Sonnensegler.de

Taking me full three days to write this down makes me realize how frightened I am. Now and then the thought of it is creeping over me and scares me so much. It stops me from thinking further, which is – let me say that – a rare thing.

But let me fill you with details.

Three days ago I was watching another documentary about astronomy and NASA and so. After a couple of minutes I had a clue what they were talking about, and I started to listen with care. I swear I was about to switch channels when the topic “Mars” came up (because as long as there is nothing new to discuss I don’t see the point to watch and rewatch those “we have a dream”-flickrs over and over again). And here comes the crucial turning point. Some NASA- guy was saying something about air pollution and climate change (which we didn’t have a clue of for sure ^^) and then switched over to the Mars atmosphere. That was when I started wondering what the hell he was talking about. Air pollution – Mars – where’s the connection??

I’ve been shocked before. I read things I didn’t even know they were possible. Worse things. Really really sore things.

But boy, how heavy is this?

Here is what NASA is planning: Transform the planet Mars. For those of you not into matter, Mars is extremely cold and approximately a huge desert. It has a north and a south “pole” consisting of frozen CO² (dry ice). Analysis of the surface make the scientists guess there must have been water on this planet a looong time ago. There are gaps and disruptions all over. Some of them may be river beds, but that’s not sure. Other analysis have shown that it could be possible that underneath the surface there is hidden water, a lot of water, enough water to ensure the maintenance of humans. The only thing keeping us from populating this planet is (among other things) the incredible cold and the undense atmosphere. So NASA scientists start thinking: How to put all this away?

To make it short and ease it up a little:
Planet earth is giving the (sad) example how to: heat it up. To dwell on the topic known to all of us by now: how is the earth being heatened? Right. By air pollution, also known as greenhouse effect. So here the NASA scientist get it: To make Mars a place populatable, fabricate another greenhouse effect. The poles start to melt, the released CO² will even boost the effect, the atmosphere denses up, the surface heatens up, the hidden water appears – boom – a second earth is created.

To fasten it all a little, FCKW would be preferred to blow into the Mars atmosphere. Correct, you’re reading FCKW.

When I first heard about it, I couldn’t believe it. The worst thing happening on earth is abused to populate a planet with inhuman condition???

But then I started to think. If, only if this is even possible for real, why don’t do it? In about hundred years the condition on earth will be so unbearable. Human existence is threatened. It’s the last chance to find solutions or ways out. Mars is one way out.

The thought that came up to me was, they could grab all the pollution from earth and take it over to Mars. This would be a fair game. No idea how to do this, but it’s worth a try, isn’t it?

On the other side, which scientist would be so dumb to make the effort getting the pollution over to Mars (how could you do this?) when all you have to do is heaten up the poles and impel a chain reaction? In no time, second earth would be finished and ready to occupy.

Questions occuring at this point: Would the heatening stop after creating a liveable atmosphere? After populating the planet, would there be a way to completely avoid air pollution or would humanity repeat history? Would the planet become so attractive like our earth, so green and blue and beautiful?

And what caught me most: If this operation is possible, will it make people act and think different, worse than decades before, namely that our actions have no consequences, that environment doesn’t matter to us, that this one EARTH is neglectable, now that we’re having another place to go just in case?

This point frightens me so much. It would be the turning point to all of our thinking, dreaming, imagining, acting. It sounds seductive to have a way out, but what will it do to the people? And what if they fail? I’d rather have them test it secretly until clarity exists than to aspire the whole world.

For now, we only have this one planet. So why do you people act so recklessly? This is a matter of attitude, not of egoism and avoidance of unpleasant topics.

I’ll stay tuned. You should, too. This matters to all of us. Few people doing little things can cause big things. That’s the way I’m seeing it.

Excerpt from the documentary on Phoenix – News Channel (in German)

More information also on Wikipedia German and English.(I’d reccommend the second if you’re firm with language).

Also a good German site is here (but attention, he’s diving deep).