Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: With more than 9,000 objects (or, ?junk?) in orbit, there is no denying the effects of space debris that results from all Space activities. Indeed, the expected overall growth in Space activity ? and as endorsed by the current Bush Administration?s endeavour to secure ?permanent access to and in Space? ? will only heighten further the danger of collisions with debris that will be fatal to all satellites or spacecraft. Against this backdrop, arguably, the lack of an international framework for debris ?rules? represents the most serious and challenging long-term threat in, and out of, Space. While this paper is certainly prompted by the lack of such framework, as much as by the threat of Space debris itself, the arguments here will not seek to provide such new framework, nor explain the reasons for a threat by debris. Instead, this paper seeks to articulate an understanding of the condition of possibility for the lack of a successful international effort to combat space debris to begin with. Here, this paper argues that we must turn to the role of technology and the technical discourses that surround operations in Space and that present the creation of debris as seamless, common-sensical and, most of all, inevitable. This paper thus invites us to break with the ?common sense? of technology and suggests a re-claiming of the problematic of debris as non-technical, moral, and political. It does so in two steps. First, the paper explores the modes of technical-knowledge production in the forging of Space activities. That is to say, it uncovers the ways in which technological discourse is employed in order to mediate the problem of debris not as an ?accident in Space? (for which someone may have to claim responsibility retrospectively) but as an ?inevitability? ? foreseen, and yet, devoid of responsibility since such inevitability is located in the technical and not the human. Thus, second, the paper then goes on to problematise the regime of technology in Outer Space and wants to attempt to modify the relation of technology to morality and responsibility that has been silenced by these claims to technical inevitability thus far. It will conclude by arguing that technologies belong to human endeavor in Space in a modality other than that of instrumentality, efficiency, rationality, and materiality. Instead, and here the paper draws on Bruno Latour, technologies and moralities are deeply enmeshed in one another (thus not excluding one another) which means that we should be able to locate the dimension of responsibility pertaining to technology.

Publication Type: Abstract
Abstract: Riparian zones are sources of important structural components for the lotic environment, including large woody debris (LDW). They act altering the morphology of the channel, increasing your complexity offering refuge for the aquatic organisms. Landscape fragmentation affects the dynamics of the ecosystems, besides riparian environments, bringing consequences for the lotic environments. We studied the influence of the catchment’s landscape in the supply of LDW and channel structure. Nine catchments of Corumbataí river basin in southeast of Brazil were selected and landscape variables included forest proportion (catchment and riparian zone), riparian forest biomass, forest fragments (number, size, edge, and channel distance), soils and channel order. Field measurements included LDW biomass, pools (number, proportion formed by the woody debris, spacing among them, width, depth, area, type), flood plain width, predominant substratum and steepness of the reach. Statistical analyses were accomplished seeking to identify correlation among variables and its influence on LDW input and channel structure. Stream habitat was found highly influenced by landscape since LDW is directly correlated to forest proportion and pools area is inversely correlated to forest edge. The absence of vegetation in the riparian environment is reducing LDW input and simplifying channel structure, reducing habitat of many aquatic species.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: As outer space becomes a site for human activity, it is alsoincreasingly polluted by space debris. Today of the approximately 10,000 objects that are larger than 4 inches orbiting in space, only 700 are operational satellites, and the rest are junk from previous launches. These objects pose a potential danger to immensely valuable space equipment, andcould have indirect, devastating effects on communications and defense. However, a regime to regulate space debris has not yet evolved. Controlling the production and cleanup of space debris raises a host of significant technological and political questions, such as the status of non-state actors (corporations), the rights and responsibilities of the US as the overwhelmingly most active space-faring nation, and the growing interest in the military uses of space. This paper will address these questions from the point of view of regime theory, discuss possible modifications to the Outer Space Treaty. It will also cover the current systems, directed mainly by NASA and the US military, for the surveillanceand regulation of space debris.