Harvesting Space for a Greener Earth

About this book

What was our planet like in years past? How has our civilization affected Earth and its ecology? Harvesting Space for a Greener Planet begins by discussing these questions, and then generates a scenario for the restoration of Earth. It introduces new and innovative ideas on how we could use Solar System and its resources for terrestrial benefit.

The environmental challenges that face us today cannot be resolved by conservation and current technologies alone. Harvesting Space highlights the risk of humankind’s future extinction from environmental degradation. Population growth, global climate change, and maintaining sustainability of habitats for wildlife are all considered, among other issues.

Rather than losing heart, we need to realize that the solutions to these problems lie in being good stewards of the planet and in the development of space. Not only will the solutions offered here avert a crisis, they will also provide the basis for continued technological and societal progress. Tapping the resources of near-Earth asteroids will lead to methods of diverting those asteroids that threaten Earth. Space-based terrestrial power generation systems will work synergistically with Earth-based conservation.

This is the second edition of Paradise Regained: The Regreening of Earth.

Contents

Foreword
Acknowledgments
Synopsis and Chapter Summaries
Author Biographies
Introduction: Welcome to the Present

Chapter 1: Space Utilization – A Moral Imperative
Chapter 2: Fire – Formation of the Earth and the Solar System
Chapter 3: Earth Before Man – Utopia or Nightmare?
Chapter 4: The Environmental Dilemma – Progress or Collapse?
Chapter 5: Exploding Population
Chapter 6: Climate Change
Chapter 7: Vanishing Life
Chapter 8: Diminishing Energy
Chapter 9: Humans Before the Industrial Age – A Desirable Ecological Goal?
Part III: Paradise Regained
Chapter 10: Raw Materials from Space
Chapter 11: Power from the Sun
Chapter 12: Environmental Monitoring from Space
Chapter 13: Protecting Earth
Chapter 14: Mitigating Global Warming Using Planetary Engineering
Chapter 15: Mitigating Global Warming Using Space-Based Approaches
Chapter 16: Setting the Solar System
Chapter 17: Paradise Regained – An Optimistic Future

Index

Customer Reviews