Dr Greg Walton: How we can achieve big change with small acts
Dr Greg Walton is a professor of psychology at Stanford University. He says a kind word, a tiny shift in thinking or a feeling of belonging can create big, lasting changes in people's lives. His new book is a reminder that big outcomes can grow from the smallest, most ordinary beginnings. It's called Ordinary Magic: The Science of How We Can Achieve Big Change with Small Acts.
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RNZ News
19 hours ago
- RNZ News
Dr Greg Walton: How we can achieve big change with small acts
Dr Greg Walton is a professor of psychology at Stanford University. He says a kind word, a tiny shift in thinking or a feeling of belonging can create big, lasting changes in people's lives. His new book is a reminder that big outcomes can grow from the smallest, most ordinary beginnings. It's called Ordinary Magic: The Science of How We Can Achieve Big Change with Small Acts. Photo: Stanford University
RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
A 10-fold increase in rocket launches would start harming the ozone layer
By Laura Revell, Michele Bannister of SpaceX Starship, shown sitting to the right of the launch tower beside the Super Heavy booster, is set to lift off on Monday for an integrated test flight of the rocket system. Photo:via CNN Newsource The international space industry is on a growth trajectory, but new research shows a rapid increase in rocket launches would damage the ozone layer. Several hundred rockets are launched globally each year by a mix of commercial companies and nation-state space programmes. These take place at around 20 sites, almost all in the Northern Hemisphere, with the most prolific launch rates currently from the United States, China, New Zealand and Russia. Our latest research explores the tipping point when launching more rockets will begin to cause problems. Our findings show that once rates reach 2,000 launches a year - about a ten-fold increase on last year - the current healing of the ozone layer slows down. We argue that with care, we can avoid this future. The economic benefits of industry growth can be realised, but it will take a collaborative effort. The ozone layer protects life on Earth from harmful solar ultraviolet (UV) rays. It is slowly healing from the effects of chlorofluorocarbons and other damaging chemicals emitted last century, thanks to global cooperative agreements under the Montreal Protocol . Gases and particulates emitted by rockets as they punch through the atmosphere are known to thin the ozone layer . So far, they don't cause appreciable ozone depletion, as relatively few launches take place each year. However, launches are steadily increasing. In 2019, there were 102 launches. By 2024, that increased to 258 worldwide. There are expected to be even more in 2025. At multiple sites worldwide, the launch industry projects impressive levels of future growth. For US-based launches, a three-fold increase in the number of rockets launched in 2023 is expected as soon as 2028 . One driver of this growth is the effort to build out satellite constellations to tens of thousands of units, positioned low in Earth's orbit. These require many launches to create and are happening in several nations, run by a number of companies. Once in place, these constellations require ongoing launches to keep them supplied with active satellites. To figure out how future launches could affect the ozone layer, we first built a database of ozone-depleting chemicals emitted by rockets currently in use. We then fed this database into a model of Earth's atmosphere and climate, and simulated atmospheric composition under several scenarios of higher rates of rocket launches. We found that with around 2000 launches worldwide each year, the ozone layer thins by up to 3 percent. Due to atmospheric transport of rocket-emitted chemicals, we saw the largest ozone losses over Antarctica, even though most launches are taking place in the Northern Hemisphere. Fortunately, the ozone losses are small. We wouldn't expect to see catastrophic damage to humans or ecosystems. However, the losses are significant given global efforts underway to heal the ozone layer. The global abundance of ozone is still around 2 percent lower than before the onset of losses caused by chlorofluorocarbons. Photo: Twitter/SpaceX Encouragingly, we found no significant ozone loss in a scenario of more modest rates of around 900 launches per year. However, this is for the types of rockets that are in use right now around the world. We focus on current launch vehicles because it is uncertain when the new and massive rockets currently in development will enter use. But these larger rockets often require far more fuel, which creates more emissions at each launch. Rocket propellant choices make a big difference to the atmosphere. We found fuels emitting chlorine-containing chemicals or black carbon particulates have the largest effects on the ozone layer. Reducing use of these fuels as launch rates increase is key to supporting an ongoing recovery of the ozone layer. Re-entering spacecraft and satellite debris can also cause damage. However, the global scientific community doesn't yet fully understand the chemistry around re-entry. Our work provides a realistic "floor" for the lowest level of damage that will occur. But it is important to remember that these effects are not locked in. It is entirely possible to create a launch industry where we avoid harmful effects, but that would require reducing use of chlorine-containing fuels, minimising black carbon emissions by new rockets and monitoring emissions. It will take keen effort and enthusiasm from industry and regulators, working together with scientists. But this needs to start now, not after the damage is done. - This story originally appeared on The Conversation.
