On the 25th April 2024, Sustainable Futures held the fourth 2024 iteration of their monthly online seminar series. In this edition, the topic area of sustainability was discussed in regard to its application in space and education. Chaired by Dr Andrew Welfle, Sustainable Futures Challenge Lead for Net Zero Futures, the seminar included two talks from Dr Joanne Tippett and John Mackintosh. Both are researchers at The University of Manchester.

The first presentation was provided by John Mackintosh, PhD researcher in the space research group at The University of Manchester. The talk was titled 'From Launch to Business Insight: Developing a framework to assess the environmental cost of satellite data with consideration of technical, economic and governance aspects'. Read the talk abstract here:

"With the rapid growth of the space industry in the UK and the prospect of future launches from as many as 7 launch sites (UK Space Agency, 2023), the environmental consequences of space mission activity are likely to be significant in the near future. This is important to consider as historically the environmental impacts of space activities have been frequently overlooked in key legislative and regulatory requirements, despite rocket propulsion being the only source of anthropogenic emissions to inject ozone destroying compounds directly into the upper levels of the atmosphere (Ross, et al. 2018)…"

"A project was undertaken to develop a framework to assess the environmental and societal impacts of a space mission, consulting industry partners and experts on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and policy. Categories of space sustainability issues were considered, and it was decided that as many projects currently focus on in-orbit sustainability issues, such as orbit overcrowding and space debris, the project would focus on terrestrial aspects of missions including environmental impacts of material extraction, design and manufacture, and emissions from launch..."

The talk discusses the potential consequences of the rapid growth of the space industry on the environment, giving justification for the development of the framework. It elaborates on the findings of a literature review surrounding the chosen categories and preliminary ideas for scoring the framework topics, including outlining space specific LCA methods. Conclusions are discussed and the future steps of the project are then outlined."

After a Q&A session wherein attendees could ask any questions to John, the second presentation of the day was next.

Dr Joanne Tippett, Senior Lecturer in the School of Environment, Education and Development, presented 'Learning through the RoundView: Inspiring new ways of thinking about sustainable futures with libraries and community learning'. Read the abstract below:

"Working together effectively across organisations, sectors and cultures to address our global environmental and social problems is a massive challenge. At the same time, anxiety about climate and ecological breakdown is a growing concern, especially for young people. This innovative learning and engagement project—the RoundView—offers an opportunity to shift the dial, from confusion and overwhelm to clarity and action..."

"The RoundView is a big-picture, positive framework for sustainability learning and communication. It gives a simple set of guidelines to redesign our systems so we don’t cause environmental problems in the first place. Hands-on learning tools do the heavy lifting of teaching the science in an enjoyable and engaging way. They can be used by anyone, and have already allowed for engagement with over 133,000 participants..."

"This seminar will report from a Sustainable Futures project that tested stand-alone exhibits of the RoundView learning tools in libraries. This is a recent pedagogical innovation, combining science, visual art, poetry and word games into three-dimensional puzzles to allow self-guided learning. We are aiming to develop a truly global learning resource, and are working with the UK National Commission for UNESCO and Manchester UNESCO City of Literature to translate the poems and learning resources into multiple languages. There is potential to transform sustainability learning, with roll-out in across the UK, UNESCO’s networks in 170 countries and beyond. This session will introduce the learning tools, feedback from early trials, and opportunities for rolling this approach out in libraries, schools and community settings."

Another live Q&A session involving attendees of the seminar followed, after which the event was soon wrapped up.

If you missed the event, you can watch it back here:

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