NationStates Jolt Archive

I went Sci-fi on this one so don't pick it apart how it is impossible, I just tried to make it belivable. Anyway it is on page 6 right now, so if you think this is cool and interesting please approve it.

I propose that Mars be changed into the largest wildlife refugee, and perhaps the largest project ever undergone by humans. For thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of years, we humans have driven countless species to extinction. The hunting, the destruction of habitat, and wars are still happening and show no signs of slowing down. It is for this reason that I have chosen to propose Operation Noah’s Ark. This is no small project, a project that will need the entire world to support, an unfathomable amount of money, and an unknown amount of time. The project will originally focus on the cloning of extinct animals that humans have driven, or help drive to extinction. (Such has the Mammoth, the Tasmanian tiger, the Dodo and numerous others). This is all too hopefully correct mistakes that humans have done to Earth. This may sound far out, but it is all possible if we give it the time and the resources it needs.

1)Martian land must be preserved for the wildlife refuge. Only 15% of Mars will be usable for human development.

2)While the terra-forming of Mars may sound impossible, it is entirely doable, if not now in the coming years. Firstly we place machinery on Mars that will release Carbon Dioxide, causing the planet to form a larger atmosphere and cause the planet to warm up. Second we plant genetic engineered plants that produce large amounts of oxygen, this will allow for breathable air.

3)Then there needs to be an organization created that will further terra-form the land to resemble those habitats found on Earth.

4)Cloning and Genetic Engineering Laboratories will be needed to be placed on the planet. Cloning the animals and plants there will be far easier then transporting them directly from Earth. As already stated, Animals that have been driven to extinction by humans will be the first to be cloned, but a library of DNA, sperm, eggs, and seeds of all possible organisms of Earth will be stored there incase anything happened on Earth (It is for the reason the humans will also be able to settle there)

5)Another organization will need to be formed to research and observe the environments to make sure that they become stable and that organisms are filling their proper niche.

So I ask the UN to pass this proposal and get this plan into action. This plan could help correct millennia of human mistakes, bring the world together for a cause, create tons and tons of jobs, Develop many new technologies and vehicles (Space and otherwise) and allow for life from Earth to live on if anything happened to Earth.

Unfortunately, Mars seems to have been colonized already. In fact, several nations on Mars have populations approaching one billion. I'm not certain that 15% of the planet's surface is suitable for their needs, given that we would also need the research stations and monitoring stations throughout the Mars wilderness (post-terraforming, obviously).
The Holy Empire of Gethamane admires the intent of this proposal, but we cannot condone land-snatching from Mars Region. As that sets a severe limit on the planets within our solar system, we have a couple of options:
First, we could consider travel to another solar system in search of a planet suitable to terraform. Second, we could potentially create several artifical satelites which would be capable of sustaining a particular form of life... An orbiting zoo, if you will. Or numerous zoos.
Finally, allow me to make a suggestion: In the future, post a draft of your proposal in the forums before you submit it.

Let's just assume for a moment that Mars is available for a refuge. We believe strongly that your proposed method for terraforming the planet is unwise and destructive. We favour the 'minimum viable model' as Mars' landscape has, for us, an intrinsic value that should be protected as far as possible. We also have a duty to ensure that any indigenous life forms are not destroyed by our vainglorious projects.

We would however be interested in a proposal that advocated the use of artificial satellites, as suggested by the honourable delegate from Gethamane.

Sax Russell
Speaker for Science

We must ask how native Martian land can remain, if massive amounts of carbon dioxide are being released to heat the planet.

"We must ask how native Martian land can remain, if massive amounts of carbon dioxide are being released to heat the planet."

OOC...

Quite. Swamping the Martian atmosphere in CO2 seems to be the most favoured approach to terraforming at the moment - it's part of the two-stage process. The process seems to be the following (massively simplified):

1) Thicken and heat the atmosphere through massive CO2 increase and bombardment of surface with ice asteroids (and possibly nuclear detonations).

2) Find a way to get rid of the CO2, replacing it with N2 and O2.

However, the following need to be considered:

1) Indigenous life? We need to be sure there is none before we start destroying what is potentially a biosphere.

2) Geological impact of terraforming. Large-scale changes in the Martian atmosphere (especially over a short period of time, entirely possible in the two-stage model) are likely to cause damage to the landscape. If there are underground aquifers (there is reasonable evidence for this) then these in turn may precipitate the Martian equivalent of 'mud' flows. An unstable landscape is no good to anyone.

3) Likelihood of success. This relates especially to the second stage of the process. We don't know how we can scrub the CO2. If we did, then the Earth's climate change issues would go away...

4) Intrinsic value of the primal Martian landscape. Woolly, I know, but an issue of importance. Antarctica is assigned value in this manner - why not Mars? Our first attempt at colonising/terraforming/populating (however you wish to look at it) a planet should get a good example for the future. Let's try getting it right from the beginning.

I can't really do the subject justice here, but I hope I've provided food for thought.

1) Indigenous life? We need to be sure there is none before we start destroying what is potentially a biosphere.

Indeed, we would urge delegates to look at THIS LINK (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3577551.stm) as it suggests life on Mars IS a realisitic possibility.

"Indeed, we would urge delegates to look at THIS LINK as it suggests life on Mars IS a realisitic possibility."

I have to confess that this link surprised me when I saw it yesterday (the joys of BBC updates at work). The methane is unlikely to be of volcanic origin - the Martian volcanoes are almost certainly extinct. But life? I wonder if these really are the only options?

I do not object to terraforming per se, simply the heavy industry, bugger-the-native-environment approach that is likely to be adopted (assuming it ever happens...). Engineering is at its finest when it applies science in a subtle, elegant fashion.

Indeed, why should we terraform Mars? Some might argue that we should 'areoform' (Earth/Mars are equivalent to Terra/Ares) ourselves instead.

A noble if misguided proposition - but the thinking is wrong - the idea should not be to create "zoos" over on mars but to conserve what we have here, It's classic "shift the problem" thinking with one fatal flaw as outlined below:

The main problem we thermidorians found with captive breeding programs was that no-one bred the unique microorganisms and invertebrates and so forth, therefore it is important to conserve so-called "flagship" species where they are and in doing so, conserve entire suites of organisms with them.

As regards cloning extinct animals I'm afraid that's a genetic impossibility as the exact regimes of biochemicals the zygotes were exposed to in the womb to aid fetal development are lost with the animals, and are irreplaceable.

Also Gethemane has a point that Mars is colonised already and no doubt that its areas of wilderness are probably wilderness reserves sanctioned by the UN.