PLEASE NOTE:
*
CCNet DIGEST 7 January 1999
---------------------------
(1) SUPERFLARES COULD DAMAGE YOUR HEALTH: AS IF WE DIDN'T HAVE
ENOUGH TO WORRY ABOUT
Andrew Yee <ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca>
(2) LUNAR PROSPECTOR FINDINGS
Andrew Yee <ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca>
(3) MARS MICROPHONE
Andrew Yee <ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca>
==========================
(1) SUPERFLARES COULD DAMAGE YOUR HEALTH: AS IF WE DIDN'T HAVE
ENOUGH TO WORRY ABOUT
From Andrew Yee <ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca>
Yale University
CONTACT: Cynthia L. Atwood, (203) 432-1326 #155
Yale Astronomers Study Superflares on Stars Just Like Our Sun
New Haven, Conn. -- In the Greek myth of Phaethon, the chariot of
the
Sun inadvertently drives too close to the Earth, creating the
Sahara
desert with its scorching heat. Whether that myth is based in
some
small part on observations of a "superflare" emanating
from the Sun and
scorching the Earth in past millennia is a question that
intrigues Yale
University astrophysicists Bradley E. Schaefer and Eric P.
Rubenstein.
At a news conference today during the annual meeting of the
American
Astronomical Society in Austin, Tex., Schaefer and his colleagues
reported
that nine stars on which superflares have been observed during
the past
century are disturbingly similar to our Sun in size, age,
luminosity and
rotation speed. (Other collaborators on the research were Jeremy
R. King,
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.; and
Constantine P.
Deliyannis, Indiana University, Bloomington).
"It's only natural to ask what would happen on Earth if such
a
superflare were to suddenly occur on our Sun, or to speculate why
such
flares apparently have not happened here," Schaefer said. He
noted that
a superflare -- a flare 100 to 10 million times larger than the
largest
flare ever seen on our Sun -- would severely disrupt radio
communication, burn out all orbiting satellites, black out power
grids
worldwide, and create spectacular auroras visible from the poles
to the
equator.
"Large superflares could warm a cold winter day into a hot
summer day,"
he said. "But the primary damage would come from high energy
radiation,
which would react in the Earth's upper atmosphere to destroy the
protective ozone layer for several years, thereby exposing the
Earth's
surface to harmful ultraviolet radiation with subsequent collapse
of
the food chain."
Fortunately, such grim possibilities appear to be unlikely, the
researchers agreed. Any superflares on our Sun during the last
150
years of scientific monitoring would certainly have been noted,
while
any superflare within the last two millenia would likely have
appeared
in the historical record as a sudden heat wave or global aurora,
Schaefer said. Furthermore, a large superflare probably would
have
melted the icy surfaces of moons around Jupiter and Saturn,
forming
vast flood plains. The absence of smooth frozen surfaces on these
moons
means that large superflares have not occurred in the last
billion
years or so. "Despite the myth of Phaethon, our Sun
apparently has only
rare superflares, if any," Schaefer concluded.
Stars like our Sun have superflares an average of about once a
century, the
researchers calculated, and it is just this type of star around
which
planets recently were discovered, opening the door to the
exciting
possibility of organic life flourishing elsewhere. It is unknown
whether
recurring superflares would encourage evolution by providing an
energy
source for prebiotic chemical reactions or would prevent new
lifeforms from
gaining a foothold.
Next, Yale scientists hope to find more examples of superflares
by
monitoring a very large number of stars -- a feat that is
possible
using a Yale camera mounted on a telescope in Venezuela, which
nightly
scans more than a million solar-type stars in search of
mysterious
distant objects called quasars as part of the QUEST project. In
addition, theoretical work to understand the energy-release
mechanism
of stars might help answer the question of which stars are prone
to
superflares, Schaefer said.
One theory currently being studied by Rubenstein is that the
stars on
which superflares have been observed have relatively strong
magnetic
fields that interact with a nearby large planet about the size of
Jupiter, causing the build-up and periodic release of vast
amounts of
energy.
Rubenstein believes that these outbursts are similar to energetic
eruptions observed from some stars in binary systems, in which a
pair
of stars are gravitationally bound together and orbit around each
other. A category of binary stars called RS CVn binaries
routinely have
eruptions that release as much energy as superflares, he said.
