New Mars Forums
You are not logged in.
- Topics: Active | Unanswered
Announcement
Pages: 1
#1 Re: Terraformation » Are we the reproductive system of the earth? - or Terraforming is a good thing... » 2004-07-13 10:52:52
Sorry if this sounds a little strange ??? at first to you hard scientists but I am trying to make a spiritual arugment for terraforming that deep ecologists can view as compatible with their values. 
One great thing about my argument in my previous post is it doesn't deny the deep ecologist's values. It says that life on this earth is valuable and should be preserved for its own sake and that goal is programmed into us by nature so that we can bring that life to other worlds.
It also resolves the irony of the current state of environmental degredation. Many organisms undergo stress while they are gearing up to reproduce. You could say that beginning 150 years ago through the next 300 years during which we are terraforming Mars is analgous to the earth being pregnant and going through labor. The environmentalists can then look at themselves as trying hard to keep the mother from dying as she gives birth to a new earth. When we have another earth the strain on mother earth will be much less and we will probably turn a lot of it into parks, etc. because we have another place to live.
P.S: The deep ecologists position may be weird but there are a lot of people who are quite influential that hold it, so it's important that we win these people over to the cause.
#2 Re: Terraformation » Are we the reproductive system of the earth? - or Terraforming is a good thing... » 2004-07-13 02:33:20
I've heard the rantings of deep ecologists who say that we shouldn't go around terraforming mars and interfering with the rights of Martian bacteria. I disagree with them, but I try to look at things from their point of view, and to address their concerns.
One of the ideas that deep ecologists put forward is the "Gaia Hypothesis" which says that the whole earth is an organism. I decided to use this as the basis for my argument which is: don't all living things have to sooner or later reproduce? How does the earth reproduce? How does all the DNA of its lifeforms get spread to other planets? The reproductive system of the earth is us! The evolution of the human species was not a gigantic horrible accident as some deep ecologists seem to imply but the natural inevitable course of development of life on earth. So when planets get a nice stable atmosphere and start to grow life they will eventually develop intelligent life that will reproduce the planet. Our rockets going out to other planets are like seeds leaving a dandelion to land somewhere else and grow there.
We like our planet, the life and the things on it and we have an unstoppable desire to explore that has been with us since the first humans showed up. Intelligent life leaving a planet to go space exploring and terraforming is just the natural cycle that planets, like other organisms go through.
Mars is like the dirt that a seed lands in. The dirt may have the same chemicals as the dandelion and a few bacteria but it is mostly dead. The dandelion seed lands there and starts growing, taking chemicals from the environment, etc. Anyway, I hope this theory can be developed and become a great argument to get deep ecologists and others on board the terraforming project.
Pages: 1