Author: Josy O'Donnel

Hi! I am Josy O'Donnel, and I am the creator of Conservation Institute. While completing my bachelor’s degree, I developed an interest in the study of Earth’s future and the conservation of Earth’s natural resources. Years after, I am still immersed in these subjects. I want to share my passion with an online community of people who are devoted to spreading awareness and attention to the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on Earth.

Categories
Environment People

How Cities Will Evolve to Become More Sustainable

Central Park
Increasing environmental sustainability has become an important topic both on the minds of many individuals and in the media. This is for good reason - recently, studies have starkly illuminated the impact of climate change and the role humans play in increasing global temperatures. With sobering consequences such as drought and more severe weather patterns, an increased number of people have started to consider how they can become more sustainable. In this global shift, many cities are moving to become more sustainable and decrease negative impacts on the environment. Although the level of involvement varies by city and country, an evolution is occurring as cities implement improved infrastructure and policies to become more sustainable.

Increasing environmental sustainability has become an important topic both on the minds of many individuals and in the media. This is for good reason – recently, studies have starkly illuminated the impact of climate change and the role humans play in increasing global temperatures. With sobering consequences such as drought and more severe weather patterns, an increased number of people have started to consider how they can become more sustainable. In this global shift, many cities are moving to become more sustainable and decrease negative impacts on the environment. Although the level of involvement varies by city and country, evolution is occurring as cities implement improved infrastructure and policies to become more sustainable.

Continue reading “How Cities Will Evolve to Become More Sustainable”
Categories
Space Exploration

What Happens to the “Space Junk” that Falls back to Earth?

Kessler Syndrome: Explosions of satellites and rocket bodies
In 1978, Donald J. Kessler proposed a scenario: since the spent rockets, satellites and other space trash have accumulated in orbit increasing the likelihood of collision with other debris, these collisions create more debris creating a runaway chain reaction of collisions and even more debris. This scenario is now known as known as the Kessler Syndrome. This domino effect and feedback runaway can create a physically impassable barrier in the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to space exploration that occurs in higher orbits. Donald J. Kessler, then an astrophysicist working at NASA, demonstrated that once the amount of debris in a particular orbit reaches critical mass, collision cascading begins even if no more objects are launched into the orbit. Once collisional cascading begins, the risk to satellites and spacecraft increases until the orbit is no longer usable. Kessler proposed it would take 30 to 40 years for such a threshold to be reached. Today, interestingly exactly 40 years later Kessler demonstrated his theory, some experts think we are already at critical mass in low-Earth orbit (LEO). So far, about 200 explosions and at least 5 collisions in space have occurred. Further explosions and collisions are very likely. The explosions are mainly caused by onboard energy sources, either due to pressure build-up in propellant tanks, battery explosions, or the ignition of hypergolic fuels. Each explosion creates thousands of small debris objects. Image Credit: ESA

In 1908, a flaming meteor fell through the Earth’s atmosphere and exploded above the Stony Tunguska River in the Siberian forest. The result was shocking: 80 million trees over 820 square miles were blown over like toothpicks and mankind began to fear destruction from outer space. A century later, it seems this fear should be focused not on natural objects from the heavens. Rather, a greater danger to man is the human-made debris orbiting the earth. This “space junk” threatens the Earth’s environment in several ways.

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