Lost in Space Or Why there'll Never Be a Planet

Between Stars Wars and the Trek, our generation grew up always looking at the stars as the site of the future home of humanity. It already had the “Sold” sign in the yard. ”

the years since Ronald Reagan preached his doctrine of militarizing space for safety, we have spoken about climate change and pollution, the inevitable deterioration of Earth, but never with the same urgency or imagination that we spent talking about space.

That’s a shame really because our generation was fueled on premium grade fiction and we lost a lot of potential momentum by ignoring the concept and drama of a sustainable Earth.

Instead of renovating the old house, we decided collectively a few decades ago that we were just going to move out, trade up. We were going to pack up and move when we were all grown up.

All it would take was an elaborate propulsion system, gravity technology and about a million things we hadn’t learned to do yet. Still, Gene Roddenberry had shown us the future and it was bright.

It’s like we all got stunted as a group in that indestructible portion of youth before you learn about your own mortality, and we just stopped caring about what the kids would have left should we fail.1880, the planet has warmed by 1.9 degrees.

Storms are intensifying to record levels, and the Arctic ice is melting.

All of this while many believe we’re in the midst of the sixth mass extinction set to change the course of the planet, possibly forever.

With the loss of so many masses of wildlife and the images of emaciated creatures roaming the forests, it’s hard not to see the trend as potentially fatal for Humans.

Yet, despite all of this, we aren’t actively seeking solutions, or we don’t appear to be. In fact, in a perfect imitation of science fiction, our affluent citizens- those with the most resources to save the planet- are actively working to leave it without a second home or even a way to get very far.

They are failing to understand exactly how little time we have, and don’t seem to comprehend that any off-world settlement, no matter where(even if it were possible), would need the support of a healthy Earth.

Projects like Mars One seek to start a permanent settlement elsewhere but are absolutely dependent on Earth for resupply for the foreseeable future, even their FAQ has little to say on the subject of a sustainable colony on Mars.

It simply states that Mars One will be solar and will become independent over time. Translation: we don’t know how long we’ll need back up because Mars is a dead planet.

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