Read the full details here: https://www.corporateleadersgroup.com/news/more-than-100-business-finance-leaders-urge-new-PM-strengthen-economy-prioritising-response-climate-nature-crises More than 100

Read the full details here: https://www.corporateleadersgroup.com/news/more-than-100-business-finance-leaders-urge-new-PM-strengthen-economy-prioritising-response-climate-nature-crises More than 100 business and finance leaders urge new Prime Minister to strengthen economy by prioritising response to climate and nature crises. UK CEOs of businesses and finance institutions, including Amazon, the Co-op, Signify, Zurich Insurance, Coca-Cola, Bupa, IKEA, Siemens, BNP Paribas, Sky and Aviva, are calling on Prime Minister Liz Truss to build economic resilience through delivery of net zero emissions and restoring nature. With inflation predicted to top 20 per cent if gas prices continue to rise, and the Bank of England warning the UK is heading towards recession, a letter to the new Prime Minister from 116 businesses and finance institutions with more than 425,000 employees and a market capitalisation in excess of £1.8trillion underlines the urgent need for short and long term government delivery plans for net zero and nature restoration. The letter, which affirms business and finance sector commitment to support the UK’s climate and nature targets, comes nearly two weeks after the new Prime Minister announced plans to tackle the energy crisis which included a new round of oil and gas licences and lifting the moratorium on fracking. The letter text maps out what is needed to improve energy security, shield the UK from volatile fossil fuels prices and enable the country to deliver its climate promises. The letter states: “As skyrocketing energy bills inflict considerable costs on businesses and push vulnerable households into poverty, we would like to see you prioritise policies that will address this crisis, as part of a robust net zero strategy. […] Acting now to accelerate the energy transition, could both support UK households with the cost of living and deliver huge economic benefits, unlocking opportunities for the UK to be a leader in clean growth. Industry experts predict this action could reduce yearly household energy bills in the UK by 7 per cent by 2025, rising to a 50 per cent reduction by 2035. “At the same time, restoring nature through a comprehensive environmental improvement plan, a strong national adaptation plan, and setting ambitious long-term targets will help build the UK’s resilience and support the economy by reducing threats to food security and the economic and social damage of climate impacts.” The signatories, that also include CEOs from EDF, Triodos Bank, Cory Group, E.ON, Anglian Water, British Land, Amey, Salesforce, Arup and Nestle, and in addition, 12 business groups, including the Advertising Association, Lawyers for Net Zero, The B Team, Sustainable Energy Association, UK Green Building Council, RenewableUK, Aldersgate Group and We Mean Business Coalition, were coordinated by the UK Business Group Alliance for Net Zero (BGA) led by the UK Corporate Leaders Group (CLG UK), convened by the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. Eliot Whittington, Director of CLG UK said: “The UK is facing severe economic headwinds. The best and only sensible way of facing up to them has to include investing in British renewable energy and helping homes and businesses be more energy efficient. Maintaining and strengthening our focus on net zero and nature protection can help us move beyond the rising costs of fossil fuels and deliver a better economy with more energy and food security, more jobs and greater social equality. What’s more, the Conservative Party has rightly enshrined net zero into law and in so doing reaffirmed UK leadership on climate action, further demonstrated at last year’s COP26 summit. UK business and finance leaders urgently want to see more leadership from government on this agenda, with clear, well-resourced and defined plans to get us on track for a more stable climate and stronger economy.” Last month a survey by the Confederation of British Businesses (CBI) found the energy crisis was putting net zero plans at risk as companies reined in green investment in order to manage soaring energy costs. The survey found three in 10 businesses were considering pausing or halting low carbon transition investment unless the new UK government acts to cut energy costs. Earlier this month a large group of NGOs wrote to the new Prime Minister calling for the creation of a secure, fair and green future and for the UK to lead on the world stage, while a group of MPs and peers also wrote to Liz Truss to urge her to hold to the UK’s net zero target. Today a new YouGov poll indicates strong business appetite for net zero regulation with 80% of CEOs surveyed in the UK believing that government policies will be required to bring about the changes required for the energy transition.

