Rebuilding

AMID THE DEVASTATION, the hurricane, all hurricanes, and for that matter tornadoes, earthquakes, volcanoes, and, heaven forbid, bombing campaigns, has a silver lining. Namely, by forcing us to rebuild, they give us the opportunity to rebuild better, smarter, safer. Whether human habitat should be withdrawn from coastal areas is a question requiring an answer involving thoughtful planning. No matter where and what we build, there are risks, naturally. Perhaps future generations will expand human habitat to floating cities, and cities on the ocean floor, as well as cities in Earth orbit, and on and below the surfaces of Mars and the moon. Maybe it would be a good idea to declare the world's coastlines natural habitat, and to withdraw human development ten or fifty miles inland. If the human race explores all possible habitat, it could be that eventually as much as one half of the Earth's surface could be redesignated wilderness and natural habitat, without straining humanity for resources. We need to redesign human society and habitat, starting now, because what we are currently doing is not working, The Earth is in poor health. It is in fact dying, right before our very eyes. More plants and animals are becoming extinct than ever before. The climate is changing drastically, rapidly. And its all because of human activity, the pouring of billions of tons of poison into the ecosystem, for hundreds of years of accumulated environmental poisoning. We are all dying, of course, but most of us die from natural causes, not sustained poisoning, and it doesn't work like it did for Mithridates, the constant bombardment of poison does not make Earth, its people, plants and animals immune to poison, it kills them. We are in a sense killing the Earth with kindness; nature loves carbon, but in the right place, at the right time, in the right amount. Putting a trillion tons of it in the atmosphere and leaving it there does not sustain, but rather, kills, because of the increase in heat energy stored by the excess carbon. The planet Venus, with its eight hundred degree surface temperature, is a good example of what too much carbon in the atmosphere does to the surface of a planet. Every new updated climate change forecast is more accurate than the previous one, as the science continues to improve, and each forecast is more dire, more frightening. The next thing you know they'll be telling us we only have two weeks to live. As it is now, they are saying that by the year 2030, only twelve years away, if we have not made significant reductions in atmospheric carbon, we are finished. If the scientists ever tell us that we are doomed, we are. The science improves every day, as you may have noticed by the quality of your smart phone and television set, as well as medicine, and other amenities. In the long run, science is always right, even if it takes a while. We have known about climate change for two hundred years, but not enough of us have known about it. Einstein knew about it; he thought adding carbon to the atmosphere might be a good idea, to warm the atmosphere, increase the growing season, and produce more food for a hungry humanity. He was talking about controlled climate change. What we now have is out of control climate change, getting worse, fast. And still not enough people know about it, or care.