Earth Colony II?
I think back a decade plus ago about "Biosphere II", the attempt to reproduce a biological system within an artificial environment.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere_II
Along with once "visionary" president Bush, proposing NASA refocus its effort to send humans to Mars. My primary thought was, perhaps we ought to learn to live sustainably on earth, BUT perhaps we should "colonize" the earth instead.
A colony is a small community that attempts to civilize the wilderness, supported by initial start up resources by a distance culture.
I just wonder what sort of "Sustainable" culture us humans could create if we tried. I mean based on exploiting local resources while not degrading the environment in a way the reduces the future potential of the land.
Best vision I'd imagine for Mars Colony would be an underground community, closed protected environment, and perhaps some surface solar power and greenhouses to take in the sun's energy to sustain the needs for energy, food and heat. They have to deal with colder world, negligible atmosphere, limited easy energy. Even if we found buried fossil fuels, there'd be no free oxygen to burn it!
What could we do on earth, skipping the need for oxygen, and having a warmer environment, a sun twices bright for energy. Seems like we ought to be able to do a lot!
I imagine a 100 such communities in the U.S., each one slightly different conditions and resources. I imagine each as a sort of University, teaching students, and working on research to better use and sustain their resources without taking in fossil fuels to run everything.
I'm not sure where the balance ought to lie, how "pure" the effort ought to be. I mean I think of the ultra rich, they can "prepay" for lots of infrastructure to minimize maintenance costs, that any small group can live outside of the fossil fuel loop. The TRICK is to question what sort of technology can be self-sustaining, producing NEW energy to expand itself, something that can be hopeful to replace the modern energy demands that someday won't be available.
I'm open to "startup costs", like your average richdudes might do - buy the best of the best to use renewable energy, BUT needs to look how to expand using their own resources.
From Clarke's book "Sands of Mars", he shows a martian colony, measuring all their inputs and attempting to increase self-sufficiency on each measure, meanwhile paranoid that the distant "mother earth" might any day back out of their support. So imagine an Earth colony would be similar, identifying key resources they can't produce, and finding local alternatives, or trying to reduce the demand anyway.
That's about it - my vision in a nutshell. Will it happen? I don't know.
BUT, I know if such a community was proposed, I'd like to join. I'd perhaps finally consider a reason to go to "grad school", something worth fighting for.
Perhaps it won't be a government effort? Perhaps it'll start with a Google or Microsoft grant or some other public minded benefactor, who knows? Perhaps it'll be a bottom up effort - people will INVEST their own resoures and selves to building it.
it is scary. I'm not really a pioneer myself. I like my comforts, and I like guarantees. I don't know if I have what it takes, or even if my vision makes sense. But as a school, and a career change, if there's any value to this short life of mine, perhaps something like that is worth the risk!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere_II
Along with once "visionary" president Bush, proposing NASA refocus its effort to send humans to Mars. My primary thought was, perhaps we ought to learn to live sustainably on earth, BUT perhaps we should "colonize" the earth instead.
A colony is a small community that attempts to civilize the wilderness, supported by initial start up resources by a distance culture.
I just wonder what sort of "Sustainable" culture us humans could create if we tried. I mean based on exploiting local resources while not degrading the environment in a way the reduces the future potential of the land.
Best vision I'd imagine for Mars Colony would be an underground community, closed protected environment, and perhaps some surface solar power and greenhouses to take in the sun's energy to sustain the needs for energy, food and heat. They have to deal with colder world, negligible atmosphere, limited easy energy. Even if we found buried fossil fuels, there'd be no free oxygen to burn it!
What could we do on earth, skipping the need for oxygen, and having a warmer environment, a sun twices bright for energy. Seems like we ought to be able to do a lot!
I imagine a 100 such communities in the U.S., each one slightly different conditions and resources. I imagine each as a sort of University, teaching students, and working on research to better use and sustain their resources without taking in fossil fuels to run everything.
I'm not sure where the balance ought to lie, how "pure" the effort ought to be. I mean I think of the ultra rich, they can "prepay" for lots of infrastructure to minimize maintenance costs, that any small group can live outside of the fossil fuel loop. The TRICK is to question what sort of technology can be self-sustaining, producing NEW energy to expand itself, something that can be hopeful to replace the modern energy demands that someday won't be available.
I'm open to "startup costs", like your average richdudes might do - buy the best of the best to use renewable energy, BUT needs to look how to expand using their own resources.
From Clarke's book "Sands of Mars", he shows a martian colony, measuring all their inputs and attempting to increase self-sufficiency on each measure, meanwhile paranoid that the distant "mother earth" might any day back out of their support. So imagine an Earth colony would be similar, identifying key resources they can't produce, and finding local alternatives, or trying to reduce the demand anyway.
That's about it - my vision in a nutshell. Will it happen? I don't know.
BUT, I know if such a community was proposed, I'd like to join. I'd perhaps finally consider a reason to go to "grad school", something worth fighting for.
Perhaps it won't be a government effort? Perhaps it'll start with a Google or Microsoft grant or some other public minded benefactor, who knows? Perhaps it'll be a bottom up effort - people will INVEST their own resoures and selves to building it.
it is scary. I'm not really a pioneer myself. I like my comforts, and I like guarantees. I don't know if I have what it takes, or even if my vision makes sense. But as a school, and a career change, if there's any value to this short life of mine, perhaps something like that is worth the risk!
posted by Ares Olympus at 6:40 PM
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