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Join host Jeff Corwin on an adventure across America to help save California condors and Massachusetts saltmarsh sparrows. First, Jeff travels to the spectacular coastline of Big Sur, California, to

Join host Jeff Corwin on an adventure across America to help save California condors and Massachusetts saltmarsh sparrows. First, Jeff travels to the spectacular coastline of Big Sur, California, to the renowned condor sanctuary of the Ventana Wildlife Society. Jeff helps prepare young condors for their new life in the wild and learns about how condors shape their environment - and how the environment shapes them. Later, Jeff travels to his home state to work alongside the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Wildlife on a mission to save a unique species of bird that only lives in salt marsh habitats of the East Coast. Video Transcript: Jeff Corwin: Our adventure begins along the central coast of the great state of California. Here, the Santa Lucia mountains rise from the Pacific ocean in a region named Big Sur. This pristine and undeveloped coastline has been described as one of the most stunning meeting points of land and sea on the planet. Circling high above is the mighty California condor. Today, the presence of wild California condors above the cliffs of this coastal state is a miracle of modern conservation.  Jeff Corwin: Look at that. Is that adult or sub-adult? Pamela Flick: Well, because we can see the white wing patch under the wing, that would be an adult condor that we see right now. Jeff Corwin: Now. So that's at least five or six years old. Pamela Flick: At least. Yeah. Jeff Corwin: Incredible. My friends, this is Pam Flick. She is of course, with Defenders of Wildlife. And what makes the story of the California condor is so remarkable? Pamela Flick: Well, Jeff, I think it's a special story because it's one of hope and one that demonstrates that it truly takes a village to save a species from extinction. Jeff Corwin: This is North America's largest flying bird. It's got nearly a 10 foot wing span, it's weighing 20 pounds plus in size. It takes a lot to keep these birds alive, doesn't it? Pamela Flick: It does. They can range over 200 miles in a single day on foraging missions. They need a lot of habitat. Jeff Corwin: So today we can come along this coast and have this spectacular moment. But this was a species that was in true jeopardy, wasn't it? Pamela Flick: Absolutely. In 1982, the entire population of California condors was just 22 individuals. At the time, the decision was made to pull all the condors from the wild to start a captive breeding program. Jeff Corwin: But they're a complex creature. It takes years and years for an adult to get to that point where it can replace itself. Pamela Flick: Yeah, at least six years. And that's one of the problems because they have such a slow population growth and they only breed once every two to three years and they only lay one egg per breeding attempt. Jeff Corwin: So Pam, how many condors do we have today? Pamela Flick: Well, the entire population in the world is roughly 500, and of that, about 300 are free flying today here in the central coast of California, in the mountains of Southern California in Baja, Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. And there are plans to reintroduce condors to the Yurok ancestral lands in Northwestern California within the next year.  Jeff Corwin: That's amazing. Jeff Corwin: Condors have been pulled from the brink of extinction, but the work has just begun. From the famous Pacific Coast Highway One, we're traveling to a protected mountain peak high above the clouds.  Well friends, get ready. You're about to experience one of my most favorite conservation projects in North America. We are working with the Ventana Wildlife Society. Their mission is to save what I consider the ambassador of the California sky. The Ventana Wildlife Society currently monitors more than 100 condors and 10 active breeding pairs. Today, senior biologist, Joe Burnett, and his team are preparing the next generation of condors for their new lives in the wild. Jeff Corwin: Joe, so what is our mission today? Joe Burnett: Today, we're going to get these tags on the birds. So this is how we'll visually identify each individual out in the field with this color number combination. But our first step, we got to get them in the nets and catch them. So let's go do it. Jeff Corwin: All right, let's go do it. This is going to be fun. Jeff Corwin: We enter an area called the flight cage. There are nine juvenile condors in this enclosure and all of them are the product of active breeding programs. Jeff Corwin: What we're trying to do is carefully trying to corral the condor. We don't want to stress it out. Jeff Corwin: But we can only work with one at a time.  Jeff Corwin: Look at the size of this bird. It's just amazing. This is a very young bird we're. Right now it has  probably an eight foot wing span. Just incredible.   Jeff Corwin: For this team, the safety of each condor is the highest priority. Jeff Corwin: I got a good grip... We've hit our character limit. Leave us a comment for the rest of the transcript.

