Thursday, August 04, 2005
Politically correct astronauts
If I was a conspiracy theorist, I would have a fine time suggesting links between the environmental movement and NASA. However, I'm not that paranoid, so I'll just draw your attention to a BBC report - Shuttle crew see damage on Earth.
According to this:
Discovery Commander Eileen Collins described on Thursday how widespread environmental destruction on Earth is highly visible from the shuttle..."Sometimes you can see how there is erosion, and you can see how there is deforestation," Commander Collins said during a conversation from space with Japanese officials in Tokyo, including Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi... "It's very widespread in some parts of the world. We would like to see, from the astronauts' point of view, people take good care of the Earth and replace the resources that have been used."
Utter rubbish, of course: unless they have been making observations regularly over the last few decades. And who are they to judge about "deforestation"? Our agriculture-based societies have grown up because our ancestors cut down trees to grow crops. Of course, we don't want to lose all our trees, but we aren't: forest area in the Northern hemisphere at least is actually increasing. And it's easy to plant more trees if we want to. Recent reports also suggest that trees don't, as previously thought, lock up carbon from the atmosphere until they die. Instead, the carbon begins to be released again only about five years after planting. Trees are not uniquely the "lungs of the Earth": all green plants take up carbon dioxide and produce oxygen.
Please, NASA, don't join in these games: you have enough to worry about getting the shuttle back safely and deciding what your future is.
According to this:
Discovery Commander Eileen Collins described on Thursday how widespread environmental destruction on Earth is highly visible from the shuttle..."Sometimes you can see how there is erosion, and you can see how there is deforestation," Commander Collins said during a conversation from space with Japanese officials in Tokyo, including Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi... "It's very widespread in some parts of the world. We would like to see, from the astronauts' point of view, people take good care of the Earth and replace the resources that have been used."
Utter rubbish, of course: unless they have been making observations regularly over the last few decades. And who are they to judge about "deforestation"? Our agriculture-based societies have grown up because our ancestors cut down trees to grow crops. Of course, we don't want to lose all our trees, but we aren't: forest area in the Northern hemisphere at least is actually increasing. And it's easy to plant more trees if we want to. Recent reports also suggest that trees don't, as previously thought, lock up carbon from the atmosphere until they die. Instead, the carbon begins to be released again only about five years after planting. Trees are not uniquely the "lungs of the Earth": all green plants take up carbon dioxide and produce oxygen.
Please, NASA, don't join in these games: you have enough to worry about getting the shuttle back safely and deciding what your future is.
