*Pic: Graphic prepared by Kim Peart in a virtual world with a poem by Kim ~ Star Sprite’s Song ~ writing as Stjarna

When I read Clive Hamilton’s article in The Conversation, I was astounded at the lack of hope he expressed for the future ~ How to Think About 1.5 Degrees ~

https://theconversation.com/how-to-think-about-1-5-degrees-66412

Clive used to be a jolly fellow, writing books like ~ The Mystic Economist ~ where he described his experience of the life of Nature.

I had an experience like that in Murdunna in 1987, where I could feel the life-force of the Earth.

So I wrote to Clive, hoping to cheer him up a bit with a good news story.

There is hope, but we have to “Think different”, as Steve Jobs would say.

Are we simply too stubborn to think different?

Dear Clive,

I find the lack of hope in your article disturbing.

When I look at the history of the carbon problem, I see a moment in time when the problem could have been avoided, when we could have kept a safe Earth, which I explore in my article ~ A Deeper Level of Denial ~
http://oldtt.pixelkey.biz/index.php/article/a-deeper-level-of-denial

The way we could have avoided the carbon problem in the first place, is the only way to fix it now. And we have no time to waste, before James Hansen’s warning of a runaway greenhouse kicks in. Hansen calls that the Venus Syndrome, where we get a dead Earth.

As the origin of the 1.5C position, should we take Hansen seriously? If yes, then we need atmospheric CO2 below 350 ppm ~ ASAP.

The direct extraction of CO2 from the air is, therefore, the only game in town.

The volume of CO2 to be dealt with is much greater, because as CO2 is removed from the air, more will come out of the sea, where most of the CO2 has been absorbed.

To do this work requires energy.

Where do we get that much energy?

What do we do with the CO2?

THE DIRECT APPROACH ~

Carbon can be cracked from CO2, but it takes a heap of energy to do this work.

The only place that this much energy can be gained is from the Sun.

The Sun is now 35% hotter than at its birth 4.5 billion years ago and has so much fuel in reserve, will burn fiercely over the next 5 billion years, until expanding to the orbit of the Earth as a red giant star.

There is power available from the Sun to do all needed environmental work on Earth.

The only way we can harness the Sun at a serious level, is to build solar power stations in space, and beam the energy to Earth to deal with excess carbon in the air.

With unlimited energy from the Sun, extracted carbon could be processed into a useful resource for Earth and space industries.

The beam could be received at a high altitude floating platform, with a power cable dropped to Earth. The high altitude floating platform could be kept aloft with the power of the Sun. The weight of any cable can be lessoned with air jets powered by the Sun.

If wanted, it would be possible to deal with Earth’s air in space, by pumping it up in a tube, extracting carbon, and return good air to Earth. The tube could be kept up with air jets to reduce the weight. That system is along the line of the space elevator, which NASA has on-going rersearch on.

Dealing with the air in space, would mean space harvested power would not have to be beamed to Earth.

But if we do beam the energy to Earth, we will have power to deal with any work on Earth, such as desalinating any volume of ocean water and pumping the liquid gold to any location, to grow food for all nations and send hunger into history.

Space could therefore lead to peace, by meeting the needs of families on Earth.

With solar power stations in space, it will be possible to launch industry beyond Earth.

With industry in space, it will be possible to build a sunshade to help cool the Earth

Life on Earth only has around a billion years to run, as the Sun gets hotter. With a sunshade in space, we can extend the tenure of life on Earth by billions of years.

We can remain frozen in the headlights of the carbon truck on the highway into hell, and be road kill, or wake up and run with survival and the winning back of a safe Earth.

What will we do?

Inaction is a form of suicide. Inaction is to murder Mother Nature. Do we really want to go down that dark ally?

What we are faced with is a health issue.

If we are healthy, we will want to survive, and we will want the Earth to live, if we love the Earth.

Is it self-loathing that we must shake off to find our health?

If we can accept the path of health and cosmic survival, and invest in serious space development to win back a safe Earth, then we will also open unexpected doors to our long-term advantage.

By launching industry in space, based on the power of the Sun and the resources of the Solar System, we will one day reach a line where there will be no further cost to Earth, where the return on the investment, from across the Solar System and among the stars, will be infinite.

We will be creating a new form of economy, a stellar economy, with which we can design a celestial future that sends poverty into history.

The moment we make a decision to create a stellar economy on Earth, the benefits will begin to flow on Earth, in a form of futures market.

The greatest asset that will be raised is hope, because we will have a plan to win back a safe Earth and deliver a healthy and creative life to all Earth children.

All parents and grandparents will feel the need to make a celestial future happen, because the alternative removes any future hope from their children.

Einstein would say, “You cannot solve a problem with the thinking that created it.” We need new thinking to get us out of the carbon crisis, and off the highway into hell.

If we do run with survival, we will also open the way to the stars, to stellar exploration.

We will be opening the way to the gold fields of space, where the real gold is the Sun.

Power stations located closer to the Sun will harvest more energy to do more work.

We can build coffins on Earth, or we can fly among the stars and visit a living Earth.

We can create a future where we step gently on Earth, where travel and shipping will be by airship.

We will have a slow Earth lifestyle, as we allow Mother Nature to heal the Earth.

In space we can fly fast and build any dream among the stars.

In a strange opposite synergy, it turns out we must secure a sustainable industrial presence beyond Earth, if we wish to be able to deliver a sustainable human presence on a healthy Earth.

If we will not create a future among the stars, we will be investing in a dead Earth society.

ET may arrive and find a planet covered by scorched coffins.

Will we decide to fly with the stars?

Yours sincerely,

Kim Peart

If anyone would like to “think different”, don’t be frozen in inaction.

There is a most amazing future to create, if we will get serious and get to work.

And there are ways available now to have a high impact globally.

We have begun our life on Earth.

We are also the life of the stars.

We have a right to survive.

ABOUT Kim Peart ~

Kim was raised in Howrah from 1952, and watched the old farmlands transform into suburb. Finding adventure in Scouts and Army Cadets, Kim later pursued art and founded a Viking Society in Tasmania in 1975, seeking history and culture in the spirit of adventure. In 1976 Kim saw an ad for space settlement and signed up to be a space development advocate. Environmental matters came later and figuring out how we can live in harmony with Nature. Earth matters and space issues merged in 2006 when Kim wrote his document ~ Creating A Solar Civilization ~ exploring how we can only achieve a sustainable human presence on Earth, by building a sustainable industrial presence beyond Earth. Kim now lives in Ross with his wife, Jennifer, from where they host global meetings with space advocates in Second Life, a virtual world, where people can connect globally and plan local action toward creating a celestial future, and winning back a safe Earth. Kim is the director of Space Pioneers and may be contacted at ~ [email protected] ~ In 2014 Kim attended the first Silicon Valley Virtual Reality conference, where he met the pioneers of a new age of the Internet. The adventure has only just begun.