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Geothermal energy production releases less carbon emissions than a coal power plant, but it is far from benign. In this video I report from the site of the proposed "Baltazor" geothermal energy

Geothermal energy production releases less carbon emissions than a coal power plant, but it is far from benign. In this video I report from the site of the proposed "Baltazor" geothermal energy project in northeastern Nevada, west of Denio. In my book "Bright Green Lies," myself and my co-authors explain some of the issues. Here's an excerpt: ---- "In Kenya, geothermal energy development is destroying a national park, where more than 90 new geothermal wells were drilled between 2014 and 2017, meaning more roads were punched across the park and more habitat was destroyed or fragmented. Maasai people have been violently evicted en masse. [Geothermal] drilling releases mercury, arsenic, and boron into groundwater. And water for drilling wells—about 8 million gallons per month, a number expected to rise sharply—is taken from a local lake which is part of a wetland of international importance. ... Geothermal drilling in Nevada is threatening a newly discovered toad species, the Dixie Valley toad. Its habitat, which measures only about four square miles, would be obliterated by a proposed geothermal power expansion. Another example: Iceland is volcanically active, and the country has become a center of geothermal-energy-harvesting facility construction. This industrialization is pushed relentlessly by bright greens, corporate green organizations and foundations, mining interests, climate activists, and pretty much everyone else who cares more about industry than life on the planet. This construction has been opposed by local environmentalists, who call it “geothermal ecocide.” The group Saving Iceland writes that “the exploitation of the Reykjanes peninsula’s geothermal areas spells the end of this magnificent nature of the peninsula as we know it. Test drilling and boreholes, endless roads and power lines, power plants and other infrastructure; all this would turn the Reykjanes peninsula—this unique land of natural volcanic wonders ... into a large industrial zone. But these are only the very visible impacts of the planned large-scale exploitation. Other environmental catastrophes are in fact inevitable with large-scale geothermal industry, becoming increasingly visible to the public as the green reputation of geothermal energy slowly decreases.” ... Geothermal facilities are also directly linked to pollution in Iceland. Between 1999 and 2012, levels of sulfur dioxide rose 71 percent in the Reykjavik area due mainly to geothermal plants. This is causing acid rain and respiratory conditions, and worsening heart problems. Elevated levels of hydrogen sulfide from geothermal-energy-harvesting facilities have also been linked to higher death rates. Geothermal waste fluid, which contains “high concentrations of heavy metals and other toxic elements including radon, arsenic, mercury, ammonia, and boron,” has been released into groundwater. Iceland is currently planning or building at least 21 major geothermal-energy-harvesting facilities, some of them in the highlands, the largest wilderness in Europe. The technology for drilling geothermal wells was developed primarily by the oil and gas industry. Geothermal brine injection shares many techniques and problems with fracking. In fact, a relatively new technology called “enhanced geothermal systems” (EGS) borrows fracking technology directly, using the same method of injecting high-pressure slurries to fracture subterranean rock formations. The only difference is that fracking releases gas, while EGS releases superheated water and steam. Like fracking for gas, geothermal fracking poisons groundwater and causes earthquakes. And like fracking for gas, geothermal fracking typically uses a wide range of toxic chemicals. At one site in Oregon, these include naphthalene, safranin, rhodamine, lithium, cesium, rubidium, fluorescein, plastics, and any number of trade-secret compounds. This technology is already used in Nevada, Oregon, Australia, Europe, and elsewhere." ---- #Greenwashing #BrightGreenLies #Geothermal #Ecocide #Waste #Overconsumption More about the Baltazor project: https://www.blm.gov/press-release/humboldt-river-field-office-publish-final-environmental-assessment-baltazor More about the book Bright Green Lies: https://www.maxwilbert.org/books/

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Join host Jeff Corwin on an epic adventure to the Sierra Nevada mountains of California to discover the effects of a devastating drought that’s plagued the Golden State for years. Jeff explores the

