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Comments on Earth Now Needs Agricultural Worlds
SF writers pondered this problem a generation ago, and came up with the answer. (Read
the complete story)
| "WWF suggestions:
We share the Earth with 5–10 million species or more - By choosing how much of the planet’s biocapacity we appropriate, we determine how much is left for their use. To maintain biodiversity, it is essential that a part of the biosphere’s productive capacity is reserved for the survival of other species, and that this share is split between all biogeographic realms and major biomes. To manage the transition to sustainability, we need measures that demonstrate where we have been, where we are today, and how far we still have to go." (Bill Christensen 11/2/2008 5:36:25 PM) |
| "Call it 'cynicism,' it just seems like at the end of the day people are gonna say screw the environment, screw those foreigners, screw everything. If any politician ever says anything remotely like 'your kids will not have as much stuff as you do, and your grandkids will have even less,' or god forbid 'STOP HAVING SO MANY GODDAMN KIDS,' that's the end of their career. It's like being halfway down the bridge in a game of chicken where you have to call a vote and elect a new driver before you can swerve." (foo 11/3/2008 5:32:06 AM) |
| "Also, Philip K. Dick fans could always hope for a Crack in Space (also published as Cantata 140). Here's a quote from the part where a Jifi-scuttler repairman finds a passage to a parallel Earth.
'"This may be Earth, but it's obvious that it isn't our Earth. In that case, whose is it? And how many Earths are there?"
|
| "Every Malthusian prediction to date has been proven wrong. I'm not going to hold my breath. " (AJ Dual 11/4/2008 8:45:42 AM) |
| "You really can't get around the fact that US citizens support their lifestyle by being the number one consumer of 11 of the top 20 traded commodities. Corn, coffee, copper, lead, zinc, tin, aluminum, rubber, oil seeds, oil and natural gas - the US gets the largest share. It's just not possible for the rest of the world to live the way we do. Even if we made unlimited energy available in some sustainable way, there is no way to manufacture enough goods without resources. What are we going to do about that?" (Bill Christensen 11/8/2008 2:29:01 PM) |
| "How about O'Neill habitats for agricultural worlds? Being smaller than planets and being a product of engineering, they can be optimized for food production, with no bad weather or pests. The asteroid Ceres alone contains enough material to build enough such habitats to provide over five hundred times the land area of Earth. Enough room for people and food production alike. The entire Earth could become a nature/historical preserve." (Sailor Barsoom 1/29/2009 11:39:42 AM) |
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