Last day to get a spot at SOAPBOXFEST 😍

Don't get bonked by space junk on the way over

View this email in your browser Verb Energy bars are your daily energy essential. The bars are infused with organic green tea, giving you the same amount of caffeine as an espresso without the jitters. They're gluten free, dairy free and vegan. Get 4 Verb bars for free before your next workout! You just cover shipping for $0.95. Listen: bonked by space junk Estimated reading time: 2 minutes August Topic: Space Trash (thanks Alicia for the suggestion) This week's module: 1. READ | 2. LISTEN | 3. ACT | 4. REFLECT Welcome back to Changeletter by Soapbox Project. I'm the author, Nivi Achanta, and I make it easy for you to fight climate change in 3 minutes every week.   What's up this week Catch up on last week's READ module with some space trash facts if you missed it.   Ayooo welcome back to another episode of "help the world is on fire". If you subscribe to other climate newsletters, they're probably debriefing you about the IPCC report that tells us climate change is baaaad but y'all already know that.   Instead, I'm going to encourage (/mandate) you to finish watching this module and GO OUTSIDE for at least 10 minutes. We're in this for the long run, so go say hello to your favorite flower and tell them you're never giving up.   This is also your last reminder to get SOAPBOXFEST tickets (community members get it for free). It starts with a comedy set, has 3+ different action opportunities, and features an impact networking event, so if you're struggling with eco-anxiety, this is your sign. Sign up. Signs everywhere. 🚦   Today we're going to talk about ACTUALLY launching our garbage into space. Please keep sending in your questions and comments on what you want to learn! Next week is our ACT module so I can compile some tips and tricks for space trash/tourism-related advocacy.   P.S. Semi-related - thanks Bridget for sharing the SPACE JUNK podcast episode of Ologies. It's fascinating if you want to learn more about space junk as a subject. It includes alien theories too. P.P.S. If you're looking for another climate newsletter that doesn't want to make you tear your hair out, I loved this article by The Green Fix, more Europe-centric. Not making as much income or impact as you'd like? Here's how to change that.   Arlan Hamilton, Founder of Backstage Capital, is blessing us with a free new masterclass to 10x our income and impact. She's giving us an exclusive look at the 7 income streams that helped her go from homeless to earning millions of $ while bridging the economic opportunity gap by investing in 180 underrepresented founder-led companies.   From the Soapbox   ARTICLE | What does it mean to work on climate? Terra.do (who will be hosting a climate careers workshop at SOAPBOXFEST) walks us through jobs through a climate lens.   ARTICLE | Free resources on sustainable investing - this Q&A with Lana Khabarova, founder of SustainFi, will help you get started in thinking through the planetary impact of your cash.   EVENT | Soapbox Project San Francisco members hangout @ 6pm August 12, Alamo Square Park. If you're not a member yet but want to check it out, reply to this email and I'll hook you up with our organizer Will's contact info 🎉   EVENT | SOAPBOXFEST 2021 is on Weds August 17 - Thurs August 18 from 5-7pm PST. Save your spot here to get a break from depressing climate content and shift into laughter + action. We need you, so bring yourself and a friend.   Your bite-sized actions Today, thanks to the What If: Science-Based Answers to Hypothetical Questions series, we can officially ask and answer "can we just yeet our trash into space?" First, a lil visualization exercise. Close your eyes and imagine this reality: The world produces 1.2 BILLION tons of waste every year. By 2100, that's estimated to be 3.6 billion. yeet away Now, some answers and FYIs before we get too carried away. Or before we... space out 😉. We could, technically, send our garbage into space.   Here's the catch: It would cost $33 quadrillion per year to yeet our trash into space. I literally cannot fathom what a quadrillion is, but it's more money than we have as a planet.   We're also short on resources. 91 orbital rockets were launched in 2017. We'd need 168 million launches... sooooo yeah, just a few more rockets to go! 🚀   Epic fails. The MOST successful space launch system has a 3% failure rate. Applied to 170 million launches, that's over 5 milli rockets' worth of space trash potentially raining down on us. Or exploding. Or whatever failed rocket launches do. Yuck.   We have to start listening to the 70s. In 1978, NASA scientist Donald J. Kessler theorized that the accumulation of space debris over time could become so dense, that we could no longer use satellites, or for that matter, leave Earth's orbit.". So trashing space could quite literally trap us. Also, the oil industry has known about global warming since the 70s, so it's high time to pay attention to that decade. One of the most common arguments for trashing space (as Jeff Bezos sorta suggested) is that space is literally so big, so it won't matter. Perhaps, but it looks like our space-trash ideas aren't actually going THAT far from home. And I don't love the idea of being orbited by garbage. Last thing: when industry execs had plans to trash the earth, they stuck it in places they found unimportant and out of sight. This has become a decades-long environmental justice nightmare, and this space-trash idea is promising to be one too. Upcoming Next week in our ACT module: ok but what do we actually DO when our problems are miles away, but also close to home   Please share about Soapbox Fest! Here's a media kit with blurbs and everything you can use. I would reaaaally appreciate it.   Ask questions by replying to this email. Everything is fair game. Copyright © 2021 Soapbox Project, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you signed up for our free action plans via social media, Tech Ethics Coalition, a meeting with Nivi, or our website! Our mailing address is: Soapbox Project 415 Mission St. San Francisco, California 94105 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.