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Bombing the moon and saving the world
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Spring Lake, San Marcos, Texas.
They say we're about to bomb the moon. Apparently, NASA is going to shoot a missile at the moon in order to find water and other natural resources. As if that were not enough, there will be a spacecraft following it to take pictures, and then it will also crash into the moon, creating an explosion large enough for amateur astronomers to see.
I wonder if this endeavor is an any way related to the predicted world water shortage or is it, as advertised, merely an exploratory mission to find resources for future moon colonies? It would indeed make good sense to save ourselves the effort of transporting water from Earth to the moon if there is the possibility of finding water beneath the surface. Even though this sounds unbelieveable there is confirmed evidence of the existence of such a resource, both beneath the surface of the moon and in permanently-shadowed craters dotting the polar regions.
We here in Central Tejas certainly know a lot about droughts. With the continuing influx of immigrants from all across this country and the world, the semi-arid region of Central Tejas continually experiences water shortages, its residents called upon to stop watering their lawns and otherwise conserve water around the household. The Edwards Aquifer is being taxed beyond its limits while our population continues to grow. San Marcos, Texas, directly to the north of San Antonio and where I and my family resided for 5 years, is home to Aquarena Springs, located on the Balcones Escarpment Region of the fault zone bordering the Tejas Hill Country to the west. Spring Lake is an upwelling of the Edwards Aquifer and is a scenic and popular resource for Texas State, the city of San Marcos and region. The threat posed by continued population growth is one that is taken seriously by private citizens, local and state government alike.
Our water problems are a direct result of human intrusion and habitation beyond the carrying capacity of our landscape. The obvious question of course is why is there a shortage of water in nations around the world when its total coverage is 72% liquid? Granted, 97% of that is salty, but the processes of desalinization and conservation offer solutions. And yet, the economic, environmental and political concerns seem untenable to many. Is it the world's population that is the problem, then? Are there too many people on Earth? Well, according to those who've done the math, the entire world's population could fit inside the state of Tejas.
Which brings us back to bombing the moon. MSNBC's Rachel Maddow and guest describe the process:
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As a scientist and geographer, I understand the intellectual curiosity that Rachel Maddow and Derrick Pitts, the Franklin Institute's Chief Astronomer, display during this clip and the science-fiction fanboy in me sees this aggressive foray into Earth's near-space as inevitable. Images of tales by Heinlein, Asimov and Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey fill my thoughts, and yet, at the same time, a disquieting unease adds an emotive tenor to my inner multimedia presentation.
If we cannot take care of this planet, what makes us think that we can take care of others? Our western, consumptive culture has brought this planet to the brink of biospheric destruction and, in our transcendent hubris, we believe that we can control and manage the fate of other planets. The conjoined interests of economics and politics constrain our efforts to regenerate the Earth's biosphere as we rush pell mell into a disutopian future, the impact of which has been predicted for over 100 years. President Theodore Roosevelt - no matter his shortsightedness on other issues - saw clearly the trajectory that the United States was on and we have reached that point. He said:
"The conservation of our natural resources and their proper use constitute the fundamental problem which underlies almost every other problem of our national life."
Perhaps now is the time for us all to ruminate over the debris that we left on the moon in the late 60s and early 70s as we look forward to a future where a few lunar landers, platforms and assorted mechanical devices will be the least of our intrusion upon that pristine landscape. The consequences of our cultural imperatives indeliably affect the landscape around us, wherever we might be and that landscape is the staging ground for life itself in all of its wondrous diversity.
Actually implementing the technical and cultural innovations that would lead us in a direction of biospheric sustainability is the step that must now be taken. Before we engage fully in the exploration and colonization of other planets, perhaps we should first revitalize the landscapes of our lives, both inner and outer, in preparation for expansion outwards, to the stars.
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