AS we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, let us dedicate ourselves to the achievement of Kardashev 1: a global system that consumes energy at the rate it can be acquired by renewable means, rather than relying on reckless exploitation of fossil fuels accumulated over hundreds of millions of years to the detriment of the environment today.
To do this we need to install, in the next 10 years, at least 10 terawatts of new renewables, plant at least one trillion trees, and build infrastructure that lets clean energy permeate all sectors of our emerging circular economies. Then, within this decade, we will establish human civilisation safely and sustainably here on Earth.
50 years ago, 400,000 people worked for 10 years to deliver a few men to the surface of the moon to survive for a few days and return safely to Earth. Let us collaborate with all 7.53 billion human individuals now living over the next 10 years to safely and sustainably deliver all of humanity to the surface of the Earth for all time.
Let this now be our mission.
Dr Peter J M Clive
Glasgow
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