While astronomers still don't know all of the details of what
causes RS
CVn binaries to flare, most accept the theory that energy is
released
from the intertwined magnetic fields between the two stars. At
some
point, the twisted fields suddenly reorganize into a simpler
geometry
via a process called magnetic reconnection, Rubenstein said. When
this
event occurs, the magnetic field emerging from one star becomes
connected temporarily to the other star, and vice versa. Stored
energy
is released in the form of light and X-rays as the magnetic
reconnection occurs. "A similar process would be a physical
system
composed of, say, rubber bands twisted together," Rubenstein
said.
"When the elastic bands are released, they suddenly snap and
fly off.
The energy is released and channeled into propelling the rubber
bands instead of producing light."
All nine of the superflares identified by Schaefer are either
from
single stars or stars with companions too distant to interact
magnetically with the flaring star. However, a nearby planet
could
cause the same reaction, even though the planet would be
difficult to
detect, Rubenstein noted.
"Until two years ago, no planets outside of our solar system
had been
detected. Now, more than a dozen planetary systems have been
found,
most of which have planets with masses comparable to Jupiter that
orbit
close to the parent star. In some cases, these planets are closer
to
their star than Mercury is to our Sun," Rubenstein said.
If the Jupiter-sized planets around other stars also have strong
magnetic fields like Jupiter, the combination of proximity and
magnetic
field strength could lead to magnetic interactions similar to
those
observed in RS CVn binary systems. That interaction would then
lead to
energy being stored and subsequently released in the form of a
superflare. "Fortunately for us, there is no danger of a
magnetic
reconnection being triggered by Jupiter, which is too far from
the Sun,
or triggered by the inner four planets, which have much smaller
magnetic field strengths," Rubenstein said.
Rubenstein's hypothesis can be tested by searching for
"stars that have
strong magnetic fields and large, close-by planets,"
Schaefer said.
"Such stars would be more prone to superflares. In the
meantime, we
should not fear Phaethon's chariot."
Note to Editors: Many of the observations for this study were
made with
the Wisconsin-Indiana-Yale-National Optical Astronomy
Observatories
(WIYN) 3.5-meter telescope atop Kitt Peak National Observatory
near
Tucson, Arizona. For further information, contact Professor
Schaefer at
(203) 432-3806, e-mail schaefer@grb2.physics.yale.edu;
or Rubenstein at
(203) 432-3028, e-mail ericr@astro.yale.edu
.
===========================
(2) LUNAR PROSPECTOR FINDINGS
From Andrew Yee <ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca>
Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space
Contact: Buddy Nelson (510) 797-0349
Pager: (888) 916-1797
Email: buddy1@home.com
http://lmms.external.lmco.com/
99-01
A year at the Moon: Lockheed Martin Lunar Prospector spacecraft
continues mission of discovery
SUNNYVALE, Calif., January 6, 1999 -- NASA's Lunar Prospector
spacecraft, designed and built at Lockheed Martin Missiles &
Space in
Sunnyvale, has marked one year in orbit around the Moon and
continues
to provide high quality data to scientists.
"Lunar Prospector has performed flawlessly over the past
year," said
Dr. Alan Binder, Lunar Prospector principal investigator and
director
of the Lunar Research Institute in Gilroy, Calif. "The
quality of the
data we've gathered is, in some cases, a factor of ten better
than that
which we promised to NASA at the outset, and we fulfilled all of
our
science objectives long before this first anniversary."
"Lunar
Prospector has been an extraordinarily successful mission,"
said Scott
Hubbard, NASA Mission Manager at the Ames Research Center in
Mountain
View, Calif. "This little spacecraft has returned wonderful
science and
has proved the concept of 'faster, better, cheaper'."
On December 19, 1998, the spacecraft was commanded into a 40
kilometer
(25 mile) lunar polar orbit, down from its 100 kilometer (63
mile)
mapping orbit, signaling the transition to the extended mission.
The
spacecraft will remain in the new 40-km orbit for about 4 weeks,
and
then be commanded to an even closer 25-30 km (approximately 15 to
19
mile) orbital path later this month. These actions will
officially
complete the end of the very successful primary mission, which
began
January 1998.
