[FPSPACE] (USA Today, Obergs): "Consider cosmic view of Earth Day"

[Jeff Zerr]

Here, here.  At the environmental movement's core is the idea of
sustainability, and you have taken the concept to its logical conclusion
with this article.  Maintaining a stable and nurturing environment on the
home planet is arguably a kind of cosmic intelligence test, the results of
which determine the survival of the species.

I attended a lecture at Ball Aerospace this week on the Kepler spacecraft
program, a mission to determine the number of earthlike planets orbiting a
large population of stars (more than 100,000) in an adjacent arm of our
galaxy.  The speaker used a chart showing the habitable zone (HZ--where
liquid water can exist) for stars of approximately our sun's mass.  It was
interesting to note that Venus is well within the HZ for the sun, and Mars
is just outside the margin (at least as it was defined by Kasting, Whitmire
and Reynolds in 1993).  The chart is incorporated in this website:

http://www.kepler.arc.nasa.gov/nature.html

Another interesting site, describing current discoveries of extrasolar
planets and their properties:

http://exoplanets.org/

Jeff Zerr
Boulder, Colorado


  -----Original Message-----
  From: james oberg [mailto:joberg at houston.rr.com]
  Sent: Thursday, April 22, 2004 5:55 AM
  To: fpspace at friends-partners.org
  Subject: [FPSPACE] (USA Today, Obergs): "Consider cosmic view of Earth
Day"


  (USA Today, Obergs): "Consider cosmic view of Earth Day"
  http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2004-04-21-oberg_x.htm
  USA Today, April 22, 2004
  Alcestis "Cooky" Oberg and James Oberg
      Earth Day will be celebrated today with traditional programs: habitat
restorations and cleanups in California, tree plantings and recycling
seminars in Ohio, a conservation festival in Philadelphia and concerts in
Florida.
      In fact, in the 34 years since Earth Day was conceived, it has become
synonymous with entreaties to preserve and protect all life on Earth.
      The original intent of Earth Day was for people to show how deeply
concerned they were about the deterioration of the Earth's environment and
natural resources, and their dedication to changing personal behavior and
national economic activities in order to reverse the trend.
      Yet, even if arresting environmental harm through individual effort
alone were possible, it would be a mistake to focus merely on human-caused
problems. Better that we also focus on developing more sophisticated
technology, which will give scientists the ability through research and
exploration to learn more about the solar system and, in turn, how to
counteract the dangers to Earth, including natural threats.
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