[Greenbuilding] Explortation

[Clarke Olsen]

We, mankind, did this once before. Leif Ericksen's trip to the new  
world was a bit like our trip
to the moon. From then it was almost 500 years before European  
technology could advance
to where the indigenous beings could be efficiently exterminated, and  
the land fully exploited.
If we lack the political will to organize ourselves into a  
sustainable existence here, what evidence
is there that we would do it on a fresh planet? I live in a wooded,  
rural area, where there are
very, very few trees more then 50 years old...
Clarke Olsen
373 route 203
Spencertown, NY 12165
USA
518-392-4640
colsen at fairpoint.net




On Feb 12, 2011, at 5:11 PM, Steve wrote:

> I've looked up at the stars for as long as I can remember, and have
> always dreamed of going into space.. As a kid, I was near-obsessed
> with the 1960s space race.. I built models of the Apollo craft, had
> pictures on my bedroom wall of the Saturn V launching, the first
> Gemini spacewalk, and of course Skylab and the ISS. I've read books
> about huge space habitats, and have even written articles about how we
> might go about terraforming other planets. But.. we need to clean up
> our own mess here long before we even think about moving large numbers
> of people off the planet, not to mention we also don't yet have the
> technology to efficiently launch things into space. The idea of moving
> humanity off the Earth is as pie-in-the-sky an idea as you can get.
>
> Do I believe we'll take our first real steps out into space fairly
> soon? of course.. we've been to the moon, we've sent probes throughout
> the solar system, space exploration is inevitable. But.. we need to
> learn how to live sustainably here before we spread our bad habits
> elsewhere in the universe. Leaving Earth because it's too polluted or
> resource-depleted is no different than one parent abandoning their
> family because their home and/or family life isn't perfect, and we all
> know how society in general looks upon people who do that.
>
> Space exploration should be just that, exploration.. an exciting &
> positive event, to further our knowledge of the universe... not to
> seek a place to flee to because we've destroyed our home.
>
> p.s. Gaviotas is a great book; I like it even more than his other
> well-known book 'The World Without Us'. The world worked pretty well
> before we came along, and will hopefully do so again after we're gone.
>
> -Steve
> -- 
> http://www.greengeek.ca
>
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