Join host Jeff Corwin on an epic adventure to the Sierra Nevada mountains of California to discover the effects of a devastating drought that’s plagued the Golden State for years. Jeff explores the aftermath of the massive Caldor Fire and meets the brave firefighters on the frontlines of climate change. Then, Jeff travels to Washington State to connect with two vital and threatened species: the resourceful American beaver and the endangered Pygmy rabbit. Jeff works alongside conservationists fighting to protect these amazing animals and the ecosystems where they live. Video transcript: Jeff Corwin: Today's adventure begins in the great Pacific Northwest state of Washington. We're on a mission to save a species that transforms its habitat like few other creatures on earth, beavers. Jeff Corwin: Adult beavers use powerful jaws and sharp teeth to chew down hundreds of trees and build complex dams and lodges. As they build, they increase water storage, filter pollutants, and promote biodiversity. But beavers were hunted to near extinction beginning with the fur trades of the 1800s. Now, less than 3% of the original population remains. Jeff Corwin: This morning, I'm joining Molly Alves and Dylan Collins from the Tulalip Beaver Project. Our mission is to catch a family of beavers that are making an unwelcomed impact on the landscape of this private farm. We have a situation. Beavers are critical to this ecosystem, but sometimes beavers find themselves in a coexistence challenge. And that's what's happened today. And how are we going to fix that? Molly Alves: Yeah, so we are removing these beavers because the alternative is lethal management of these beavers. So we are going to trap the beaver family and relocate them up to Forest Service land. Jeff Corwin: Okay. Let's do it. Jeff Corwin: Molly uses a humane capturing system known as a suitcase trap. Beavers have an incredibly great sense of smell and they produce a secretion to mark their territory called castoreum. Molly Alves: So we are going to use a castor-based lure. Less is more. Jeff Corwin: When a beaver enters to investigate the smell, it will be safely trapped inside. Molly Alves: It's very important that we don't get any of this lure in the water because there may be another beaver family, half a mile downstream. And if we get it into the water column, it could attract beavers from different areas. And that is enough- Jeff Corwin: That's it. Molly Alves: To get their attention. Jeff Corwin: All right, our trap has been set. Jeff Corwin: Beavers are highly social animals with strong family bonds. In order for beavers to be successful in their new home, Molly and her team need to relocate the entire family. So we set several traps around the farm and before long we've got one. Jeff Corwin: So, we have a beaver. Molly Alves: That appears to be an adult. Jeff Corwin: And now we've got to move it. And how do we do that without getting nibbled? Molly Alves: Carefully. Jeff Corwin: Carefully. Okay, let's do it. Right now, it seems pretty calm, but that could change in a dime. There it be, our incredible beaver. Jeff Corwin: The Tulalip Tribal Community are leaders in wildlife management and their beaver relocation project is a huge success. This Tulalip fish hatchery will serve as a temporary home for the beaver while the rest of her family is captured. To make sure this beaver and we humans stay safe, we keep the beaver in the suitcase trap. This way, we don't have to use a sedative. Jeff Corwin: We've been successful in rescuing this beaver from a situation that may not have worked out, but this is only one step in this very important program that's really about a connection to salmon, isn't it? Molly Alves: Yes. So the reason we started this program at Tulalip is because salmon are an incredibly important subsistence resource for tribal members. And what beavers do in the areas that we're placing them is build dams that create awesome salmon-rearing habitat. So it's really all about salmon conservation and beavers are our partners in that restoration. Jeff Corwin: The next step is to collect important data from this beaver that the research partners at Washington State and the US Forest Service will use to better understand them. Dylan Collins: 58 pounds. Jeff Corwin: 58. So this is a good size beaver. Molly Alves: It is. All right, Jeff, if you would please grab a hair sample. Jeff Corwin: And, of course, what you can see is that there's different layers of hair because fur, if you live in cold water, it's critical, isn't it? Molly Alves: Absolutely. It keeps them insulated. Jeff Corwin: We coveted that warm pelt and it nearly drove them to extinction. Molly Alves: Yeah, exactly. Beavers were nearly extirpated from Washington State back in the late 1980s. And they're just starting to really make a big recovery. We've hit our character limit. Leave a comment for the rest of the transcript.

