'Best Earth'

The overriding concept should be 'Best Earth' or 'Best Earth Ever,' the idea that we should always be thinking about how to make this planet as good as it can be.  In particular, I'm intrigued by the idea of beings from outer space coming upon planet Earth.  The question naturally arises, 'What will they think of us?'

the crux of the matter

The crux of the Planetarian position is that we should implement policies that our descendants, looking back from a distance of two or three centuries, would be grateful for.  In many cases, it's probably impossible to know what such policies would be.  In the case of global warming, however, isn't it obvious that they would want us to ameliorate it as much as possible?  Now, how should we go about doing that?

descendants

Comment:

Environmental policy should be based on this consideration: that people two or three centuries from now will look back on us and say, 'Thank God they did what they did. They saved us.'

mckibben

Bill McKibben on whether 'the big brain' was a good adaptation:

http://www.thetakeaway.org/story/bill-mckibben-confronting-climate-change/

population

There is essentially no political will in this country to do anything about global warming. This is true of all but a handful of other countries as well. People are simply unwilling to accept higher prices for gasoline and heating oil, and anyway, we're supposedly on the verge of becoming the Saudi Arabia of oil and natural gas.

I'm thinking that population regulation is the way to go on this-- particularly the idea that people shouldn't have more than two children unless they have very, very good reasons for doing so (and religious 'go-forth-and-multiply' reasons don't qualify). I think this would seem reasonable to most people, and it would result in a gradually smaller human population. After all, if the human population of this planet were what it was in 1950-- about 2 billion-- global warming wouldn't be a problem at all.

voyager 1

We have left the Mother Ship.

http://www.space.com/22729-voyager-1-spacecraft-interstellar-space.html

ladee

NASA launches LADEE (Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environmental Explorer) to examine the Moon's 'exosphere' (extremely thin atmosphere), 9/6/13.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/video/nasa-launches-ladee-virginia-20186452?tab=9482931&section=1206833

politics

I see planetarians as people who are involved in their own national politics, but from the point of view of looking out for the well-being of the planet as a whole, including all its inhabitants.

politics

I'll include interesting space images from time to time, but I'm more interested in the political aspect of being a 'planetarian.'  What are the most effective forms that such political participation could take?

snapshots from an apocalypse

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/opinion/sunday/gorgeous-glimpses-of-calamity.html?ref=global-home