[Greenbuilding] Outer Space: Huh ? No water ? Oh oh. (was Re: Gaviotas)

[RT]

On Sat, 19 Feb 2011 00:07:35 -0500, Tim Vireo Keating  
<t.keating at rainforestrelief.org> wrote:

a Space Cadet wrote:

>> Now that there is so little more space to expand into on earth it is
>> natural we will expand into space.

>> Saying space is not a natural place for humans is like an Eskimo
>> saying they aren't naturally built to live in the deserts Nairobi.
>> They would survive just fine after some adjustment.


And I think that Space Cadet is missing the point.

The problem is not that we are running out of space on Planet Earth.

*One* of The Problems is that the resources of the Earth are finite and  
some humans are consuming those resources at a rate that would require  
several Planet Earths to sustain those lifestyles if everyone were as  
piggy as they.

Another of The Problems is that some humans are fouling the  
essential-to-life elements of Earth to the point those elements are  
contributing to killing and/or exterminating life on this planet.

Chief among the essential-to-life elements is water.

Without water, life (not just of our species) on Earth would cease to  
exist. And to the best of humans' knowledge, there aren't many places in  
this solar system that are blessed with water. (I say "this solar system"  
because matter traveling at speeds approaching that of light, hence making  
human travel outside of this solar system possible is , ahem ... light  
years away, so for purposes of this discussion, "impossible".)

    "Life is carbon-containing solids dancing to the tune of ordered  
structures of water."
	- Dr.Grigoriy Andrievsky

In order for humans to live anywhere else in this solar system, the space  
travelers would need to *steal* enough water from this planet to keep them  
alive for all of the time that they are away from this planet.

I say "steal" because I mean "steal".

Water will be considered too precious a resource to waste let alone export  
forever in vast quantities to other places in the solar system and beyond.  
Heck, even exporting water across the Canada-US border is a contentious  
issue today.

True, it would theoretically be possible to recapture every microgram of  
water that is exhaled/transpired/excreted as waste from those space  
travelers' bodies and then subject that reclaimed water to all manner of  
"purification" processes before recycling through the space travelers  
again.

But that's where theory and reality would part ways.

Water is not the "nothing" substance that many people seem to believe it  
to be.
You can't keep abusing it and not expect any consequences for that abuse.

For those who have access to the digital TV channel "Oasis" I would highly  
recommend trying to catch the program "The Mystery of Water"

  http://oasishd.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=181:art-the-mystery-of-water&catid=23:catt


-- 
=== * ===
Rob Tom
Kanata, Ontario, Canada
< A r c h i L o g i c  at  Y a h o o  dot  c a >
manually winnow the chaff from my edress if you hit "reply"
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