A Fragile Existence

Global climate change is a presently, and nearly universally, accepted threat to the existence of life on this planet. There is argument regarding the cause, whether it's man-made or naturally occurring, but the argument as to whether it is occurring continues to wane. If you stop and think about it, however, global climate change is one of many extinction level threats to our planet.

Let's be clear. I am not referring to the destruction of the planet, per se. I am referring to the end of human life. This planet has been around for billions of years, without life, mind you. The age of human life is only tens of thousands of years by most scientists’ accounts. In the cosmic scheme of things that is not even a breath. More interestingly, the age of reason and intelligence, where a species could consider itself, understand its environment, and manipulate it, is even shorter than that. As far as we are aware, human beings are the only species on this planet capable of this.

Threats to human existence, or extinction level threats (ELTs), are numerable. I will start out this discussion by what I would consider to be our top five. I hope that a vigorous discussion can ensue. This is way too important to ignore. Here we go:

1. Global Climate Change
2. Global Pandemic
3. Geological Upheaval
4. Meteor/Asteroid Strike
5. Thermonuclear Exchange

We could argue about the order of this ELT list. We could argue about the ELTs themselves. In the coming posts, I will put some meat around the bones of these skeletal arguments.

However, the true purpose of this discussion is to focus on what we have not been doing as a species. Growth and expansion is a natural consequence of life. It must happen or a species dies. Human beings have spread out upon this planet. But I argue that the natural extension is to spread out to neighboring bodies, and ultimately to the stars. Human colonies should spring up in the cosmos if we are to survive as a species. We are nowhere near that, nor do we have realistic plans for such activities as a human race, mandated by our governments. The ELTs are real, and looming. Should any of these strike, we have no other place to go. Therefore, the ultimate truth would be that we would face extinction.

In the coming posts, I would like to discuss the ELTs in more depth as well as the state of our space program as a nation and as a world. Your thoughts are welcome. I will reserve the right to moderate your comments. I will include as much as I can.