Why are we not using all our surplus ICBMs and such to send up and use solar energy for earth power?
They also propose moving a lot of manufacturing to space, maybe with L5 colonies, and eliminating the pollution of our atmosphere in large measure.
We can even mine away the asteroids that menace the earth, protecting future generations.
We got tons of extra ICBMs that are no longer needed since the UN has enforced peace in the world. And I believe you will find lots of folks who would love to operate plants and make things out in space...and send them back. Easy to send stuff back.
Why are the governments and the science bodies making the headlines wanting to cut back on our lives and make them harder, rather than taking the next step out into space and making our lives, all of us, immeasurably better?
Maybe we have short-sighted politicians rather than far-seeing statesmen? Listening to the wrong peopl?
Answer:
It needs to become reality somewhere along the line.
The problem is convincing big business and the public
that money can be made in space.
Unless there is a profit, it won't happen. Sooner or later, when
petroleum becomes astronomically (pardon the pun)
expensive, we'll start seriously looking at SPS and
asteroid mining, etc.
In your fantasy Star Trek world the technology may exist. Right now it doesn't.
The scientists who have proposed these measures have not demonstrated how they could be done in practical terms, but typically only in theory, for which they are noted. For now, it all sounds more utopian than real. Even if the world cannot now agree on how much carbon dioxide and other pollutants to remove from the environment, how on earth are they to tackle the more mind-boggling issues of working from outer space? May be one day when governments are constituted by scientists and technocrats rather than politicians and conmen, some of your ideas may come into fruition. But for now, they are just good material for award winning science fiction.
First of all, the rocket boosters that are used fo IBCM's do NOT have all that much power. At best they can achieve VERY low orbit and most are intended for SUB-orbital trajectories. They were designed to ONLY lob a warheadat a target on the other side of the planet, NOT at mars or some other planet. What IS needed is a reliable, heavy lifting space vehicle (obviously the current space shuttle is NOT all that reliable seeing as we have lost TWO of them on launch and re-entry). The current space station is FAR from being able to conduct much in the way of "space manufacturing" as well. It was intended as an "experimental platform". To examine which technologies work and which ones do not.
Secondly, the UN is so inneffectual that it couldn't enforce the peace at a 2 year old chold's birthday party let alone peace on the planet.
Thirdly, the VAST majority of Scientists, worldwide, are in agreement that the Earth is in deep ... ummmm, Trouble. NOT only from Global warming, but from a vast myriad of other environmental problems as well. From pollution, to Solid waste disposal, to Hazardous waste disposal, to acid rain, to renewable energy, to disappearing rain forests, and I can go on and on for an hour describing the problems.
There is ONLY so much money to go around, the expense of dealing with ALL the problems with the environment are simply TOO complicated to be solved with ONE simple "magic bullet". It is further compounded by our political leaders, SOME of whom are listening to the WRONG advisers. When the money DOES become available, it is administered by career bueurocrats rather than Highly educated, trained and qualified Scientists who CAN prioritize how that money should be spent to get the "biggest bang for the buck". This is further compounded by the fact that political "influence" is the determining factor in WHICH project gets funding and which does not. Our elected officials atempt to get funding for projects that are located IN their districts, to increase JOBS in their districts, so the politicians can point to something and say "Look at all the federal moeny we got for our district" and use that as leverage to get re-elected. A common and natural thing for them to DO, after all, the WERE elected to DO the best for the people that elected them, the folks in their districts. MOST of the projects ARE good ones but, in the scheme of things, scientists would rate them much lower on the list of priorities that needed to be tackled FIRST.
Fourthly, Much of the available money is being diverted to OTHER areas of governmental spending, the WAR, the drug problem, Gang violence, Law Enforcement, Highways and other infrastructure improvements, And yes, even NASA. ALL of these "other" areas are ALSO administered by career bueurocrats rather than the "experts" in those respective fields and so THEY too are unable to alocagte the funding according to TRUE priorites but rather to "political" prioirites".
The system is BROKEN as it stand right now. It's NOT beyond fixing though. What it's going to take is a concerted EFFORT by EVERYONE. Not just republicans, not just Democrats, Not just Liberals, not JUST consvervatives, NOT just Christians, not just non-Christians, but EVERYONE.. Every single ONE of us needs to put aside our differences and recognize that we're ALL in this together. If or when the environment falls apart it's NOT going to affect just ONE group of folks, it's going to affect EVERY single person, not JUST in the US, but every single person on the face of this beautiful and unique planet that is our HOME.
My grandfather used to say to me ... " a dog doesn't crap where he eats" yet, THAT is exactly what we ARE doing. We are trashing our planet at an every increasing rate without understanding the ramifications of our actions.
This ALL needs to stop. HOW can we, as average citizens, STOP it? WE need to stand together, with ONE voice and TELL our leaders "enough is enough!" . You're listening to the WRONG people, You're listening to profit motivated, big business people. You're listening to people who have OTHER agendas and do NOT have the interests of everyday people like you and I at heart.
Additionally, we as individuals, HAVE to stop being so selfish in our ways. We have to go about our daily lives, leaving as little damage to the world around us as we possibly can. plant gardens and trees, drive a little less, drive more economical vehicles and avoid the gass-guzzling SUV's, drive LESS, purchase enviromentally friendly products and from environmentally conscious companies (there are a lot of them out there, they just don't go around beating themselves on the chest, bragging), Conserve energy, eat healthier, take care of yourselves with regards to your health, be kinder to other people and living things, and be MORE conscious of what you throw away as trash, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle as much as you possible can. It's not all that complicated and certainly not all that restrictive to your lifestyle as SOME folks would have you belive. Heck, if you're walking down the street, PICK up that candy wrapper and put it in a trash receptacle and don't just LEAVE it for someone else to do. They're ALL little things but if everyone did one or two LITTLE things every day it would ALL add up to be a significant improvement.
By the way, you can also ORGANIZE. Write your elected officials and leaders and tell them your concerns. Get together with your friends and CHOOSE a good cause and decide on a course of action to take and FOLLOW through on that action. this FunQA.com thing has POTENTIAL. It's reaching MILLIONS of folks ALL around the world. GEt ALL of your friends in on htis. Cut and paste the GOOD posts from people into e-mails and SEND them to everyone you know and have THEM pass them along to evertyone that THEY know as well, and so on and so on. Eventually EVERYONE will know about these concerns and HOW to DO something about them.
MOST importantly, get OFF this damn computer once in a while, get OUTSIDE, enjoy the world of nature. There is nature even in the most crowded of cities. TALK with people, befriend them, get to know and understand who they are and where they're coming from. Don't just hang with people who are like yourself, get to know folks who are VERY different from you. LEARN about them, FIND out what you DO have in common. Work on that everyday and you'll find yourselves making lots of new and interesting friends. The ONE thing that there is no such thing of is that there is NO such thing as having TOO many friends and acquaintences, only to many enemies. One enemy is TOO many. The best thing you can do for yourselves is to LOVE yourself, and that love of self is best develpoed by loving OTHERS, by loving your surroundings and by loving the EARTH that you walk on.
Sorry about the long winded post, and I'll shut up for now.
Brightest Blessings
Raji the Green Witch
Just too expensive for right now. We should continue working on the science and engineering, but the time for a big push is not here yet.
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