Envisioning the Pandemic and the Planet: A Satellite Perspective on Human Impact and Climate Change

This episode features Rob Johnson of the Institute for New Economic Thinking in conversation with Benjamin Grant, founder of Overview, a media company that uses satellite and aerial photography to document humanity's impact on Earth. Grant's work, inspired by the \"Overview Effect\" experienced by astronauts, aims to provide a macro perspective on global phenomena, from climate change to the immediate effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. He discusses how his project offers a unique vantage point, allowing people to see large-scale changes like diminished boat activity in Venice, oil tankers lining coastlines, and abandoned city streets, fostering a sense of connection to a world they cannot physically access during lockdown.\n\nGrant emphasizes that his visual narrative goes beyond classic climate change imagery like deforestation and melting ice, focusing instead on the everyday occurrences and creations of civilization—cities, energy production, transportation networks—that contribute to the climate crisis through carbon emissions. His forthcoming book, \"Time Lapse,\" will further illustrate these changes by showing the evolution of specific places over decades, such as the expansion of Shanghai from croplands to a massive cityscape. This dynamic perspective aims to paint a more complete picture of human impact, highlighting both the ingenuity of civilization and its massive utilization of Earth's natural resources, which in turn elicits a reaction from the climate.\n\nThe discussion delves into the critical role of water as a \"protagonist of the climate story,\" manifesting as unprecedented floods or severe droughts, and how climate change can exacerbate existing societal problems, as potentially seen in the Syrian crisis. Grant advocates for \"stealth learning,\" where captivating images draw viewers in to absorb accompanying scientific information, making complex data more accessible. He hopes to activate his large social media following to rally support for environmental causes and stresses the importance of listening to scientific warnings, drawing parallels between the lack of preparedness for the pandemic and the ongoing climate crisis.\n\nUltimately, the conversation explores the philosophical implications of this global perspective, echoing Carl Sagan's \"Pale Blue Dot\" monologue and the importance of keeping things in perspective. It touches on the dual nature of technology, capable of both surveillance and uncovering illegal environmental destruction. The pandemic, despite its suffering, has paradoxically offered a glimpse of a cleaner world (e.g., clear skies in India, clean water in Venice), potentially fostering a desire for a \"new normal.\" The episode concludes with a powerful call to action, emphasizing the fresh eyes and conviction of young people, who see what is necessary rather than just what is feasible, as crucial drivers for transformative projects like a Green New Deal to ensure the planet's survival." "concepts": [ "Overview Effect

if we're able to offer people a glimpse of something far away a glimpse of a world they can't physically go to I think that can be inspiring and offer something people different from their normal day-to-day vision

this idea known as the overview effect which is a phrase coined by writer frank white during the 1980s based on these stories and anecdotes from astronauts who had spent a lot of time in outer space who had the opportunity to see the entirety of the earth in this vantage point

it truly does force you to to zoom zoom zoom way way out and think about kind of how perhaps meaningless some of the things that we are do but for how we prescribe so much meaning to some of them

what I think was missing from that visual narrative was the more everyday common occurrences and creations of civilization that we don't typically associate with the climate problem

I often think scientists not were not necessarily trained in storytelling perhaps they were not thinking the world would become as visual as it has become and we have something to offer them there where we can truly bring those stories to life

water I think will be the protagonist of the climate story whether or not it means certain areas have far too much of it with unprecedented rains and floods or far too little of it with droughts that have not been seen in centuries in certain places

I put my faith in young people because they have fresh eyes and because they see and they see without being poisoned or being affected by the notion of what is feasible they only see what is necessary and what they do is they lead us to change what is feasible

the images kind of pull you in and mesmerize you so much that you're so curious to know what you're seeing in the image that you need to read the text that accompanies it and absorb it and you have something that sticks in your mind as a visual to to remind you about that tidbit of information

perhaps in some weird paradoxical way what we're experiencing right now with the pandemic with with the coronavirus is that a lot of these behaviors that we're exhibiting are moving things in the right direction

there's good and evil potential in everything it sort of depends what you're going to do with it and I think that your ability to cry out to mankind and show it what it is doing is of great force for good