LAUNCH Sustainability Forums Carve Niche Audiences

Beth Beck Public Outreach Manager NASA Human Exploration and Operations

Global Space Exploration Conference 2012

“We are more easily persuaded by the reasons we ourselves discover

than by those given to us by others.” !

— Pascal

FACT: In the history of mankind, only 532 humans have ever left Earthʼs borders to explore the unknown.!

FACT: Humans care about what we can see, touch, feel, and experience first-hand.!

None of us likes being told what we should !care about. We want to figure it out for ourselves.!

FACT: We, in the space industry, MUST engage our fellow humans where they are, in their passion language, in ways that feel real and meaningful to THEM.!

Shifting public opinion toward increased !government investments in space

requires more than rhetoric.!

We MUST get to know our neighbors and find out what they care about.

We MUST meet them where they are, rather than expecting them to come to us. We want active engagement, rather than general

awareness or generic support.

GOAL: Create a community ! of informed, engaged, ! and enthusiastic ! individuals who connect our ! off-planet endeavors ! with quality of life ! here on Earth.!

Levels of Engagement!•  Audience: the collective third party that observes as

individuals use or evoke meaning of a concept.!•  Public: an audience that communicates among itself

and deliberates about the meaning of a concept or experience.!

•  Community: a public that can act collectively to arbitrate the interpretation of concepts, and control their meaning.!

Create Lock-In!•  We want to engage new niche

communities and create shared ownership of sustainability problem-solving approaches –

! ! through innovative ! dialogue and collaboration.!

•  We want our niche communities to engage and experience creative programs that lock-in the Earth-Space connections.!

Sustainability is a core ! connection between ! what our fellow citizens ! care about, and ! what we do in space! !

Sustainability, from a !global point of view, !

signifies urgency and the need for citizen engagement !

and action.

Sustainability: sustaining the quality of human !life – in the context of dwindling, costly, and/or !nonexistent natural resources.!

Humans are united on and off the planet !in the struggle to survive with constrained

resources: air, water, energy, !food, shelter, and health.!

LAUNCH At NASA, weʼre creating new projects to bring about

social change that will ultimately improve quality of life on this planet, as well as tell the story of space in a relevant, experiential way— such as LAUNCH. !

Through LAUNCH, ! Collective Genius " for a Better World, ! we reach out to! the sustainability ! community to use ! NASAʼs trust brand ! to help change ! the world.!

NASA created LAUNCH to bring about innovative solutions to intractable sustainability challenges facing global citizens. !

LAUNCH offers us a unique opportunity to draw parallels between the resource challenges humans face onboard the International Space Station and those who inhabit Earth. !

Weʼve specifically!selected the LAUNCH!challenges to tell the

Space Station!Sustainability! story: Water, ! Energy, Health, ! and now, ! Beyond Waste. !

IF we want to create a community of informed, engaged, and enthusiastic individuals who make the connection between off-planet endeavors and quality of life !!here on Earth… !" " " " ""

"THEN we should follow Pascalʼs advice and create ways for individuals to discover the meaning and value of space for themselves through creative, participatory

experiences.!