Scoop
a day ago
- Scoop
New Report Exposes Impossible Metals' Claims As Scientifically Baseless
Press Release – Deep Sea Mining Campaign The Deep Sea Mining Campaign calls for a precautionary approach to prevail over the financial agendas of the handful of companies driving this industry. A new report launched today reveals that the deep sea mining plans of California-based company Impossible Metals pose serious environmental risks, despite the company's claims of 'sustainable' and 'selective' operations. Timed to coincide with World Oceans Day, the report 'Impossible Metals = Impossible Promises' critically analyses Impossible Metals' proposed technologies, and public claims. Contrasting them with independent scientific research. The findings are stark. 'The deep sea is one of the last truly undisturbed places on Earth. Impossible Metals claims to protect it while simultaneously planning to remove 70% of the nodule mass from the seafloor targeting the largest, most life-sustaining nodules. The science simply doesn't support their marketing,' said Jack Payette, MIT Earth & Planetary Sciences Researcher. Among the report's key findings: The company's own modelling shows their small prototype machine would smother the seafloor with sediment at up to 23,000 times the natural rate – choking the unique lifeforms evolved over millennia to the clear waters of the deep Pacific Ocean It would take 125 years for natural processes to deposit the layer of sediment that Impossible Metals' prototype will produce in just 2 days – 4 tonnes over an area as small as 1/20th of a km2 Impossible Metals plans to mine nearly all of the large nodules on the seabed. The small nodules left behind would take many thousands, if not millions of years to support the biological diversity and abundance removed by mining. Deep sea ecosystems may never recover. Even minor disturbance trials have shown impacts more than 40 years later. But nodules take millions of years to form. Once removed they are effectively gone forever. Microbes living on and around the nodules play important roles in regulating ocean pH and chemistry and in storing carbon – tempering the effects of climate change and moderating global temperatures. Disruption could have global consequences. The proposed mining system is unrealistically complex for the extreme operating conditions of the deep sea and likely to malfunction, resulting in even greater environmental degradation The 'machine vision' system to avoid collecting nodules with visible life is untested, unverified, and implausible at the rapid rate of mining aimed for by Impossible Metals. In the absence of scientific research to support their claims, the report concludes that Impossible Metals' nodule mining proposition is neither sustainable nor selective 'While Impossible Metals markets itself as the responsible miner compared to other companies, the impacts of its operations would be catastrophic for deep sea ecosystems that are adapted to an extremely still and quiet environment' said Dr Helen Rosenbaum, Research Coordinator, Deep Sea Mining Campaign. The report is being launched at a time when companies are attempting to accelerate deep sea mining ahead of robust science, regulation, and Indigenous and societal consent. The Deep Sea Mining Campaign calls for a precautionary approach to prevail over the financial agendas of the handful of companies driving this industry. 'This is not a credible path forward, it's a dangerous experiment in one of Earth's most sensitive ecological frontiers. A moratorium on DSM is the only responsible path forward until rigorous independent science can inform decisions about whether DSM is in the best interests of humankind as a whole.' said Dr. Rosenbaum.