The extended mission is expected to continue through June 1999,
during
which time the five instruments onboard will gather additional
science
data at significantly higher resolutions. These higher
resolutions will
enable scientists to continue to refine their estimates
concerning the
concentration and form of hydrogen detected at the north and
south
lunar poles, which mission scientists interpret as deposits of
water
ice. Mapping of the Moon's magnetic and gravity fields will also
benefit greatly from the lower orbit. Additionally, initial
global maps
of the Moon's elements will be confirmed with the close-up data.
Lunar Prospector was launched on Jan. 6, 1998, aboard a Lockheed
Martin
Athena 2 rocket and entered lunar orbit on Jan. 11, 1998. The
Lunar
Prospector mission is a joint effort of Lockheed Martin Missiles
&
Space, NASA Ames Research Center, and the Lunar Research
Institute.
Additional important contributions came from Los Alamos National
Laboratory, the U.C. Berkeley Space Science Laboratory, and the
NASA
Goddard Space Flight Center. The $63 million mission is managed
by the
Ames Research Center.
LUNAR PROSPECTOR FINDINGS
Water Ice at the Poles
The north and south poles of the Moon may contain up to six
billion
metric tons of water ice, a more than ten-fold increase over
previous
estimates, according to scientists working with data from NASA's
Lunar
Prospector mission.
Growing evidence now suggests that water ice deposits of
relatively
high concentration are trapped beneath the soil in the
permanently
shadowed craters of both lunar polar regions. The researchers
believe
that alternative explanations, such as concentrations of hydrogen
from
the solar wind, are unlikely.
In March of 1998, mission scientists reported a water signal with
a
minimum abundance of one percent by weight of water ice in rocky
lunar
soil (regolith) corresponding to an estimated total of 300
million
metric tons of ice at the Moon's poles. "We based those
earlier,
conscientiously conservative estimates on graphs of neutron
spectrometer data, which showed distinctive dips over the lunar
polar
regions," said Binder. "This indicated significant
hydrogen enrichment,
a telltale signature of the presence of water ice.
"Subsequent analysis, combined with improved lunar models,
shows
conclusively that there is hydrogen at the Moon's poles,"
Binder said.
"Though other explanations are possible, we interpret the
data to mean
that significant quantities of water ice are located in
permanently
shadowed craters in both lunar polar regions.
"The data do not tell us definitively the form of the water
ice,"
Binder added. "However, if the main source is cometary
impacts, as most
scientists believe, our expectation is that we have areas at both
poles
with layers of near-pure water ice." In fact, the new
analysis
"indicates the presence of discrete, confined, near-pure
water ice
deposits buried beneath as much as 18 inches (40 centimeters) of
dry
regolith, with the water signature being 15 percent stronger at
the
Moon's north pole than at the south."
How much water do scientists believe they have found? "It is
difficult
to develop a numerical estimate," said Dr. William Feldman,
co-investigator and spectrometer specialist at the Department of
Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory, NM. "However, we
calculate
that each polar region may contain as much as three billion
metric tons
of water ice."
Elemental Composition Maps
In other results, data from Lunar Prospector's gamma ray
spectrometer
have been used to develop the first global maps of the Moon's
elemental
composition. The maps delineate large compositional variations of
thorium, potassium and iron over the lunar surface, providing
insights
into the Moon's crust as it was formed. The distribution of
thorium and
potassium on the Moon's near side supports the idea that some
portion
of materials rich in these trace elements was scattered over a
large
area as a result of ejection by asteroid and comet impacts.
Lunar Magnetic Fields
Mission scientists also report the detection of strong, localized
magnetic fields. While the magnetic fields are relatively weak
and not
global in nature like those of most planets, the Moon does
contain
magnetized rocks on its upper surface, according to data from
Lunar
Prospector's magnetometer and electron reflectometer. The
resultant
strong, local magnetic fields create the two smallest known
magnetospheres in the Solar System.
These mini-magnetospheres are located diametrically opposite to
large
impact basins on the lunar surface, leading scientists to
conclude that
the magnetic regions formed as the result of these titanic
impacts. One
theory is that these impacts produced a cloud of electrically
charged
gas that expanded around the Moon in about five minutes,
compressing
and amplifying the pre-existing, primitive ambient magnetic field
on
the opposite side. This field was then "frozen" into
the surface crust
and retained as the Moon's then-molten core solidified and the
global
field vanished
Gravity Map of the Moon
Using data from Prospector's Doppler gravity experiment,
scientists
have developed the first precise gravity map of the entire lunar
surface. In the process, they have discovered seven previously
unknown
mass concentrations, lava-filled craters on the lunar surface
known to
cause gravitational anomalies. Three are located on the Moon's
near
side and four on its far side. This new, high-quality information
will
help engineers determine the long-term, altitude-related behavior
of
lunar-orbiting spacecraft, and more accurately assess fuel needs
for
possible future Moon missions.
