Island Earth

KIM PEART

If you would like to participate in Island Earth, we welcome support and active participation in solving the problems we face. This can happen through discussion, communicating with people around the World, or working with local organizations and enterprises wishing to be effective in making a difference. We can save the Earth and save ourselves, if we step fearlessly into the future and view change as an opportunity, not a threat.

Our future is now in our hands. What will we do with it?

Island Earth

The future of Earth is in our hands. What will we do with it?

Will the future of life on Earth depend on a giant sunshade in space comprised of many small mirror discs? I have been taking an interest in this proposal since reading about it in James Lovelock’s latest book The Vanishing Face of Gaia, page 95. This concept has just been given support by the Royal Society in Britain in their report, Geoengineering the Climate. A film on the space sunshade can be found on Youtube.

Whether we like it or not, the Earth is getting hotter, the sea level is rising, the arctic ice is melting, droughts are spreading and bushfires are becoming more intense, all as a result of increased levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. We need to take action with this problem, or run-away greenhouse effect could turn the Earth into a hot desert rock in space.

Though it would be a monster investment, an adjustable sunshade in space could be the best option to cool the Earth and control temperature. This does not involve interfering with the atmosphere, unlike the pumping of sulphur particles into the air to imitate a volcano, a well-known way of cooling the Earth. If a volcano shot additional volumes of sulphur into the air, temperatures would plummet out of control and cause crops to fail.

In the light of a warming Sun, now 25% hotter than at the dawn of life 3.5 billion years ago, we will need to build a sunshade in the future to protect the Earth from a hotter Sun, which will also help to keep life going on Earth much longer than Nature could manage on her own.

One effective way to cut CO2 emissions immediately and keep the wheels of human civilization turning, is to build solar power stations in space and beam the energy to Earth. This could supply all Earth’s energy needs indefinitely and be greener, cleaner and faster to build than nuclear power. The United States government and industry are now investigating this option, particularly with a view to liberation from oil dependency. A film of this option can also be found on Youtube.

If the people of Earth get behind these two large-scale space solutions to Earthly problems, this would also trigger the early start of industry in space, using the Sun’s energy for power and resources mined on the Moon and gathered around the Solar System, including from asteroids. This brings to light a detail of the future that would change human society forever. With industry and human activity in space, a point would be reached where we secure a sustainable presence beyond Earth and no longer need resources from Earth, which I call the Liberty Line. To ensure our survival in a rather dangerous old Universe, I believe that our prime objective should be to secure the Liberty Line at the earliest opportunity. If we fall back and lose space technology, we may never get another shot at this and failure could be a terminal experience for humankind.

From a sustainable presence in space, we would be in a confident position to also deliver a sustainable human presence on Earth and a much healthier Earthly environment. If we made this our long-term vision today, then we could start designing and building toward this unlimited future on Earth now.

We can build our way through global heating and unlike Chicken Little, we do not need to run around in panic and fall prey to the big bad fox of climate change. We can also deliver a healthy life with amazing creative opportunities for all Earth’s children in the process, end poverty and even see the end of war. The World is changing and rather than fall victim to change, we can ride this wave to a new World of opportunity, on Earth and among the stars.

In the age of democracy the future is in the hands of each individual, so we need to look beyond politics for solutions to our problems, where the future we enter depends on what each individual decides to support. The race is on, and the prize is survival on Earth and opportunity among the stars. If we fail to win this race, our legacy of bones may be found among the dust of a hot desert rock called Earth and any survivors would rightly be cursing the dust that we were made of.

This does not need to be our future. We can do much better than that. The recent documentary film The Age of Stupid painted a stark prophesy of the future with an end to human civilization in 2055, because of global heating, where the archivist in a library-museum at the North Pole asks, “Why didn’t we save ourselves when we had the chance?” We can save ourselves, by advancing our civilization into space and making sure that we never face this threat again.

Space Options

Establishing industry in space to construct a space sunshade and solar power stations will not require a huge human presence, with much of the work being performed by robots and by remote control. Space industry will be automated, as is now the trend on Earth, with single trip shuttles made of recyclable materials gliding to Earth with goods from space. People will want to go into space for exploration, science, especially astronomy, education, tourism, or simply to live in cities among the stars. Human habitations can be built with an Earth gravity achieved with rotation (centrifugal force) and work is well underway on how to provide protection from solar and cosmic radiation. Should humanity make a giant leap in space development to secure the Liberty Line, then beyond the initial investment the fabulous wealth of the Solar System, which in energy alone from the Sun is virtually unlimited, will become freely available for human development. This will allow the building of a new society in the Solar System, including Earth, where poverty can be sent into history and war can be dispatched along with it. If we wish, we can work toward a new society of peace in the celestial realm and a new age of peace and prosperity on Earth. In the not so distant future the first fleets of migrants could be heading off to the stars. If this is the future that we can imagine, then it is the future that we can start designing for and building now. We will have a future among the stars, or we may become entombed in the dust of a dead Earth. This could be our choice.

Earthly Solutions

Water is essential for life, whether in space or on Earth. While some locations will be deluged with more rain, other areas will become arid. One recent proposal is to transport water by sea to arid regions in long plastic bags, a well-known method for transporting liquids through water. Competitions could be held to develop cheap and efficient ways to divest ocean water of salt. With unlimited power from solar power stations in space, desalination may not be such a problem. In areas that are hotter, structures could be built that provide shade and even use water mist to create cool spaces for people, plants and animals. Such structures could be large and house many people, even incorporating underground areas. Protected spaces, which I call Earth Oasis, could be built as arks for native flora and fauna, until the Earth can be cooled with a space sunshade. We may need to let go of fast travel by jet aircraft, which is not as essential in the age of the Internet and develop transport systems for passengers and freight using fleets of airships. People may travel more than ever, in a slower, gentler society, just as in the days of sail.

About Island Earth

Island Earth is a name registered in Queensland in 2009, as a banner to work under toward securing human survival on Earth and in space. At Island Earth we research the problem and propose the best working solution that we can identify, whether the problem is dealing with local sea level rise, or the possibility of human settlements in space. As the Earth gets hotter, we may need to learn to live on Earth as if we were in space, by building cooler spaces for people, plants and animals, until we can cool the Earth in a sustainable and controllable way. In many ways, the challenges of space and Earth are now converging into similar problems.

If you would like to participate in Island Earth, we welcome support and active participation in solving the problems we face. This can happen through discussion, communicating with people around the World, or working with local organizations and enterprises wishing to be effective in making a difference. We can save the Earth and save ourselves, if we step fearlessly into the future and view change as an opportunity, not a threat. Our future is now in our hands. What will we do with it?

“We are deeply impressed by the power of our weapons, yet they are puny compared to the most powerful weapon of all: creative intelligence.” James Lovelock.

Enquiries:

Kim Peart Island Earth
PO Box 405 Toowong 4066 Queensland

Em: kimpeart@iinet.net.au