Terraforming Mars and Pollution on Earth Debate

Some folks believe that we should not begin to terraform Mars because we have done a lousy job as stewards of the Earth's atmosphere. They say things like we cannot even fix the smog on Earth. Indeed there are places where the smog is very bad, like in Mexico City, Beijing and New Delhi. But when talking about the United States, well I have to completely disagree with the statement that we cannot "Fix Smog.".

Our forests need some CO2 for the Trees, which convert it into oxygen, a lot of this so-called smog is helping plant growth, while other chemicals are not, thus we should be considering that. So, unless we are in an area with too much CO2 for us to breath we are good and not going to choke. If we have too much smog in a highly dense human industrial region, well then there is a way to collect that.

Actually the atmosphere is not so bad really for instance in large cities in 1975 things were pretty bad and they are not as bad today. Chock one up for mankind. China and India, which are rapidly becoming industrialized nations, will need to watch their outputs of pollution of course. They are not doing such a hot job of that today; this will have to change.

Additionally such comments from environmentalists without data are in fact misrepresentative of the actual truth and it would be nice for them to provide statistical research that the air is worse off in the United States then it was previously in let's say from 1975-1985.One recent critic at an online Think Tank stated: "We need to fix the planet we live on instead of finding a new one to screw up oh yes but we must first fix it before we screw it up. How do you suppose we go about doing this we will all choke to death here first.".

Well who is choking? Not me, are you? The picture this person paints with broad strokes of dark gray simply is not so. In fact we have much technology on the horizon, such as "Clean Burning Coal" and other radical new technologies available. It is simply a matter of slowly switching over.

Unfortunately many environmentalists continue to block projects to upgrade by filing lawsuits during the EIR period of these enhancements, thus it further slows down the process of building better plants, factories and generation stations which can provide less harmful emissions to the atmosphere.Why is it crazy thinking to study the possibilities of expanding the human race to nearby planets? After all it was not long ago that is was said to be stupid that the World was round and it was said to be foolish to try to set up in the New World. I am really glad my ancestors did not listen back then. And it is for that lesson of history that I cannot consider such arguments now, as our critic at the online think tank finishes his remarks with; "What the hell is wrong with you people?" Not a thing my friend, not a thing. Consider Terraforming mars and think on this in 2006.

By: Lance Winslow