We all live in our own world. Most of us share most of it with a lot of others. But hardly everyone. And some of us share most of our world only with a select few.
Nothing lasts forever. In about 1 billion years, the sun is predicted to become hot enough to boil the oceans. Assuming we haven’t made the Earth uninhabitable by then, we will by necessity have figured out a way to live somewhere else, if we are to survive. But then, nothing lasts forever.
I’d rather spend the money on figuring out how to fix our problems on Earth that figuring out the problems of inhabiting another planet. That seems like a simpler and more cost efficient approach.
George Carlin had a routine that went something like: Save the planet? The planet will be fine. We need to save ourselves! The planet will just shake us off like a bad case of fleas. (Not verbatim)
Our planet has been on the path to becoming uninhabitable for more than 3 billion years. Since the beginning of life, it has been absorbing and sequestering carbon, taking much of it to the grave and burying it. Most of it is stored as calcium carbonate… a total of more than 1e21 tons of the stuff. Another 4e15 tons are methane and oil. Since the Carboniferous life has reduced available surface carbon to barely 6% of what it was. Global warming be hanged… life on Earth is starving.
I do not understand the sentiment here today. A) is Arlo being anti-science? b) is Arlo crabbing about the idea of moving to another planet? c) is Arlo against space exploration?
Seriously, I am not sure what the comic is meant to portray today. To me, it does feel that Arlo (perhaps the voice of JJ?) is rather anti-science. I would appreciate other opinions, however, because I may be misreading/misunderstanding.
Space exploration is a valuable endeavor IMO, and the scientific knowledge gained from both unmanned and manned flights is enormous. While it is true that the entire planet could never simply migrate to another planet, the idea of colonizing space (either a station or another planet) has been talked about for decades or more. I could never consider the idea of creating a colony in space to be “stupid” so I am not sure where Arlo (JJ?) is coming from today.
3. Carbon dioxide levels hit 1,100 ppm by 2100. The result resembles the worst parts of the Permian – no adequate Biblical alternative is available. Earth is 10 degrees Celsius warmer. All of the world’s ice is melting. Sea level rise is measured in meters. Much of the world’s population is displaced by rising waters and vital infrastructure losses cannot be replaced. Polar bears are long gone, Homo sapiens is the latest endangered species. The ocean conveyor shut down decades ago. Signs of deep ocean anoxia are increasingly apparent and appalling – the sky turns a sickly shade of green. The sixth great mass extinction is underway. Remaining governments fight savage wars over scarce resources as entire ecosystems collapse. Natural selection and humankind are brutally reacquainted when medicine reverts to pre-industrial norms. Rampant famine and disease causes a global population implosion. Humanity will probably survive but a second stone age is the most likely outcome. H2O + CO2 = H2CO3 or carbonic acid.
Those who forget the lessons of history – majestically inscribed into the paleontological and geological record – are doomed to repeat it. Educate yourself, become politically active, and force our leaders to change course before an anthropogenic apocalypse devours us all.
Don’t know how old this poem from ee cummings is, but it is prophetic
pity this busy monster, manunkind,not. Progress is a comfortable disease:your victim (death and life safely beyond)plays with the bigness of his littleness- electrons deify one razorbladeinto a mountainrange; lenses extendunwish through curving wherewhen till unwishreturns on its unself.A world of madeis not a world of born - pity poor fleshand trees, poor stars and stones, but never thisfine specimen of hypermagical ultraomnipotence.
We doctors know a hopeless case if - listen: there’s a hellof a good universe next door; let’s go
The earth has been made uninhabitable for the majority of life that existed at the time more than once, no human stupidity needed.
1 – Asteroids, comets, meteors, etc. are out there that are large enough to cause a mass extinction that will include humanity, possibly anything bigger than mice and frogs. We are not immune, we get hit all the time, and it just takes one big one that we currently have no way of stopping.
2 – There are, I believe, seven supervolcanoes. If the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts, no, WHEN it erupts (as we have no way of stopping it), it will take out farmland that feeds a good part of the world. If more than one erupts at the same time, or nearly, it could easily cause a mass extinction. Just because it hasn’t happened recently doesn’t mean it won’t happen.
3 – There’s a lovely type of star out there called a pulsar (I think, could be wrong about the name) that emits pulses of gamma radiation that could irradiate the planet. Bye-bye to most life – anything underground MIGHT survive. We can’t stop that either.
I could go on, but I’m getting depressed. Calling the colonization of other planets stupid is suicidal. You must really hate yourself, humanity, and most animal and plant life.
