A diminishing faith in civil institutions and an increasing sense of tribalism feeds civil unrest, economic stagnation and deadlocked political systems.

The significance of the growth in commercial space can’t be overstated as an element the new American space policy, even if the ultimate results of it remain unclear.

The Syrian Civil War created a power vacuum that lead to the rise of Daesh but it continues to be increasingly difficult to discern who is warring with whom.

Decades of close coordination and collaboration among the member space agencies has enabled humans to live continuously off of this Earth for the last 20 years but many milestones still lay ahead.

Space systems are part of the critical national infrastructure for many countries including satellites, public and commercial services, disaster prediction and response, rescue operations, management of agriculture and other natural resources, global finance, communications, transportation, navigation and all manner of military operations.

If the spacefaring world can work together, we will make NASA’s triumph in December 2014 a meaningful one for humanity.

Transmission, the water-energy nexus, renewable generation, and energy efficiency are topics Kevin Gunn covers in hopes of sparking an honest and open discussion on these topics as we search for workable solutions.