Iron Lunar Core
Finally, Lunar Prospector data suggests that the Moon has a
small,
iron-rich core approximately 186 miles (300 kilometers) in
radius,
which is toward the smaller end of the range predicted by most
current
theories. "This theory seems to best fit the available data
and models,
but it is not a unique fit," cautioned Binder. "We will
be able to say
much more about this when we get magnetic data related to core
size
later in the mission." Ultimately, a precise figure for the
core size
will help constrain models of how the Moon originally formed.
Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space, based in Sunnyvale, Calif.,
is a
leading supplier of satellites and space systems to military,
civil
government and commercial communications organizations around the
world. These spacecraft and systems have enhanced military and
commercial communications; provided new and timely remote-sensing
information; and furnished new data for thousands of scientists
studying our planet and the universe.
==============
(3) MARS MICROPHONE
From Andrew Yee <ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca>
University of California-Berkeley
NEWS RELEASE: 1/5/99
Mars Microphone, built at UC Berkeley and funded by the Planetary
Society,
Launched Jan. 3
By Susan Lendroth, Planetary Society
The Martian hills are alive with the sounds of ... what? Wind,
sandstorms, lightning? No one yet knows what we may hear or even
whether there will be sounds on Mars, but we may have the answer
within
one year.
On January 3, 1999, the Mars Polar Lander was launched, carrying
the
first microphone to the Red Planet. The Mars Microphone was
developed
for the Planetary Society by the University of California,
Berkeley
Space Sciences Laboratory. It is flying aboard the Mars Polar
Lander
within a lidar instrument built by the Russian Space Research
Institute
(IKI).
The Mars Microphone is a milestone since it is the first
scientific
instrument funded by a public-interest organization to fly aboard
a
planetary mission. The microphone was funded by donations from
Planetary
Society members.
The lidar is also a milestone -- a milestone in cooperation
between
Russia and the United States since it will be the first Russian
instrument to fly aboard a US planetary mission.
The idea of placing a microphone on Mars was suggested by
Planetary
Society President Carl Sagan several years ago. Sagan later wrote
in a
1996 letter to NASA, "Even if only a few minutes of Martian
sounds are
recorded from this first experiment, the public interest will be
high
and the opportunity for scientific exploration real."
Louis Friedman, Executive Director of the Society, developed the
means
to implement the idea by working with the Russian lidar team, the
University of California, Berkeley, and the Mars Polar Lander
project.
Friedman says, "Placing a microphone to listen in on another
world is a
real opportunity for discovery. The interest of the public is
matched
by that of the engineering and science teams on the mission --
everyone
wants to hear what Mars sounds like."
The Mars Microphone can record natural sounds on Mars, such as
wind,
dust and electrical discharges in the Martian atmosphere, as well
as
noises of the moving parts of the spacecraft. The microphone can
be
triggered randomly by naturally occurring sounds or it can be
programmed to listen to specific lander actions, such as when the
arm
digs in the soil.
The UC Berkeley team of Janet Luhmann, Dave Curtis, and Greg
Delory
built the Mars Microphone from mostly off-the-shelf parts,
including a
microphone used in hearing aids and a microprocessor chip used in
speech-recognition devices and talking toys. The Mars Microphone
uses
Sensory, Inc's RSC-164 IC (Integrated Circuit or
"chip"), the most
popular IC for speech recognition in consumer electronics.
The Russian lidar is designed to examine dust and aerosols in the
atmosphere. Principal Investigators of the lidar experiment are
Viacheslav Linkin and Alexander Lipatov of IKI.
Students around the world are invited to participate in a
Planetary
Society essay contest to predict what sounds might be heard on
Mars.
