I wasn’t impressed when, last year, multi-billionaire rocketeers Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Richard Branson (Virgin Group) and Elon Musk (SpaceX) launched their galaxy-sized egos into space, an adventure which, from take-off to landing, lasted less than 10 minutes for each.
The cost of their boys-with-their-toys extravagance was astronomical. Bezos – the richest person alive with an estimated worth of $205 billion – spent $5.5 billion for roughly four minutes of weightlessness in suborbital space.
Imagine the global social benefits that kind of money could have reaped.
According to Globalcitizen.org, it could have secured vaccines for two billion people in low-income countries.
The World Food Programme could have aided 37.5 million food-insecure people worldwide.
And international humanitarian efforts in conflicted Nigeria, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Yemen and the Horn of Africa could have been fully funded.
So when I learned late last year about yet another out-of-this-world ($10 billion US) – space endeavour I thought, “Here we go again, another space extravagance of cosmic proportion.” But maybe not so.
While it hasn’t enjoyed the same publicity as the Bezos/Branson/Musk suborbital antics, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, launched from French Guiana on Christmas Day, is a gift of technological wonder that scientists and theologians alike believe could help turn humanity away from its profligate, planet-destroying ways.
A collaboration between the space agencies of the United States, Europe and Canada, Webb is an infrared space observatory. It will enable astronomers to peer back further in time than ever before, all the way back to the dawn of the universe, when the first stars and galaxies were forming 13.7 billion years ago.
That’s a mere 100 million years from the “big bang” when the universe first came into being.
“We’re one step closer to uncovering the mysteries of the universe,” said NASA administrator Bill Nelson. “And I can’t wait to see Webb’s first new views of the universe this summer.”
On Jan. 8, NASA engineers completed the unfolding of the telescope after a series of highly delicate and complicated manoeuvres, unprecedented in astronomic history. They included operationalizing a 6.5 metre gold-plated mirror and a tennis-court-sized sunshield.
From its launch date on Dec. 25, it took Webb 30 days to travel nearly 1.5 million km to its permanent home: what scientists call a Lagrange point – a gravitationally stable location in space.
Webb has been designed as a replacement for the 31-year-old Hubble Space Telescope, famous for capturing stunning photos of the universe’s galaxies.
It will view the universe in the infrared – the zone on the electromagnetic spectrum with slightly longer wavelengths than visible light. Hubble works primarily in the visible with a limited infrared-viewing range.
According to NASA, “Webb will study every phase in the history of the universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the big bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own solar system.”
Given the welter of urgent needs right here on Earth, addressing climate change uppermost among them, is the Webb Telescope money well spent? I asked that question of a former colleague of mine who’s a deep ecologist and university educator.
The International Monetary Fund, he pointed out, estimates global direct and indirect fossil fuel subsidies at $5.9 trillion US per year. The total world military budget in 2019 was $1.92 trillion US.
Then, of course, he added, there’s the untaxed wealth of the world’s 2,755 billionaires including Bezos, Branson and Musk.
So from that perspective, my former colleague said, and considering that, if distributed equitably, there are enough existing resources in the world to meet humanity’s needs, then “$10 billion US for something to answer basic questions about the universe does not seem excessive.”
It’s significant that Webb was launched on Christmas Day, during the season when the cosmological creation story of light coming into the world is told, says theologian Matthew Fox. Webb “can bring light alive again, and can wake us up, maybe, if we’re willing to be awakened,” Fox adds.
The message from climate scientists is clear, Fox says – we are facing extinction as a species. “Hunkered down in our politically correct silos, whether you’re on the left or on the right, nothing is going to happen.”
What can truly save us, Fox adds, is the recovery of our sense of wonder and awe and the humble recognition that we’re just one part of a profoundly interconnected universe.
That’s the beginning of wisdom, Fox says, and “we need wisdom, not just knowledge, at this (critical) time in history.”
Gary W. Kenny is retired from a career in international human rights and development and is a writer living in rural Grey County.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Kenya’s high rates of violence against women have prompted marches by ordinary citizens in towns and cities this year.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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