Atmospheric CO2 levels are about 410 parts per million.
NASA says if we burned all the carbon fuels CO2 will continue to rise to levels of the order of 1500 ppm and it would take centuries at current consumption rates.
Carbon consumption rates can change.
Obviously, we could reduce it greatly if we switched to nuclear since we could supply all our current needs for a thousand years with available fuel if we used a different liquid metal breeder technology. But that seems unlikely based on fear of disasters. Different designs since what was decided on in the 1950s could remove most danger to far below that of Greenhouse effect damage but most minds aren’t flexible enough to contemplate it.
Even so, we are adding wind turbines like crazy and developments in solar technology are making every roof, road, and parking lot a potential placement point.
Many places around the world have abundant geothermal energy supply and few people near them. They could be used to produce carbon-free aluminum and iron through electrolysis, releasing oxygen as a waste product. Or they could extract carbon from the oceans either as pure carbon or combine it with seawater to produce methane or liquid fuels if desired. This is a way of storing or transporting energy.
The Hot House Earth scenario is unlikely. Warming, yes. Boiling oceans, no. Reversal is within reach if we wish to grasp it.
Yakety Sax over 7 years ago
Which new planet? Not in this neighborhood!
David Huie Green LoveJoyAndPeace over 7 years ago
The Earth at its worst is still better than any neighboring planet at its best.
wcorvi over 7 years ago
It isn’t scientists saying this, it’s the freshmen in my astronomy class.
SusanSunshine Premium Member over 7 years ago
I dunno…..
There must be other planets.
I run into people all the time who obviously don’t live on the same one the rest of us do.
Or …. sigh…..
maybe it’s me, I know….
inhabiting my own little world.
jeffiekins over 7 years ago
We all live in our own world. Most of us share most of it with a lot of others. But hardly everyone. And some of us share most of our world only with a select few.
SeanT over 7 years ago
Nothing lasts forever. In about 1 billion years, the sun is predicted to become hot enough to boil the oceans. Assuming we haven’t made the Earth uninhabitable by then, we will by necessity have figured out a way to live somewhere else, if we are to survive. But then, nothing lasts forever.
dmk57 over 7 years ago
I’d rather spend the money on figuring out how to fix our problems on Earth that figuring out the problems of inhabiting another planet. That seems like a simpler and more cost efficient approach.
Tyge over 7 years ago
Be careful of “scientists” seeking federal grants (i.e., your and my tax money).
Sportymonk over 7 years ago
So when we mess things up so badly the Earth is uninhabitable, we do elsewhere and do the same thing there? Really!
Arianne over 7 years ago
George Carlin had a routine that went something like: Save the planet? The planet will be fine. We need to save ourselves! The planet will just shake us off like a bad case of fleas. (Not verbatim)
mourdac Premium Member over 7 years ago
All those sci fi stories about alien races moving from planet to planet consuming all of the resources – maybe that race is us
Senex over 7 years ago
Send them all off on the B Ark.
ladamson1918 over 7 years ago
We’re not going anywhere, and the sooner we face that, the sooner we get serious about not destroying what we do have.
flagmichael over 7 years ago
Our planet has been on the path to becoming uninhabitable for more than 3 billion years. Since the beginning of life, it has been absorbing and sequestering carbon, taking much of it to the grave and burying it. Most of it is stored as calcium carbonate… a total of more than 1e21 tons of the stuff. Another 4e15 tons are methane and oil. Since the Carboniferous life has reduced available surface carbon to barely 6% of what it was. Global warming be hanged… life on Earth is starving.
becida over 7 years ago
The next thing you know they’ll be telling us the world isn’t flat!
Pipe Tobacco over 7 years ago
I do not understand the sentiment here today. A) is Arlo being anti-science? b) is Arlo crabbing about the idea of moving to another planet? c) is Arlo against space exploration?
Seriously, I am not sure what the comic is meant to portray today. To me, it does feel that Arlo (perhaps the voice of JJ?) is rather anti-science. I would appreciate other opinions, however, because I may be misreading/misunderstanding.
Space exploration is a valuable endeavor IMO, and the scientific knowledge gained from both unmanned and manned flights is enormous. While it is true that the entire planet could never simply migrate to another planet, the idea of colonizing space (either a station or another planet) has been talked about for decades or more. I could never consider the idea of creating a colony in space to be “stupid” so I am not sure where Arlo (JJ?) is coming from today.
