Buy a Ticket to The Moon-the World Will End Soon

  It was BLY 102 class in 1992-INTRODUCTORY ECOLOGY.The lecturer told  us  that if God  does not  destroy the world  as  Christians  say,we  will destroy it ourselves.Quite true.Like  a body  becoming too old  to support the  soul,planet  earth  is  aging fast.

 Ozone layer depletion,global warming,melting of the North polar cap,increasing species classified as “endangered”,tsunamis,earthquakes,acid rain,carbon monoxide poisoning,particulates etc  are pointing  to one  fact-the  earth is living  on  borrowed  time.

 In environmental chemistry class,we were taught  that  the  soil,vegetation, and  other natural elements of  the  ecosystem act as “sinks”(neutralizers)for pollution produced through human activities.Good  news.The  bad  news is  that there is  now severe  ecosystem imbalance  due  to deforestation,industrialization,population explosion,mineral resources exploration etc.The natural sinks are  depleting  while  the pollutants  are  building.

 In Lagos,Nigeria,there were rumours  that  there would  be  acid  rain.So  wild were the  rumours  that passengers  in a bus  refused  to come down  when  they  got  to  their destination believing  that  it was  the  acid  rain  on rampage!What is  an  acid rain?It is  the  product of the chemical  reaction between rain water ,carbonmonoxide and sulphurdioxide released by car emmissions  and  industrial activities.It has  a corrosive  effect on  infrastructures.It is  an environmental  threat to major cities  of the  world.

 In the  course of  my studies  in environmental sustainability,I became  convinced that one  of the  reason  why  developed nations  are  bent  on space exploration is  that  the leadership know  or  suspect that there would one day be  a  global disaster that will render planet earth uninhabitable.The option  is  to  find  another planet in space that  can support human life.Scientists  are looking  for water on  the moon and  mars.Oxygen levels  of the planets  are being sampled.Men are now  permanently in space stations.In the case of any eventualities,the  privileged ones  can  find  themselves  in  space!