|
|
|
|
|
|
Amazon.com, 
Amazon.co.uk, 
Amazon.de or 
Amazon.ca
|
 Better Red Than... Green?by Stuart Atkinson Page 2 of 2 Imagine the scene in a junior school class at the Kasei Base in 2062, the
year Halley's Comet comes back. The teacher is giving a lesson about Earth,
but the kids are laughing in disbelief. What did she just say? A world where
the sky is blue? Where there's so much water it lies in pools in the open
air? Where there's so much water it forms things called "oceans", huge
bodies of water within which live creatures the size of shuttlecraft?! Sure,
they'll have been shown Earth through their parents' telescopes, peered at
its tiny blue and white disc for themselves, but are they really meant to
believe that water actually falls from the sky there - from the sky! - in
different forms, sometimes as a liquid, other times as an icy slush, and
sometimes even as a white powder which settles on the ground and can be
moulded into shapes by hand... and then thrown? Yeah, right..!
Older children will take it for granted, of course. Virtual Reality will allow them to "visit" Earth and experience terran life for themselves, they'll know everything about it. But to their younger brothers and sisters Earth will, for a while at least, until they're "taught better", literally be just a blue star they see twinkling in the sky before sunrise or after sunset. It will be as alien a world to them as Mars is to us today. The very idea of terraforming Mars will be abhorrent to at least some of these young martians. They'll look out their classroom window, upon the rolling, rock-strewn orange landscape glowing in the sunlight beneath a huge, peach-coloured sky, and feel a fierce pride, and some will grow up determined to fight - politically and physically - against terraforming, just as campaigners here on Earth fight against pollution, environmental damage and developments today. Think about it; if people today feel moved enough to protest against oil-spills, or the burning of the rainforests or the slaughter of whales - even against having a by-pass built near their town - is it so ridiculous to predict people will resist having their entire planet re-shaped? I don't think so. As we enter March 1998, and the only people striding across the frozen deserts of Mars are the ones we see in artists' impressions, discussing a "Red" anti-terraforming movement such as the one found in Kim Stanley Robinson's books may seem far-fetched, but I am absolutely convinced it will become a reality, and will even be known by that very name. History repeats itself, regardless of location, so the Children Of Mars will argue, protest and, eventually, if necessary, fight to keep Mars red. I'm not ashamed or embarrassed to say that if I was in their boots I'd do the same thing, I'd be a Red. I'm a Red now. And I'm not the only one. I'm not saying that terraforming won't have its native supporters, people who have seen pictures of Earth and want to be free to walk on their world without a pressure suit, because it will. But I truly believe most natives will value Mars' rugged desolation more. It may be centuries until we have to start worrying about such things, but we shouldn't kid ourselves that the only obstacles to terraforming will be practical or economical, or that we will begin to do it as soon as we have the technology, because it's not as simple as that. Apart from the fact that we have no right to "play God" by flooding Mars' dried valleys, melting its ice caps or seeding it with algae and lichen, it's arrogant to assume that the people who'll be affected by it - the people born on Mars - will just sit back and let such planetary vandalism happen. The Governments and businesses in charge of the terraforming had better be ready to tackle some martian "tree-huggers"... So, all you terraforming advocates out there, enjoy the peace and quiet while it lasts. Think up your schemes and dream your dreams of comet impacts and flash floods and huge, planet-thawing mirrors while you can. Because the Children Of Mars will have other ideas..! Stuart Atkinson Copyright© 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 Stuart Atkinson, sffworld.com. All rights reserved. No part of this may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the author. |
Copyright © 1999 - 2004 sffworld.com