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Join host Jeff Corwin on an adventure in his home state of Massachusetts. Jeff returns to his roots to help conservationists save a collection of iconic New England wildlife, including an owl ready

Join host Jeff Corwin on an adventure in his home state of Massachusetts. Jeff returns to his roots to help conservationists save a collection of iconic New England wildlife, including an owl ready to be released. To learn more about the wildlife featured in the episode, visit www.defenders.org/wildlifenation Video Transcript: Jeff Corwin: Today, we're in my home state of Massachusetts and we're heading to the New England Wildlife Center. The center provides veterinary care to sick, injured, and orphaned wildlife from raccoons to opossums to owls, squirrels, and hawks. The dedicated staff put a lot of time and caring to rehabilitating each animal that comes through their doors. Jeff Corwin: For me, what I love about New England, specifically Massachusetts is that, Lindsay, when it comes to nature, there's so many surprises. I don't think a lot of people give New England the credit it deserves when it comes to amazing wildlife and habitat. Dr. Lindsay Rosa: They don't, Jeff and in fact, growing up here, I always thought it was wonderful I didn't have to go far across the country to a national park to see wildlife. I had bear and bobcat in my backyard.  Jeff Corwin: This is Lindsay Rosa. She's the senior conservation officer with Defenders of Wildlife, and I'm bringing her to one of my most favorite wildlife conservation centers on the planet. It is called the New England Wildlife Center. And I have worked with the New England Wildlife Center since I was about 13 or 14 years old and it has been such a joy for me to watch them grow and thrive. And their success is largely the result of the challenges that they face. Why are we having so many challenges in protecting species today? Dr. Lindsay Rosa:  The more that we continue to grow and spread from cities like Boston, the more we're encroaching into these habitats, which is why conservation comes in so many shapes and sizes and colors now from protecting a plot of land for species to doing some of the great rehabilitation work that's going on at the center. Jeff Corwin: Well, speaking of great rehabilitation work, I think you're going to love what these folks are doing. They're good friends of mine. It's going to be an amazing experience. You ready?  Dr. Lindsay Rosa: I'm ready.  Jeff Corwin: All right, let's go do it. Zachary Mertz: This guy came in about three weeks ago. He was really debilitated, just pretty dazed, stumbling from side to side, which are all hallmarks of lead poisoning.  Jeff Corwin: Did it eat the lead or was it shot?  Zachary Mertz: Very often it's trying to get a meal at the bottom of a pond, at the bottom of a lake and they accidentally eat a fishing sinker, accidentally eat an old shotgun shell. Gregory Mertz: When lead goes in the body, it circulates in the blood and it attaches to the different nerve endings  and as a result causes neurological disease.  Jeff Corwin: Lead poisoning from pollution or contamination, but especially from shotgun shell shot that has lead has had a powerful impact in wildlife, hasn't it? Dr. Lindsay Rosa:  Yeah. In fact, Jeff millions of birds every year are poisoned with lead and it's a big problem to the point that, various countries and states are now taking action and we've noticed changes and even recovery. Jeff Corwin:  So the good news is there are viable alternatives-  Dr. Lindsay Rosa: There are.  Jeff Corwin: ... that work. So what do we need to do today?  Gregory Mertz: What we want to do is get that lead to release. So we add something called calcium EDTA, and that is fairly reactive with lead itself. It will pick it up and allow it to be washed out of the body. Jeff Corwin: In order to continue the healing process the swan gets an injection of calcium EDTA. Swans, they are incredibly resilient. They can survive a dose of lead poisoning that would kill a human being, which is kind of amazing. Jeff Corwin: And finally, after making a full recovery, the swan is released back into the same lake where it was found. We've had an incredible time helping out at the New England Wildlife Center. There's one final animal ready to be released back into the wild, this beautiful barn owl. Lindsay, Greg and I are releasing it into a protected habitat. Jeff Corwin:  Lindsay, why do you think a moment like this is important?  Dr. Lindsay Rosa: This habitat as well as most across the nation, we share it with our wildlife neighbors and really we have to be mindful about what we're doing. We know that lead and rodenticide are poisonous. We all have to keep our wildlife neighbors safe.  Jeff Corwin: You can't protect what you do not love, and you'll never love it if you don't get to meet it and that's why we go in these journeys. So are you ready, Lindsay, to do this? Dr. Lindsay Rosa: I'm ready, Jeff. Jeff Corwin: 3, 2, 1. Oh, there it goes... We hit our character limit. Leave us a comment for the rest of the transcript!

