In the 21st century, business, social and scientific models are converging to create both opportunities and challenges. While we can be more self-aware and have an increasing ability to be globally aware and share ideas with diverse persons, we must refine our critical thinking and differentiate the strengths of arguments that are based on data and critical thinking. Addressing the importance of climate security requires data, science and innovation. As we all share planet Earth, ‘woke’ is an appropriate term that reflects our awareness of issues concerning social justice. We need to debate issues in an increasingly complex world, where information and disinformation zoom at the speed of light, and diverse sources of news add both context and confusion. Leadership is critical — political, scientific and social.
In the US, the Biden administration has to reconceptualize the way the government, public and information interact. Relationships and processes will need to mature. We need to fully appreciate the realities of social forces and planetary dynamics and use data to better inform policy and citizens. This real-time ecosystem demands a sense-making collaboration among academics, scientists, thought leaders, policymakers, and the public. This will increase understanding and trust — driving out narrow community elitism.
Data to drive action
In 1990, Al Gore, a senator from Tennessee, wrote a letter asking the intelligence community to use the reconnaissance satellite data to inform environmental studies. His goal was to leverage decades of data to strengthen scientific assessments of the Earth’s changing environment. As a result, the MEDEA program established global fiduciary sites, organized the data and engaged with 70 scientists. I had the opportunity to collaborate with the Russians to add Russian secret data from satellites and polar ice thickness data from the Cold War to the cause. This work was revolutionary in its ability to engage diverse expertise, data and problem-solving methodologies. MEDEA efforts led to hundreds of papers, studies and reports. The six decades of data on planetary shifts in desertification, snowfall and sea ice changed our understanding of our changing climate.
“Addressing the importance of climate security requires data, science and innovation.”
Today, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg has a program named “Luxembourg in Transition” to bring together multidisciplinary teams with broad citizen consensus to deliver ecological transition scenarios and flagship projects to advance and address the understanding of the global environmental emergency. The effort will yield decisions and specific actions aiming to reverse processes that contribute to Climate Change, while minimizing the impact on citizens’ quality of life and improving biodiversity.
Interoperability through open standards
On December 31, 2019, a doctor posted a warning on Taiwan’s social media that a nasty disease was exploding in China. Taiwan’s health officials immediately reacted. On New Year’s Day, Taiwan began inspecting flights coming from Wuhan and a year into the pandemic, it leads the world in controlling the virus. The geospatial community understands data, location and time. We have been innovating, discovering and collaborating to fuel the current ecosystem of data creation and discovery. Interoperability through open standards, web services and informed data licensing can further our understanding of the planet.
