Spaceship Earth is Doomed

By Asmodeus, Student

An essay explaining why I agree with the title

An essay hosted at LiteratureClassics.com

Firstly, I would like to define what ‘Spaceship Earth’ is. By spaceship earth, I think that it means the actual planet, not some science fiction garbage. In answer to the question, Yes, I certainly do agree that spaceship earth is doomed. Was spaceship earth always doomed from the start? , Or did something or someone knock it off course to where it will almost certainly meet its doom?

If you are a catholic (or something similar), it is likely that you will believe that the earth and indeed the rest of the universe were created by god for mankind. Even the bible makes reference to all life on the earth being destroyed, except for a small group, meaning Noah’s Ark and the great flood. It is also prophesised that the earth will end and all people will be judged. You can believe that if you feel so inclined, but you can also believe that a comet can wipe out the world at any moment. Some scientists and environmental conservationists believe that man will be the undoer of creation, and that we shall destroy the world with our toxic wastes, and our genetic manipulation, and nuclear technologies, not to mention fossil fuel exhaustion. The list could probably go on forever. You however, take the passive approach and think of us earth-dwellers as simple people floating around in a complex universe, with luck on our side.

Scientists all over the world have told us for years that the earth is on a collision cause for utter desolation, due to the wastefulness, coldness, laziness, and greed of mankind. Just recently, some scientists have put forward the idea that the Greenhouse Effect (the effect caused by the emission of harmful compounds into the atmosphere which break down the ozone layer, allowing more heat from the sun to penetrate the atmosphere and reach the surface) is developing faster than previously expected. It is thought that at the end of this century, the temperature of the earth could rise by as much as 6°C. Not so long ago, we also heard about a massive iceberg that has broken away from the main body of the icecap, and is drifting away. It is quite likely that if the polar icecaps were to melt, the water level of the oceans would increase dramatically, causing massive flooding in lower lying areas. It is said that a meteor only a few kilometres across would be enough to utterly obliterate the earth.

Even in the southwest of our state, there is evidence that the earth is bleeding… salt.
Salinity is a probably we are fighting here in Australia with little success as yet. The government is doing some big spending by funding both small and large organizations in the attempt to cure the affected areas by planting more trees, which if the farmers hadn’t cut down would have probably prevented the salinity problem we have now. The salt is making the land un-useable for every one,
and is wasting land that could be used for other things. Farmers are also losing their farming and grazing land, which can have a big effect on their income.
We did this, not aliens. It is our fault, and we should do something about it.
Overpopulation is another issue that needs, and deserves serious thought.
There are many disasters that can stem from overpopulating the earth, such as: famine, disease, destruction of natural vegetation, extinction of various animal and plant species etc.
Some governments are doing what they can to help prevent overpopulation. For example, China has implemented various incentives to try and reduce their overall population, such as tax benefits, and a few other, perhaps less positive measures. In some east African countries, there are children barely able to survive due to poverty, and overpopulation. Diseases like Typhoid and AIDS have become likely and commonplace. If this was Europe, or America, or Australia, something would have to be done, not only for the people affected, but because of public uproar.

And what about all those things we put into the ocean? Oil from oil spills, sewage from houses, packaging from products, and all those other pollutants we probably give both knowingly and unknowingly to mother earth every day. If we can’t see it it’s not there, and if it’s not there, it’s not a problem. Already thousands of species of marine plants and animals have become extinct due to us polluting the oceans, seas, and rivers of our world. Slowly but surely we are poisoning the earth. It’s almost as if we are killing our mother. The earth provides for us, nourishes us, keeps us warm, and gives shelter.

When you think about it, it is not impossible that a huge meteor or asteroid will destroy the earth tomorrow, considering the huge number of them that there are orbiting around various stars and planets throughout the apparently endless universe. Scientists have found through their research that the earth has indeed been hit by a number of meteorites in the past, and will probably be hit again in the future. An example is the theory that the dinosaurs became extinct due to a massive comet smashing into the earth causing huge dust clouds to cover the earth preventing sunlight from reaching the surface, killing the plants, and the rest of the dinosaurs not killed by the initial impact and its other effects. The craters on the surface of our moon are another excellent example. When you think about the number of asteroids, and meteors that have met their doom on the surface of the moon, it makes you realise that without the earth’s atmosphere, we are virtually defenceless from the solar winds, and giant clumps of ice and rock.

Almost everywhere you look, there is something threatening to destroy the earth, either in the short term, or the long term. Either brought on by mankind, or something out of our control. However, do we become frantic and throw our hands around our heads waiting for our end? No.
We either don’t care, can’t be bothered caring, or we just get on with our lives because we think that we can’t do anything, or that what we could do is too hard. Maybe all that is preventing us from becoming extinct is really pure luck.