Night-Gaunt49[Bozo is Boffo] over 7 years ago
3. Carbon dioxide levels hit 1,100 ppm by 2100. The result resembles the worst parts of the Permian – no adequate Biblical alternative is available. Earth is 10 degrees Celsius warmer. All of the world’s ice is melting. Sea level rise is measured in meters. Much of the world’s population is displaced by rising waters and vital infrastructure losses cannot be replaced. Polar bears are long gone, Homo sapiens is the latest endangered species. The ocean conveyor shut down decades ago. Signs of deep ocean anoxia are increasingly apparent and appalling – the sky turns a sickly shade of green. The sixth great mass extinction is underway. Remaining governments fight savage wars over scarce resources as entire ecosystems collapse. Natural selection and humankind are brutally reacquainted when medicine reverts to pre-industrial norms. Rampant famine and disease causes a global population implosion. Humanity will probably survive but a second stone age is the most likely outcome. H2O + CO2 = H2CO3 or carbonic acid.
Those who forget the lessons of history – majestically inscribed into the paleontological and geological record – are doomed to repeat it. Educate yourself, become politically active, and force our leaders to change course before an anthropogenic apocalypse devours us all.
jeffiekins over 7 years ago
> no adequate Biblical alternative is available
English, please? I think I’m pretty good with it, and don’t have any very firm idea what it’s supposed to mean.
MontanaPhil50 over 7 years ago
Don’t know how old this poem from ee cummings is, but it is prophetic
pity this busy monster, manunkind,not. Progress is a comfortable disease:your victim (death and life safely beyond)plays with the bigness of his littleness- electrons deify one razorbladeinto a mountainrange; lenses extendunwish through curving wherewhen till unwishreturns on its unself.A world of madeis not a world of born - pity poor fleshand trees, poor stars and stones, but never thisfine specimen of hypermagical ultraomnipotence.
We doctors know a hopeless case if - listen: there’s a hellof a good universe next door; let’s go
E. E. Cummings
Gary Bennett Premium Member over 7 years ago
Space colonies are a wonderful idea for long-term human survival. The notion that we can use them to replace Earth is bat-s**t crazy.
sew-so over 7 years ago
You know I thought this was common knowledge…
The earth has been made uninhabitable for the majority of life that existed at the time more than once, no human stupidity needed.
1 – Asteroids, comets, meteors, etc. are out there that are large enough to cause a mass extinction that will include humanity, possibly anything bigger than mice and frogs. We are not immune, we get hit all the time, and it just takes one big one that we currently have no way of stopping.
2 – There are, I believe, seven supervolcanoes. If the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts, no, WHEN it erupts (as we have no way of stopping it), it will take out farmland that feeds a good part of the world. If more than one erupts at the same time, or nearly, it could easily cause a mass extinction. Just because it hasn’t happened recently doesn’t mean it won’t happen.
3 – There’s a lovely type of star out there called a pulsar (I think, could be wrong about the name) that emits pulses of gamma radiation that could irradiate the planet. Bye-bye to most life – anything underground MIGHT survive. We can’t stop that either.
I could go on, but I’m getting depressed. Calling the colonization of other planets stupid is suicidal. You must really hate yourself, humanity, and most animal and plant life.
RonBerg13 Premium Member over 7 years ago
What about O’Neill colonies?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O%27Neill_cylinder
David Huie Green LoveJoyAndPeace over 7 years ago
“Carbon dioxide levels hit 1,100 ppm by 2100.”
Atmospheric CO2 levels are about 410 parts per million.
NASA says if we burned all the carbon fuels CO2 will continue to rise to levels of the order of 1500 ppm and it would take centuries at current consumption rates.
Carbon consumption rates can change.
Obviously, we could reduce it greatly if we switched to nuclear since we could supply all our current needs for a thousand years with available fuel if we used a different liquid metal breeder technology. But that seems unlikely based on fear of disasters. Different designs since what was decided on in the 1950s could remove most danger to far below that of Greenhouse effect damage but most minds aren’t flexible enough to contemplate it.
Even so, we are adding wind turbines like crazy and developments in solar technology are making every roof, road, and parking lot a potential placement point.Many places around the world have abundant geothermal energy supply and few people near them. They could be used to produce carbon-free aluminum and iron through electrolysis, releasing oxygen as a waste product. Or they could extract carbon from the oceans either as pure carbon or combine it with seawater to produce methane or liquid fuels if desired. This is a way of storing or transporting energy.
The Hot House Earth scenario is unlikely. Warming, yes. Boiling oceans, no. Reversal is within reach if we wish to grasp it.