The Society will conduct the contest in cooperation with Arizona
State
University's Mars K-12 Education Program. Students will write
essays
about what sounds on Mars might be like now as well as a hundred
years
from now, imagining a future Mars that might be very different
from the
planet today, perhaps colonized by humans. The contest winner
will
receive a trip to Planetfest '99 in December. For more
information on
the contest, contact Linda Hyder at (626)793-5100 or at
tps.lh@mars.planetary.org.
Data -- the sounds -- from the Mars Microphone will be offered to
the
public on the Planetary Society's World Wide Web site and in
material
developed by the Society in cooperation with other organizations.
Educators will be able to log onto the Society's Web site for
special
curriculum devoted to the Mars Microphone. The Planetary
Society's
address is http://planetary.org
. Berkeley's Web site is
http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/marsmic
.
Other instruments on the Mars Polar Lander include cameras, a
robotic
arm, and soil composition instruments. Two penetrators (or
microprobes)
will also be sent to the surface on that mission.
The Mars Polar Lander will arrive at Mars on December 3, 1999.
The
Planetary Society will celebrate the landing with a major public
event
in Pasadena, California called Planetfest '99, held December 3-5,
1999.
Carl Sagan, Bruce Murray, and Louis Friedman founded the Society
in
1980 to advance the exploration of the solar system and to
continue the
search for extraterrestrial life. With 100,000 members in more
than 100
countries, the Society is the largest space-interest group in the
world.
----------------------------------------
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Information circulated on this network is for scholarly and
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*
SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT POPULAR MISCONCEPTIONS
From Julian Hiscox <Julian.Hiscox@bbsrc.ac.uk>
In his thought for the day Andrew Glikson made a number of
statements
which are not entirely accurate and deserve comment as in my
opinion
these are popular misconceptions.
> (1) Primitive organisms survive longer than complex
organisms, as
> exemplified by prokaryote alga colonies (stromatolites)
identified in
> 3.5 billion years-old sediments in the Pilbara (Western
Australia)
> and still living at present in the inter-tidal flats of
Shark Bay, a
> few hundred kilometer away - with implications for the
longevity of
> the highly specialized Homosapiens
The stromatolites identified in the 3.5 billion year old deposits
in
Greenland and Australia are not the same as those living today.
The
stromatolites of yesteryear are long dead but their descendants
are
alive today. In fact all species on this planet are probably
derived
from these ancient microbes. The current micro-organisms
resembling the
micro-fossils diverged from the ancestral tree before Homo
sapiens (two
words) and occupy the same niche.
Bacteria are not primitive. They happen to divide and reproduce
faster
than more 'advanced' organisms such as ourselves. The cellular
machinery and replication mechanisms are complex and geared
towards
rapid replication. Hence bacteria are able to respond to
environmental
changes because the adaptation necessary to survive such changes
are
already present in the population.
>(2) Organisms which live in symbiosis are biologically
successful,
> whereas those which destroy their hosts perish with them -
as
> exemplified by various strands of viruses and bacteria. The
lesson
> for Homosapiens is obvious.
Not necessary. Symbiotic organisms are successful but the
majority of
organisms on the planet are parasites in one way or another and
are
very successful at what they do. Pathogenic viruses and bacteria
are
the obvious manifestations of this. The sole purpose of life, if
you
agree with Richard Dawkins (and I do), is to pass on your DNA (or
RNA
in the case of some viruses). If you happen to be good at this
then
what is the problem?
>(3) Growth for growth sake - whether by DNA, or of the
national GNP,
> whether within individual planets or within interplanetary
systems,
> may not be biologically advantageous or even possible.
Nature has her
> checks and balances - exhaustion of resources, increasing
> environmental toxicity, microbes, genetic mutations ... Is
growth in
> quantity more important than growth in quality? Does
intelligence
> reside in blind following of unchecked exponential
growth, as is
> occurring at present on Earth, or in the recognition
of the limits
> to growth?
Growth is advantageous because you have the maximum number of
individuals with different genotypes and phenotypes which are
able to
respond as a population to an environmental change. Genetic
mutations
are an inherent part of replication of any organism on this
planet and
are one of the causes of variations seen within a population -
which
thus allow a population to respond to an environmental change.
