Friday, January 7, 2022

Moonwalk



Moonwalk (Alvaro Marques Hijazo)

“Terraforming “was cited in a recent article about in
 The Times ("NASA’s Retiring Top Scientist Says We Can Terraform Mars and Maybe Venus, Too,” 1/2/22). The term refers to creating a habitable atmosphere for humankind on another planet. Mars in this paradigm might be comparable to the Hudson Yards, a piece of once outlier real estate, now considered worthy of development. After the Second World War, the housing shortage in urban centers like New York City  gave rise to massive new development in the 50s and 60s. The nameless white brick and glass high rises that line First, Second and Third Avenue are exemplars of this development. Will big developers like Tishman soon be putting their imprint on the solar system? You might have sanctimoniously given your yearly $10 bucks to the green movement thinking that any real threat was generations away. Little did you realize that if the ice sheet in Greenland continues to melt, seas could rise as much as three feet by the year 2060—enough to totally eradicate a number of major coastal areas. Even then there will probably be those who gasp in horror at disasters like the recent Kentucky tornadoes or the recent fires near Boulder, Colorado while still resting assured that nothing would block their supply chain. However, the shit is going to hit the fan and you aren’t going to move mountains or civilizations overnight. Just like with packing up apartments, you have to call the movers and get boxes and in this case biospheres—i.e. latter day arks—to transport  billions of people and their belongings and you have to make sure about utilities like Oxygen and Water, before invading Mars.

read "The Wormhole Society" by Francis Levy, The East Hampton Star

and listen to "Wind" by the Jesters (1960)


 

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