In my first Coming Collapse piece which was published in The Korea Times, I wrote how the coming of man was the harbinger of death for megafauna around the world in prehistoric times. As man’s technological prowess has improved, so has his ability to wrought destruction on the finely tuned planet we call home, Earth.
Over the last few decades, the size of fish caught off of Florida and around the world has shrunk. Why? Because man has overexploited fisheries to such an extent that we are causing natural selection at an accelerated rate. Big fish make good trophies for the wall or a hearty dinner while smaller fish are thrown back to pass on their DNA.
The same goes for lobsters. It used to be common to catch specimens which weighed several pounds. Now, lobsters are caught as soon as they come of age and are no longer protected by regulations. 1 pound lobsters are the new norm while in olden times they would be considered runts.
New technologies have allowed for the oceans to be over conquered exploited. Knowing man’s insatiable desire for protein, it isn’t inconceivable to think that oceanic ecosystems will be affected. The acidification of ocean water is already underway due to the use of fossil fuels and this will inevitably distort the status quo if not outright causing oceanic ecosystems to collapse while microplastics and plastics are increasingly abundant.
As human kind destroys the Earth, there is a growing chorus calling for man to spread to the stars and colonize other planets like Mars. One such voice is Elon Musk of the Company Space X. Also, in a similar vein, Senator Rand Paul called for the terraforming of Mars in order to make it eventually suitable for human habitation. This is crazy talk.
On Earth, where 7 billion plus humans live, Senator Rand Paul denies that climate change is an issue or could be caused by humans yet he calls for man made climate change on alien planets. He is so close but yet completely unaware of his hypocrisy and absurdity.
In the early 90’s, man tried to create an artificial enclosed Earth in an attempt to experiment with the practicality of living in small enclosed areas in space. The experiment was the biodome project. The project tried to mimic Earth’s various ecosystems to replicate Earth in an enclosed environment with different ecosystems represented.
However, the experiment failed. As mentioned, Earth took billions of years to evolve to its current state. To think man can imitate such a complex wonder is a testament to man’s hubris and delusions of grandeur.
To point out one problem, the trees in the biodome would not grow. Why not? To grow upright and strong, trees need wind. Without wind, they grow weak and droopy. Despite all of man’s technological prowess, we can’t grow trees in an enclosed environment and we can’t grow wood in a lab. There are some things man will never master.
Now people are acting like parasites on the Earth. We have conquered nature, throwing off the natural order of things, upsetting the finely tuned equilibrium of Earth. As we change the Earth’s equilibrium, we have no idea what the new equilibrium will be but as a betting man, I’d wager it wouldn’t be as conducive to human kind as it is now. The point I am trying to make is we have a finely tuned planet that supports us. Instead of looking to space for a new home, we should take care of the one we have now which is perfectly suited for us.
Only when mankind can live in harmony with the Earth should we look towards outer space for future colonies. Until then, anything established is likely doomed to failure. Let’s turn to the colonization of the Americas for a historical perspective.
The Norse colonized Iceland successfully and then unsuccessfully attempted the colonization of Greenland along with forays to North America. The colony on Iceland succeeded but the ones in Greenland failed while the forays to North America were never intended as permanent settlements. Why?
Iceland, Denmark and Norway lacked the population base and resources to support Greenland Colonies let alone even more remote colonies in North America. They were simply too far, isolated and the colonizers were bringing European ways with them which were unsuited to the new ecosystems to which they found themselves. They survived for a while but eventually withered on the vine and went extinct as the Earth’s climate cooled during the so-called Little Ice Age.
If colonies were established on Mars, they’d need massive support and supplies from Earth to become established and continued support thereafter. If we destroy Earth’s ability to sustain us, which looks increasingly likely, any colony on Mars would wither and die. It’s best for humans to focus on taking care of our current home rather than looking dreamily towards the stars for our species salvation.
Current events through a historical lens 