“Earth” Image by NASA, 2020. Public Domain. Included with appreciaiton.

When President John F. Kennedy challenged humanity, in 1961, to send humans to the moon within a decade, we beat the deadline. On 20 July 1969, NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong spoke these words: “That’s one step for a man, one giant leap for mankind,” upon setting foot on the lunar surface. The achievement has come to be known as the “Moonshot.” The phrase indicates both a “longshot” and the power of human innovation to overcome odds to achieve what was formerly thought impossible.

Now, we have a new, and urgent, challenge: Earthshot. Launched in 2020 by The Royal Foundation, Prince William, and Sir David Attenborough, the Earthshot Prize recognizes the world’s best ideas to save the Earth from climate disaster. From 2020 to 2030, prizes will be awarded in five areas:

Image:  earthshotprize.org. Included with appreciation.

Protect and Restore Nature

Clean Our Air

Revive Our Oceans

Build a Waste-Free World

Fix Our Climate

This year’s awards were announced in partnership with the John F. Kennedy Foundation, paying homage to the challenge and achievement of the Moonshot, and giving this decade a new challenge, one powered by imagination, innovation, and urgent optimism. To see this year’s winners, and perhaps get ideas for your own Earthshot project, you can watch the awards ceremony here.

Earthshot Prize. https://earthshotprize.org

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Un