THE LAST WORD
By Pat Coughlan
My love for the environment did not start when I saved a forlorn bird trapped in a plastic six-pack ring, although I would have liked to claim it but one night, while stargazing with a mug of hot cocoa, I wondered: “What about up there?”
Driven by curiosity, I discovered the jaw-dropping existence of space litter — millions of rogue widgets hurtling through the cosmos like a space bin lorry gone rogue. I knew then my environmental quest wouldn’t be complete without addressing this hidden menace. It ties into our Earthly battles, where our obsession with ‘out of sight, out of mind’ can have dire, far-reaching consequences.
Imagine floating above Earth on a bright sunny day, only to bump into a rogue piece of an old satellite. Unbelievable, right? Well, this is the reality up in the cosmos. With more than 500,000 bits of debris zipping around at alarming speeds, space is starting to look like my attic — cluttered and chaotic.
I remember reading about space litter for the first time and thinking: “We’ve turned our orbit into a cosmic rubbish tip!” It’s not just a few stray bolts; we’re talking big chunks of defunct spacecraft and even lost astronaut tools. I couldn’t help but think of Kilkenny on St Patrick’s Day, with streets littered with confetti and remnants of the parade — except these space bits can cause real harm. If this keeps up, how will future explorations ever reach for the stars?
Collisions with space debris can spell disaster for both government-led missions and private ventures. Imagine Elon Musk’s latest rocket being taken out by a rogue bolt from a 1970s satellite – not exactly the stuff of sci-fi dreams! These dangers not only jeopardise our progress but also threaten the very future of space exploration.
Neglecting space debris could disrupt satellite services we rely on for weather forecasting and environmental monitoring. It’s a reminder that our environmental stewardship must extend beyond our atmosphere, embracing a holistic approach to protect our fragile blue dot.
Governments, with their grandiose space missions, often lack stringent policies to manage the aftermath. Meanwhile, private companies, in their race to conquer the stars, sometimes treat space like a cosmic landfill. Accountability and regulation are not just bureaucratic buzzwords; they are essential steps to ensure our space ventures don’t turn into an interstellar junkyard.
We can’t afford to be passive spectators in this celestial drama. Proactive measures are essential, and I believe we need to act now. Imagine if we treated our oceans like we do space – we’d be swimming in plastic! It’s high time we prioritise space debris management, ensuring our future generations don’t inherit a sky full of junk.
Let’s champion education and proactive measures to mitigate this hidden threat. After all, we wouldn’t leave our backyards cluttered with junk, so why should space be any different? The future of our environment and space exploration depends on it and if you want to know what tidy looks like just call in and see how the lads out in Dunmore Recycling and Refuse Disposal Centre manage it.
As my late father would say: “You could ate yer dinner off the ground…”
