PREFACE

I have wanted to write this book since returning to Earth from my first space mission in 2008. Launching on Space Shuttle Discovery fulfilled of a lifelong dream of flying in space. It also marked the start of another quest—a quest that would lead me to reject the status quo on our planet, a quest to help reduce the sobering contradiction we see when we look at our planet from space, and a quest to help make life on Earth as beautiful as the visible beauty of this planet when seen from space.

I returned from that mission with a compelling need to share a profound feeling of hope that was singed into my awareness from the experience. I call this awareness the orbital perspective, and this awareness came with a responsibility to highlight the need for effective global collaboration. My goal in writing this book is to spark change—very simple, but exponentially powerful change. I was compelled by a simple idea: our world still faces numerous problems because we have not, to date, learned how to work together. But I believe that the entire landscape of our society is changing, making available powerful collaborative tools that can engage the collective genius of our global society like never before. We are living in times of unprecedented interconnectedness—an interconnectedness that empowered a fruit vendor in Tunisia to spark a collective movement that has changed the world.

We live in a world where exponentially increasing technological advancements and interconnectivity are making the “impossible” possible on a daily basis. Commonly held beliefs about what's possible and what's not are being overcome by events. We do not have to accept that the suffering and conflict on our planet are inescapable. I believe we live in a world where the possibilities are endless and limited only by our imagination and our will to act. The secret to achieving these critical things is to pull back to the point where we can see all the pieces of the puzzle and how they fit together, and where it also becomes apparent that our own backyard is bigger than we think. Our sphere of influence is in fact global. This is the orbital perspective.

I wrote this book to help create a global movement—a movement of inhabitants of this planet, known as humans, who believe that nothing is impossible, who are willing to set aside their differences and work together toward our common goals. I wrote this book to start a global conversation and to spread the awareness that it is no longer acceptable to have a go-it-alone attitude. The problems facing our world are too big, the challenges too critical, and the potential catastrophes too imminent to adhere to the old way of doing things.

We are past the point where any one organization or nation can go it alone and still effect any kind of real course correction to the trajectory of our shared future. The missing link that would bridge the gap between our problems and their solutions is simple to state yet challenging to implement. The answer is collaboration—true collaboration, which I will define and describe throughout this book, not the false collaboration that has become the latest buzzword.

There may be a tendency to discredit my words as overly optimistic or unrealistic. But I understand that, in the end, all governments will make decisions that are in accordance with what they believe to be in their national interest, and that many perverse incentives are stifling progress toward achievement of our goals. My view comes from seeing the worst and best we as a human species have to offer, from visiting the heights of space to working with those in destitute poverty. During my time in combat, I was routinely shot at and experienced the death of squadron mates and friends. I have experienced firsthand and have participated in the horrors that partly define life on this planet. Nonetheless, I remain optimistic that we can rise above the challenges we face.

FRAGILE OASIS

I hope that you find this book entertaining, engaging, and thought-provoking, but if after reading it all you have received is entertainment and a slight shift in perspective, I will have failed. My intention is to communicate a call to action. I am asking everyone to look for ways to create exponential, disruptive, positive action—action that leads to exponential advancement toward solving the challenges facing our world. I do not claim to have all the answers, and I know that there is great complexity in the topics I discuss, but I hope that after reading this book you will agree that we're on to something big that can potentially change the present trajectory of our global society and put it on a profoundly more positive path.

During and after my first mission, I was somewhat frustrated that I couldn't share my amazing experience with people as it was happening. So when I next was assigned to a six-month long-duration mission, I looked for a way to share this experience. I wanted to bring people along not just as spectators but as fellow crewmates.

What evolved from that desire is an effort called Fragile Oasis. Initiated with the help of the amazing Elyse David and then supported by NASA's Beth Beck and others, Fragile Oasis took shape and was launched prior to my mission in 2011. The goal of Fragile Oasis is to use the orbital perspective to inspire people here on Earth to make a difference. As a step in that direction, we have built collaborative tools into the site, which people and organizations can use to work together. We also wanted to identify fellow crewmates on “Spaceship Earth” who are making a difference. Periodically, we award Fragile Oasis medals, which flew with me in space for more than 65 million miles, in the categories of Peace, Humanitarian Service, Education, and Environment Stewardship.

Fragile Oasis is envisioned as a vehicle to effect real change. We want to provide a means for people and organizations to collaborate and develop synergy toward overcoming our planet's challenges. We want to encourage people to make a difference and help organizations striving to make the world a better place to reach their goals. Fragile Oasis is still a work in progress, but I am really excited for its potential.

I hope you will tell us about what you're doing to make a difference. Register your projects on FragileOasis.org so we can help support your efforts. Visit OrbitalPerspective.com, so we can help get the word out. Share your ideas on how we can better work together on UnityNode.org, so that we can better coordinate the efforts of all.

Solving the challenges affecting our planet really depends on how each of us individually responds to them. I am asking you to join us in a global conversation centered on taking a big picture and long-term view. I am asking that you look for ways to combine what you and your organizations, corporations, and governments are doing into better-coordinated, collective efforts and reshape the trajectory of our global society.