For years, NASA has used the vantage point of space, combined with airborne and ground-based field campaigns, to decipher the impact of fires—from first spark to final puff of smoldering smoke— and help other agencies protect life and property.
But the effects of fires linger long after they’re extinguished: They can upend ecosystems, influence climate and disrupt communities. While NASA keeps an eye on today’s fires, it also tackles the big-picture questions that help fire managers plan for the future.
This summer, NASA is embarking on several field campaigns across the world to investigate longstanding questions surrounding fire and smoke. Aircraft will fly through smoke and clouds to improve air quality, weather and climate forecasting, and investigate fire-burned forests to capture ecosystem changes that have global impact.
Music: Motion Blur by Sam Dodson, End of the Quarter by Austin Jordan Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/LK Ward
Starting Monday 15 July, we rise up in an organic, decentralized and coordinated action with one main message: ACT NOW!
Throughout the week, rebels will disrupt central spaces in five cities with the support of local groups from across the UK: • Bristol (XR South West England) • Cardiff (XR Wales) • Leeds (XR North England) • Glasgow (XR Scotland) • London (XR Central and South England)
Each of the five actions are being organized independently and operate on different schedules.
With global demand for food set to increase by nearly 70 percent by 2050, sustainable food production is one of the biggest challenges for the future.
The food industry is one of the most ecologically damaging industries and we will need to completely rethink its approach if we are to keep meals on the table for generations to come.
“Food is the single biggest impact that humans have on nature. We are deforesting the earth to grow more food. It’s by far the biggest user of fresh water, the single biggest source of carbon dioxide emissions, and the biggest reason why we’re in the middle of the mass species extinction event, the sixth that planet Earth has faced. At least a third of the world’s food is currently being wasted,” says Tristram Stuart, food waste campaigner and author.
“We do have the power as individuals to waste less, shift away from most ecologically destructive practices. That should give us hope that we can flip this enormous problem into one of the most delicious tools to tackle environmental meltdown.”
earthrise went to Finland and Italy to explore two alternative projects that are paving the way for the food of the future.
Zero Waste Restaurant A restaurant in Finland is challenging the traditional way of operating a fine dining eatery.
Ultima, in Helsinki, is pioneering a closed economy system where they not only reduce waste and recycle nutrients but are cultivating their own food on an urban site, thereby making the whole food production and consumption system highly efficient.
Its Michelin-starred chefs Henri Alen and Tommi Tuominen have designed a somewhat unusual menu from cricket tacos with queso fresco to mushroom pasta grown in coffee waste.
“It all started when me and my colleague Tommi, we were taking the bins out and we were thinking how can we make this much waste, how could we do the things better for the environment, for the customer?” says Alen. “That’s our biggest ambition.”
The pioneering restaurateurs set up Ultima in the belief that the old low-standard dishes of environmental eating should be a thing of the past. They hope that they can start a conversation.
“We just need to grow things forward, make people think,” says Alen.
Jellyfish for Dinner
In Italy, scientists are attempting to tackle the staggering number of jellyfish swarms with a new solution – by eating them.
Exploiting this foodstuff, which has been previously unexplored in the West, could begin to restore balance to the marine ecosystem, which has been devastated by a surge in jellyfish numbers, and also offer a much-needed sustainable meat alternative in an age where the meat industry is contributing to global climate change, deforestation and water degradation.
Research scientist Antonella Leone and her colleagues aim to show food safety authorities that jellyfish are a safe, plentiful food source.
“In Europe, jellyfish are considered a nuisance …. this could be changed if our studies demonstrate that they are a very powerful resource of food,” she says.”[It] could be important, for local fishermen, local restaurants, for local economies.”
