I think it's vitally important to recognise that #satellites have helped us to understand the Earth and how humans have changed it. Satellites also help to feed us, to send aid where it is needed, and to give us an incredibly valuable understanding of global affairs...
...There are many other things that satellites help us with. So when people suggest that tackling #spacedebris is not as important as tackling #climatechange (or other human or environmental challenge), my reply is always that tackling space debris *IS* tackling climate change
The satellites are our eyes on the world, our senses. They provide us with an awareness of our planet on a global scale, from pole to pole, East to West. We simply cannot gain that awareness in any other way.
That awareness feeds into our Earth and Climate models, and many other different models, all of which help us to understand how humans are changing the oceans, the seas, the land, the atmosphere, and space.
Crucially, the satellites we depend upon for this awareness occupy a region of near-Earth space that is hugely congested. There is more artificial #spacedebris in this region than anywhere else in Earth orbit.
So, protecting those satellites from #spacedebris is a really important challenge and that's why I say that tackling space debris is the same as tackling climate change. We can't do one without the other.
It's also deeper than that: the problem of #spacedebris is very much like the problem of #climatechange, or the problem of #oceanplastics. There is a common issue that lies at the heart of all of these issues - and a common solution.
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