Now the challenge is, in just about 50 or 60 years, we've produced industrial waste in space. Just a few countries have played a key role in both putting up these major satellites, but also testing to see if they can destroy their own satellite in orbit. This created space debris. Sustainability is about whether or not we create and manage waste. One of the ideas we have to consider is what do we do with the satellite when it finishes its life, its mission? The reality is, we have sustainability challenges on Earth and in space today, we need to look at them as a set of common related problems. We have to ask the question, will we respect the rights of people and the environment as we go forward in space? When we launch satellites and rockets to space, we're often carrying really expensive goods and systems, basically robots, that operate in space for maybe a decade or so. And the goal has been, because launch has been so expensive, to try to not launch a new thing until the old one is just replaced. Now, the challenge we have is to say what do you do with the old one? Sometimes the satellites are low enough to the Earth that they can actually be brought back down safely, and they actually enter the atmosphere. They're going so fast, they burn up, and generally that's a safer way to destroy them. But some satellites are operating pretty far away from the Earth. There's an area called the geostationary belt. It's about 36,000 kilometers away from the surface of the Earth. We have a whole ring of old trash satellites that are operating just a little beyond this very useful... To read the full transcript, please visit https://bigthink.com/videos/sustainable-space-tech

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The US Government kneecapped the federally recognized Mashpee Wampanoag tribe by de-establishing their reservation trust land in the middle of the Corona pandemic. This decision is especially

The US Government kneecapped the federally recognized Mashpee Wampanoag tribe by de-establishing their reservation trust land in the middle of the Corona pandemic. This decision is especially poignant because 2020 marks the 400 year anniversary of the arrival of the pilgrims, who settled on top of an empty Wampanoag village, abandoned because up to 90% of the tribe had died of a similar epidemic introduced by European traders that ravaged the community from 1616-1620. Despite this devastating loss, the Wampanoag still helped the Pilgrims to survive, and they still remain on their ancestral homelands, now threatened by the US Department of the Interior. Listen in on a fascinating conversation with the Indigeneity Program's Alexis Bunten and Mashpee Wampanoag tribal citizen and Bioneer, Danielle Hill. In this 35 minute conversation, Alexis and Danielle discuss how this decision connects to a broader legacy of tribal termination, how capitalism and racism figure into this tragic decision, and much more. Learn more about the Bioneers Indigeneity Program at https://bioneers.org/indigeneity

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