What preparing for an asteroid strike teaches us about climate change

When it comes to natural disasters, most of them are impossible to predict before a few months or a few days; you can’t say “an earthquake will happen in two years, let’s prepare”. However, it’s one of the only things we can really be prepared for asteroid attack.

As no one has yet found a large asteroid on a collision course with Earth, scientists, engineers and policymakers are working on plans to defend the planet by the time we do. Disaster prevention techniques are already being tested, such as hitting asteroids to change course. NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission successfully completed in 2022.

A surprisingly useful tool in the planetary defense tool belt is running role-playing games, which can reveal obstacles that can thwart even the best-laid plans. NASA’s Paul Chodas, who leads some of these exercises, says they bring to light problems we would never have thought about otherwise. In our feature, “If an asteroid were to hit Earth, could you avoid the disaster?”you can try such a game yourself.

It should come as no surprise that factors such as the size of an incoming space rock and how early we detect it play a large role in whether we successfully avert disaster, but so does our ability to cooperate globally and communicate risks effectively. different options These are important lessons that simply go beyond defending against asteroids.

Compared to other existential threats, the risks of an asteroid heading our way are relatively small. Climate change it’s already happening. Pandemics have occurred regularly throughout human history, and they do occur likely due to the warming of our planet. We know that these come with technical challenges, like the development and deployment of green technologies, but social ones are just as important.

Only through effective global cooperation and communication can humanity face its greatest problems. That’s as true in reality as it is in an asteroid role-playing game.