Astronaut Ron Garan Leads Google+ Hangout on World Change

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By Zoe Fox2013-10-11 14:15:17 UTC

During one of NASA astronaut Ron Garan's 2,842 orbits around the Earth, a need for deeper global collaboration dawned on him when he saw the manmade border between India and Pakistan from space.

Garan, who spent half of a year on the International Space Station, traveling 71,075,867 miles, believes working together can bring about positive changes for the world. The problem, he says, is a lack of collaboration and an unwillingness to share data, which can have a cataclysmic impact on society.

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"I launched into space on my last mission with a belief that we have all the resources and all the technology necessary to solve many if not all of the problems facing our world, yet nearly a billion people don’t have access to clean water, countless go to bed hungry every night and many die from completely curable and preventable illnesses," Garan wrote. "So we have to ask ourselves, 'If we have the resources and the technology to solve the challenges we face, why do they still remain?'"

To tackle this question, Garan will host a Google+ Hangout called #KeyIsWe with Mashable on Friday at 11 a.m. ET, which he announced on stage at the Social Good Summit. Gib Bulloch, founder and executive director of Accenture Development Partnerships, will join him in the Hangout.

Do you have any questions for Garan and Bulloch, or ideas about how working together can drive positive change? Let us know in the comments and we'll present your questions during the hangout.

Image: Ron Garan

Topics: Google Plus Hangout, NASA, ron garan, Social Good, space, U.S., US & World, World