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Old 16-December-2006, 03:05 AM
JonClarke JonClarke is online now
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Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Canberra Australia
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Doodler View Post
Dude, there's nothing there to despoil, its a barren rock. Its bombarded by more radiation than the Nevada desert, has less atmosphere than a yuppie coffee house, and no animals for PETA, WWF, or any of the other wounded hearts to bleed over.

Turn industry loose where there's simply no real damage to do other than to themselves.
Even sterile rock still has beauty and value.

The Moon is highly visible everywhere in the world and has great cultural significance.

Uncontrolled lunar development will impact on other potential lunar activities - such as astronomy.

Space advocates dismissing people with environmental concerns as yuppies, wounded bleeding hearts, and other epithets is utterly unhelpful. It is reminiscent of the worst rape and pillage mentality of the 19th century of of for former Soviet Union. You want to win people over, not drive therm away.

Furthermore it is utterly unrealistic to expect there to be no controls over lunar development. There will be. There will be a need to reserve common resources (vacuum, solar power), not impinge on other users (astromers for example), and preserve natural beauty.

Jon
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