> Two recommendations to the uninitiated: One - visit a remote
Amazon
> tribe, or an Australian aborigine clan, and experience the
simple
> beauty of life in harmony with nature. Two - visit
your local video
> store and discover for yourself whether you are still intent
on
> exporting such (unfortunately dominant) homicide and obscene
> barbarism to other planets? If today's science fiction is
tomorrow's
> reality, the planetcide scenes which dominate Star Wars
movies
> forebodes ill to our planetary neighbors ...
Disease and starvation are rampant in Amazon tribes, hence the
high
infant (and adult) mortality rates (the aborigines on the other
hand
have access to Western medicine). Amazonian tribes (historically)
have
always been at war, cannibalism was frequently practiced. Surely
some of these tribes are good examples of 'homicide and obscene
barbarism'.
Dr. Julian A. Hiscox
*
THOUGHT OF THE DAY
DEFENCE OF THE REALM AND SPACE COLONIZATION
From Andrew Glikson <aygsearch@cos.com.au>
The emerging ideology that sees human destiny as intrinsically
intertwined with space colonisation invites a comment from
geological,
biological, and ethical perspectives. In terms of my studies of
terrestrial origins and the effects of asteroid/comet impacts on
evolution, I regard the protection of bio-diversity and human
life -
including potential deflection of incoming asteroids - as high
ideals.
What concerns me are suggestions whose logical consequences, as I
will
attempt to indicate below, can only be detrimental to the
prospects of
life - on Earth as well as other planets.
Evolutionary sciences teach us, among other, that:
(1) Primitive organisms survive longer than complex organisms, as
exemplified by procaryote algal colonies (stromatolites)
identified in
3.5 billion years-old sediments in the Pilbara (Western
Australia) and
still living at present in the inter-tidal flats of Shark Bay, a
few
hundred kilometer away - with implications for the longevity of
the
highly specialized Homosapiens
(2) Organisms which live in symbiosis are biologically
successful,
whereas those which destroy their hosts perish with them - as
exemplified by various strands of viruses and bacteria. The
lesson for
Homosapiens is obvious.
(3) Growth for growth sake - whether by DNA, or of the national
GNP,
whether within individual planets or within interplanetary
systems, may
not be biologically advantageous or even possible. Nature
has her
checks and balances - exhaustion of resources, increasing
environmental
toxicity, microbes, genetic mutations ... Is growth in quantity
more
important than growth in quality? Does intelligence reside
in blind
following of unchecked exponential growth, as is occurring at
present
on Earth, or in the recognition of the limits to growth?
The assumption of superior human intelligence and moral authority
inherent in the ideology of space colonization is questionable at
best.
The effects of Homosapiens on the biosphere, in terms of
deforestation,
soil erosion, ozone depletion, global warming, chemical and
radioactive
pollution, and - not least - the disappearance of other species,
have
been compared to those caused by an impact of a large
asteroid. It is
a first order ethical question whether most or all of the
existing
resources should not, first and foremost, be harnessed to
counteract
these deleterious antropogenic environmental effects.
Unfortunately, the questions of space colonization and of the
rapid
deterioration of the terrestrial biosphere can not be divorced
from one
another. Resources are limited - the $$$trillions required for
space
colonization are the very same $$$trillions required for
attempted
restoration of the terrestrial environment.
These are also the same $$$trillions required to feed and
alleviate the
suffering of billions of already living human beings. This
century's
tragic history warns us gravely against any ideologies and
"High
Causes" which claim priority over the life and death of
ordinary human
beings. Space colonization may sound like destiny, a perpetration
of
our genes into space and time (biologically in terms of the
"Selfish
Gene"), perhaps a mission as divine as the building of the
pyramids was
for the Pharaohs... Contrast such messianic zeal with the feeding
of a
starving child... The question touches on our deepest moral
values as
individuals and as a society.
Two recommendations to the uninitiated: One - visit a remote
Amazon
tribe, or an Australian aborigine clan, and experience the simple
beauty of life in harmony with nature. Two - visit your
local video
store and discover for yourself whether you are still intent on
exporting such (unfortunately dominant) homicide and obscene
barbarism
to other planets? If today's science fiction is tomorrow's
reality, the
planetcide scenes which dominate Star Wars movies forebodes ill
to our
planetary neighbors ...
Let me quote Carl Sagan's concluding words to Cosmos: "Our
loyalties
are to the species and the planet. We speak for the Earth. Our
obligation to survive is owed not just to ourselves but to that
Cosmos,
ancient and vast, from which we spring.".