Planetary Insights

Ep 173  |  Will Marshall

Will Marshall – Planetary Insights: How Satellites Could Transform Our Understanding of Earth’s Predicament

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Will Marshall The Great Simplification

Summary

When we are able to see the full scope of a problem, rather than a fragment, it changes how we respond. Throughout history, comprehensive data has catalyzed transformative change—from the measurements that spurred the halting of ozone depletion to the coral reef monitoring networks that revealed the devastating impacts of ocean acidification. Yet, the average person remains disconnected from visualizing their lifestyle’s impact on Earth’s systems, leaving an incomplete perception of our collective footprint. But what transformations might occur if we could observe the full consequences of our consumption patterns as they ripple across forests, oceans, and the atmosphere in real time?

In this episode, Nate is joined by Will Marshall, co-founder and CEO of Planet Labs. Planet Labs’ mission is to capture daily images and real-time data of the entire Earth using a fleet of hundreds of satellites, in order to make global change visible, accessible and actionable. Will shares how this data is being harnessed to tackle environmental challenges like deforestation and reducing methane emissions, and how AI is analyzing it to help governments, NGOs, and businesses make informed – and planet friendly – decisions. Will also emphasizes Planet Labs’ commitment to transparency and accountability on a global scale, ultimately aiming to make substantial contributions to the pursuit of Earth’s ecological integrity. 

How can we harness this extraordinary technological innovation (and others like it) to better fulfill our roles as planetary stewards? What sorts of environmental projects – such as carbon trading or protecting coral reefs – benefit most from this new data? Finally, how are small communities using this data to create targeted, local environmental strategies that will build ecological wealth for future generations? 

About Will Marshall

Will Marshall is the Co-Founder and CEO of Planet Labs, where he leads the overall company strategy and direction. Prior to Planet, Will was a Scientist at NASA/USRA where he was a systems engineer on lunar orbiter mission “LADEE”, a member of the science team for the lunar impactor mission “LCROSS”, served as Co-Principal Investigator on PhoneSat, and was the technical lead on research projects in space debris remediation. Will received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Oxford and his Masters in Physics with Space Science and Technology from the University of Leicester. Will was also a Postdoctoral Fellow at George Washington University and Harvard.

In French, we have a motto that says that a simple drawing is often better than a long explanation. Jean-Marc Jancovici Carbone 4 President

That’s very understandable because with left atmosphere thinking, one of the problems is that you see everything as a series of problems that must have solutions. Iain McGilchrist Neuroscientist and Philosopher

We can’t have hundreds and hundreds of real relationships that are healthy because that requires time and effort and full attention and awareness of being in real relationship and conversation with the other human. Nate Hagens Director of ISEOF

This is the crux of the whole problem. Individual parts of nature are more valuable than the biocomplexity of nature. Thomas Crowther Founder Restor

Show Notes & Links to Learn More

03:02 – Rarity of life in the Universe

04:09 – Overview Effect

04:29 – Rainforest destruction, Coral Reef Die-Off

06:23 – Planet Labs 50 cm resolution

09:23 – Sustainable agriculture, fishery management

10:19 – Brazilian Amazon deforestation, monitoring and effectiveness

11:51 – Planet Labs monitoring in Ukraine/Russia

12:56 – Governments with the most satellites

13:56 – US satellite spending

13:55 – Moore’s Law

15:42 – Biodiversity and ecocide

16:07 – Planetary Boundaries

17:15 – 69% of average populations have declined since 1970

19:21 – Methane leaks, business and climate impacts, main sources of all methane emissions

23:23 – Kari Stoever, Planetary Health Check, TGS Episode

26:45 – Easy lifestyle changes to reduce environmental impact

28:33 – Proportion of Americans that don’t believe in Climate Change

28:55 – EPA being defunded, FBI going after climate organizations

31:55 – Planet Labs Government Program, Marijuana growing Permits

33:19 – Drought and crop failure in Syria led to civil unrest

33:30 – War in Ukraine’s effect on food security

33:47 – Pentagon puts environmental issue as top threats, current administration’s stance

35:03 – Forest carbon planetary variable 

37:55 – 6 continent supply chains

38:29 – International Territory Laws

39:09 – 1960s international flyover agreement

40:08 – Blue Carbon

40:18 – Carbon in seagrass

42:34 – Al Gore, Climate Trace

42:55 – Global Forest Watch, Global Fishing Watch

44:56 – Environmental possibilities for AI

46:01 – AI energy use

52:22 – Half of the economy would collapse without nature

55:02 – EBITDA

56:12 – Carbon credit monitoring

56:42 – Public Benefit Corporations

58:28 – Anthropic, Claude

59:12 – NASA JPL Consortium

1:00:46 – CAFOs

1:04:08 – Audrey Tang, TGS Episode

1:04:31 – Misinformation and Deep Fakes

1:08:01 – Resource consumption of animal agriculture

1:08:12 – 97% of mammal biomass is humans and livestock

1:11:37 – Using AI to find other life in the universe

1:12:01 – Using AI to decode non-human language, Aza Raskin, TGS Episode

1:12:32 – Copernicus

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