Discussion | Is Terraforming the Solution to Earth's Evergrowing Problem? + Book Recommendations!

Earlier this month, I saw a video about terraforming and really made me start thinking. First, take a spin with the video if you are interested in our species' future on our home planet Earth.

The video talks about terraforming options. This includes Mars, Venus, Titan, and Europa. To be honest, I always thought that we wouldn't need another Earth for a good 5-7 billion years. That's when the sun will expand until becoming a white dwarf. In this expansion, earth  would die. But if we continue with how we are treating Earth today, the expiration date is much closer. It's still well after my life span on Earth, but it's harrowing to think that humans might cause the demise of our planet. 

Do you think terraforming is a viable solution? Or do you think are chances are better with planets far, far away from here such as Kepler-452b, which is named Earth 2.0? Since it would take us around 28 million years to reach Earth 2.0, do you think our time should be spent learning how to terraform, or learning how to travel quicker?

In my opinion, I'm for both! If we start terraforming a planet or moon in our solar system, it's a moot point. We need to find a place that would not be too hard to terraform that is in a solar system that is still viable 7 billion years from now when our own Sun dies. But we all need to start somewhere! I would love for the practice to be on Mars, which already has liquid water. That saves one step for us!

But anyways, this video also made me think of the books I have read that include terraforming or those that I want to read! I don't talk about these books nearly as often as I should!

1) The Martian by Andy Weir
Okay, so I actually haven't read this book, but I know that terraforming does happen here. In the movie trailer, you see Mark Watney make his own small habitat and food. This is very small scale terraforming, but he does it! 

2) Lockstep by Karl Schroeder
Lockstep is a science fiction standalone novel about Toby, who wakes up after a 14,000 year sleep. He wakes up to see that his brother, Peter, is a tyrant basically in control of the galaxy. Toby lives on a planet that was terraformed, so there you go!

3) These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
These Broken Stars is the first book in Kaufman's and Spooner's Starbound trilogy. The heroines of These Broken Stars are stranded on a desolate planet mid way through terraforming. However, this terraforming isn't going as planned and there seems to be some other creatures hanging around the planet besides the protagonists. I absolutely love this series, and would recommend it to anyone who wants to dip their toe into young adult science fiction. 

Have you read any books that feature terraforming? What planet or moon do you think we should terraform?

Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll see you soon with another post!

Happy Reading!

Genni @ Ready, Set, Read!