Daniel Barstow

Activist, Change Agent, Designer, Entrepreneur, Environmentalist, Explorer, Filmmaker, Idea generator, Musician, Photographer, Project manager, Scientist, World traveler

Now: 75, happily married, enjoy travel, reading, cooking, cycling . . . Passion: helping humanity love and care for Earth Volunteer: I work with astronauts and musicians to create movies of Earth aligned with music (EarthMusicTheater.org, as detailed below). For the Association of Space Explorers (flown astronauts), I manage their comprehensive collection of 6 million photos of Earth, working with AI Claude to create a state-of-the-art data and visualization system (astrofavs.org). Interesting hobbies: building a flight simulator to explore the world. Past: Before retiring, I was Senior Education Manager for the International Space Station. I worked with global partners for students to launch and operate their own experiments on the ISS. I also led a software project flown on the ISS to help astronauts identify targets for Earth photography. Looking further back, I began my career as an elementary school teacher, then worked in a series of non-profits with NSF and other grants. Notably, this included launching Windows on Earth (Earth visualization tools and learning activities), founding Director of the Center for Earth and Space Science Education (focusing on Earth as a system), and President of the Challenger Learning Center Network (honoring the astronauts of the Challenger tragedy). I do all my current work as a volunteer, as that gives us freedom to choose what we create and how we strive for deep impact. I have been to three TED conferences (in the 1990’s), which helped me see how we are all connected in so many ways - not just as Earthlings, but as bold and creative problem-solvers in so many realms. I look forward to the next TED with its compelling theme of our Terrifying, Exhihilarating Future! All this work is driven by the urgent need to change mankind’s relationship with home planet Earth – to appreciate it as a marvelous, dynamic, integrated life-support system, that is now at risk unless we understand and practice sustainable development and deal with issues such as global climate change.

Meeting great people Exploring Earth Creative technology

Musicians and astronauts are a wonderful team! They speak to the heart, combining their glorious views of Earth from obit, with empassioned music aligned with these views. Check out EarthMusicTheater.org - relax, enjoy, and love our home planet.

AI-enabled software development, Astronauts Exploring Earth from Space, Earth movies aligned with music

I participated in 3 TEDs, and each was one of the most remarkable experiences of my life. I met so many world-class people; gained profound insights on science, art, architecture, cognition, music. . .; changed some of my fundamental paradigms and perspectives on life; joined one of the most exhilarating and important communities in the world; and placed this in an increasingly moral and service-oriented context. Certainly, my work in science education is deeper, richer and more effective as a result. I am a different person because of TED and I expect this transformation to continue with each new TED. The E in TED could just as easily stand for Education, since learning, writ large, underlies it all. This is true for the participants who share and learn and grow together, and for TED’s impact on the rest of the world, through the remarkable reach of these incredible leaders.

My wife and I work with seaweed to make art. She arranges and presses the seaweed into evocative patterns. I scan and print them as reproductions or as zoomed in enlargements. I have a background in software development, and now use those skills, in a deep partnership with Claude AI, to create our powerful system for astronauts to explore and share their archive of over 6 million photos.