Earth rising

Earth rising image taken by Apollo 8 astronauts on 24 December 1968

When the Apollo astronauts flew to the Moon in 1968, they looked back to discover the Earth rising above the lunar surface.

This image of our Earth inspired a new generation of environmentalists, but unfortunately, did not prevent the impact of humanity on the Earth that has now become a threat to life.

In 2012 so much ice was lost from the North Pole, that the Arctic Ocean is expected to be ice-free in the summer in a few years.

Though arguments over the cause rage in the media, which is always a good way to sell papers, scientists tell us that the reason for the loss of Arctic ice is, the world is getting warmer.

The cause of this warming is the release of carbon into the air as CO2, increasing our planet’s greenhouse effect, warming the air, land and ocean.

The primary source of this carbon is from the burning of the fossil fuel that we use to drive our civilization.

As the Arctic region gets hotter, a more potent greenhouse gas, methane, is being released from the melting permafrost.

This is just one of the problems that we must confront resulting from our use of fossil fuel.

TOTALLY AVOIDABLE CRISIS

In the same year that we saw the Earth rise, Dr Peter Glaser proposed the building of solar power stations in space, to access the unlimited energy-well of our star where the Sun never sets.

If we had acted on this energy transition at the time, much of the fossil fuel that has been burnt could have remained naturally buried in the Earth.

Not only would we have kept a safe planet, but we would also have opened the way for industry beyond Earth and the construction of space habitats.

If all the money spent on nuclear weapons, missiles and wars since 1968 had been invested in space development, we could have kept a safe Earth and also achieved a much more advanced stellar civilization.

Now we must face the price of undoing the damage caused by failing to make the transition from fossil fuel to stellar energy.

BACK TO THE FUTURE

We can solve the carbon problem and win back a safe Earth, by building solar power stations in space and using the unlimited energy-well of our Sun to extract excess carbon from the air and sea.

Using the Sun’s stellar energy, we could also turn the base carbon back into a useful resource.

With solar power stations in space, we would also be able to launch industry beyond Earth, construct orbital space settlements in the Solar System and look toward some rather amazing stellar exploration.

Inaction on space development may not be an option, if we wish to assure the survival of life on Earth and a future for our children.

We would also avoid becoming sitting ducks in the cosmic shooting gallery, when the next monster asteroid arrives to kiss the Earth.

AN ECONOMY WITHOUT POVERTY

With unlimited energy from the Sun and resources from the Solar System, we would be able to design a stellar economy without poverty.

Being able to offer a healthy and creative life to all Earth’s children will generate goodwill on Earth, which will lead to a more peaceful world.

Peace on Earth will also help to assure security in space, where habitats are fragile bubbles in a vacuum, all too easily burst from within or without.

Once we decide that we will make the transition to a stellar economy, by building solar power stations in space, we can start living this future now on Earth.

With a clear view to the future, we can start shifting gear toward the stellar economy and begin mobilising toward a safe Earth without poverty.

We must expand beyond Earth, to win back a safe Earth and send poverty into history.

If we continue to cling to the Earth, the loss of the Arctic ice sheet will only be the first of many catastrophes around our planet.

At worst, life on Earth could perish in a runaway greenhouse effect, as the Earth becomes a second Venus, where the rocks glow in the heat.

Our planet will be hotter than Venus one day, as our star ages over the next 5 billion years and expands to the orbit of the Earth as a red giant.

For life from Earth to survive in the cosmos, we must learn to fly among the stars.

Would you like to help create our cosmic survival insurance policy?

Further reading ~
‘Creating A Solar Civilization’
http://www.islandearth.com.au/

Space Pioneers ~
PO Box 1848 Sunshine Plaza
Queensland 4558 AUSTRALIA
iE.SpacePioneers@gmail.com