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Join us on November 19 at 6 pm for the Commonwealth Club’s Virtual Gala. Raise your glass to Good Health, as we celebrate the leadership of women in science and medicine. Visit

Join us on November 19 at 6 pm for the Commonwealth Club’s Virtual Gala. Raise your glass to Good Health, as we celebrate the leadership of women in science and medicine. Visit commonwealthclub.org/2021gala to learn more or Text Club2021 to 41444 to register and donate today! Many nations have a national poet, whose poetry helps carve out their own unique cultural niche in human civilization. Italy has enjoyed many literary geniuses for over two millennia, but still looks to one man the most: Dante. Like major poets in other cultures, Dante’s influence on the Italian language can hardly be overstated. The Divine Comedy was the first major work of literature to leave Latin behind in favor of Italian, and it remains the world standard of poetic excellence. Dante’s fertile imagination also inspired artists, writers and theologians, making him almost as influential about the afterlife as he is linguistically. Join Humanities West in person at The Commonwealth Club, or via livestream, to celebrate the 700th Anniversary of Dante’s death—which ironically occurred not that many months after he completed his speculations about post-death possibilities—with a two-hour, three-lecture Dante feast: • Timothy Hampton on "Dante After Dante: the Forms of Memory." Though there were many "in the know" about the achievement of Dante's great poem during his lifetime, his vast influence on Italian poetry and world literature was uneven in the centuries following his death. In some areas of artistic creation—for example, in the painting of Botticelli—Dante was powerfully present. In other areas (poetry, philosophy, literary criticism) his influence was definite, but diffuse and oblique. This lecture will speak about the ways in which Dante's work did and didn't shape Italian and European culture in the early modern period. • Kip Cranna on "Dante at the Opera: From the Divine Comedy to a Comic Puccini Delight." In "The Inferno," part one of The Divine Comedy, Dante introduces the condemned sinner Gianni Schicchi, consigned to the Eighth Circle of Hell along with others guilty of fraud. His crime: impersonating the deceased Buoso Donati to falsify Buoso's will for his own benefit. Dante personally knew the Donatis (he was married to one), and therein lies an intriguing tale of medieval Florentine society. The story of this fraudulent will and the legend surrounding it became the inspiration for the famed composer Giacomo Puccini's only comic opera. After outlining the Dante-Puccini connection, San Francisco Opera's Dramaturg Emeritus Kip Cranna will present brief video highlights from the opera Gianni Schicchi, including the ever-popular aria "O mio babbino caro." • Marisa Galvez on "Dante Before Dante Become Dante." In retrospect it almost seems like Dante invented Italian literary culture, but he arrived on the Italian literary scene as a love poet—an admirer of courtly love and the troubadour traditions which had begun a century earlier in Occitania, and had spread to Italy, Spain and then most of Europe. Dante defined the troubadour lyrics as rhetorical, musical and poetical fiction — which is also a good description of The Divine Comedy. OCTOBER 22, 2021 SPEAKERS Kip Cranna Dramaturg Emeritus, San Francisco Opera Marisa Galvez Professor of French and Italian, and by Courtesy, of German Studies and Comparative Literature; Faculty Director, Structured Liberal Education, Stanford University Timothy Hampton Aldo Scaglione and Marie M. Burns Distinguished Professor of French and Comparative Literature; Director, Doreen B. Townsend Center for the Humanities, University of California, Berkeley George Hammond —Moderator 💯SUBSCRIBE for more VIDEOS: https://www.youtube.com/user/commonwealthclub 📆 UPCOMING EVENTS: https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events 🎉 BECOME a MEMBER: https://www.commonwealthclub.org/membership 💰 DONATE NOW: https://support.commonwealthclub.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=298 📺➕📻 Watch & Listen https://www.commonwealthclub.org/watch-listen CWC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecommonwealthclub/ CWC Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cwclub/ CWC Twitter https://twitter.com/cwclub The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum 📣, bringing together its 20,000 members for more than 400 annual events on topics ranging across politics, culture, society and the economy. Founded in 1903 in San Francisco California 🌉, The Commonwealth Club has played host to a diverse and distinctive array of speakers, from Teddy Roosevelt in 1911 to Hillary Clinton in 2010. Along the way, Martin Luther King, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton have all given landmark speeches at the Club.

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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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