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Terraforming Essay

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Terraforming

Terraforming has been explored in science fiction for years, but improving technology, along with concerns such as population growth and expenditure of natural resources, are causing terraforming to become a possibility. Population growth is the most obvious reason for terraforming. The world’s population is expected to rise steadily for the next 50 years; although the rate of population growth decreases slightly each year, the world population is estimated to increase by about half its current size between 2004 and 2050 (1). Barring any disaster that could cause a dramatic population decrease, humans will eventually overrun the amount of space available on Earth. Another concern is the availability of the Earth’s natural …show more content…

The upper class would likely unwilling to do the work that required to get a new colony started, possibly spurring a return of slave labor or indentured servitude. The rich would probably be willing to pay for servants’ travel and living expenses in exchange for manual labor. Moving to such a radically different environment would force humans to adapt to new conditions. The difference between gravities might cause humans to lose muscle mass and become smaller. The human body would probably begin to require less oxygen and become more dependent on an element that is abundant in the atmosphere. Humans would have to depend on uncustomary foods, as meat would not be readily available and Earth’s plants would likely require genetic alteration to survive in the new environment (3). A large amount of government money would go toward settling the new frontier, and as a result taxes and prices on everyday items could rise. Necessary commodities would have to be imported to the colony until it could become self-sufficient. As a result, people would probably be working overtime to meet the demand and resources would become scarce, which would lead to inflation. A new wave of inventions would probably arise to create a business market for the new territory. Eventually, a terraformed planet could even become a tourist destination.

Terraforming another planet or satellite would be difficult and costly. A major requirement would be an atmosphere capable of sustaining human

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