| . |  |
 |
 |
Why Go At All?
"Why?" - the question that most often doesn't have a good answer...
Here are some reasons for going to the Moon, to L5, and beyond:
- The Earth is a small planet with over 7 billion people on it (in 2012),
and it's not wise for us to depend solely on it for survival of the
human race.
- A radical disease, spread by air transport through the global economy, could wipe out humanity with little warning.
- A comet or an asteroid could hit the Earth and wipe out humanity.
- Global warfare from the pressure of rapid population expansion could destroy us in short order.
- There are a LOT more resources off the Earth than there are on it, and we're going to need vast supplies if we want to raise the standard of living for everyone on Earth.
- Not everyone likes to live under the governments that control all of the land on Earth. Humanity needs a vent where discontented individuals can go to live their lives the way they want to, to experiment with new social forms, or just to have space of their own to seek their fortune from.
- There are many peoples who have been displaced from their ancestral homelands, who now have no place they can call their own. By making more land - more places - available, everyone can have somewhere to call home.
- We need a huge supply of energy to run our economy today. As a greater percentage of the people on Earth come to have a higher standard of living, our rate of energy consumption will increase dramatically. This means our energy reserves are going to be used much faster than had been anticipated. We need a supply of energy that's not dependent on extracting fossil fuels from the ground. Solar power satellites in Earth orbit could fill the need completely.
- Not only do we need a huge supply of energy to run today's economy, but there are valid reasons to believe oil production will not be able to keep pace with the demand, even without any growth of consumption: See Stephen Porter's essay on Peak Oil for more reasons why we need to develop alternative energy supplies such as solar power satellites.
There are lots more reasons, and we'll be adding to the list above from time to time. If your favorite reason isn't on the list, please feel free to send us email so we can add it to the list.
|
Please use the following form to request priority for this page. None of the fields are required (unless you wish to be notified when this page is updated), but we would like to know who you are, to help us have a better understanding of our community. We would therefore appreciate it if you fill this form in as completely as you are comfortable with. Any information you submit on this form will be held in the strictest confidence.