Climate change is one of the greatest global challenges of our time. Join NASA astronaut Jessica Meir in conversation with scientists from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and the Smithsonian’s Movement of Life Initiative to discuss their complementary expertise and the role of space and aviation technologies in studying our changing world. From tracking long-distance animal migrations to mapping global carbon cycles, these specialized tools have catalyzed new understanding of climate change, our Earth, and its interrelationship with the species that call it home. 

This series is part of the Smithsonian Conservation Commons’ Earth Optimism initiative, a global movement which aims to further research and discussion of climate change through identifying, sharing, and promoting solutions to this global crisis. Earth Optimism aims to build a broad, international community of action to conserve our most precious resource—a habitable Earth.

Our guest scientists from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center are:

  • Lesley E. Ott, Ph.D. - Research Meteorologist, NASA Goddard 
  • Bridget N. Seegers, Ph.D. - Scientist, USRA, Ocean Ecology Lab, NASA Goddard 
  • Jeffrey G. Masek, Ph.D. - Landsat 9 Project Scientist, NASA Goddard

Our guest scientists from Smithsonian’s Movement of Life Initiative are:

  • Autumn-Lynn Harrison, Ph.D. - Research Ecologist, Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center
  • Matthew B. Ogburn, Ph.D. - Senior Scientist, Fisheries Conservation Lab, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
  • Jared Stabach, Ph.D. - Ecologist & Program Coordinator, Movement of Life Initiative, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute

Excited for this program? Get to know our panelists in new Earth Optimism videos.

NASA scientist Lesley Ott discusses the benefits and challenges of observing changes in greenhouse gases from space and Smithsonian scientist Autumn-Lynn Harrison discusses her work studying migratory bird patterns and the broader perspective they give us from above:

Learn how Smithsonian scientist Matthew Ogburn tracks sharks and their changing environments and hear NASA scientist Bridget Seegers discuss what satellites and phytoplankton can teach us about the health of our waterways:

NASA scientist Jeffrey Masek discusses what 40 years of Landsat observation can teach us about Earth and Smithsonian scientist Jared Stabach talks about how animals adapt to changing landscapes: 
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