Sustainable Travel International provides education and training for the traveler and certification for service providers. CEO Brian Mullis tells us how Sustainable Travel accomplishes its mission

Sustainable Travel International provides education and training for the traveler and certification for service providers. CEO Brian Mullis tells us how Sustainable Travel accomplishes its mission helping businesses, consumers and destinations protect the unique attributes of their place, environmentally, culturally and economically. Program development for tour operators include, sustainability and philanthropy.

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Overview of the mission and vision of the non-profit organization The Center for a Sustainable Today by Gordan Westfall. Their mission is to develop a new understanding, through awareness and education, of our planet and our own behavior. More information on the Center can be found at www.sustainabletoday.org.

 

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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 current framing of renewable energy goals creates a perverse disincentive for organizations seeking to be “powered by” 100% renewable electricity to NOT deploy rooftop solar or support

The current framing of renewable energy goals creates a perverse disincentive for organizations seeking to be “powered by” 100% renewable electricity to NOT deploy rooftop solar or support community solar projects in their jurisdiction, but instead, buy renewable energy certificates that are 5-years old, not a part of their local electric grid, and/or do not make the electric system any cleaner. A change in mindset, such as that being adopted by the City and County of Denver, will unlock hundred of millions of dollars of annual investments that should be reallocated towards solutions that enable the physical operation of a 100% renewable electric grid and the decarbonization of the systems we are a part of. A more thoughtful investment of these resources will enable co-benefits such as local workforce development, utility bill savings, and more resilient buildings and facilities. Jonathan Rogers is the Renewable Energy Specialist for the City and County of Denver. He is responsible for the city's efforts to transition to a 100% renewable electricity system by 2030. Mr. Rogers leads Denver’s advocacy at the public utilities commission and coordinates Denver's Energy Future Collaboration with Xcel Energy. He works with stakeholders across city agencies to develop and implement renewable-energy focused policies, programs, and projects that advance Denver’s clean energy and community empowerment objectives. Before joining Denver, Mr. Rogers was Program Director of Energy Systems Analysis and Integration at Energetics Incorporated, advising the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. National Laboratories, and state and local governments on efforts to achieve an affordable and equitable energy transition. Mr. Rogers holds both a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Science degree in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from Johns Hopkins University. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

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