John Young: Deadly Serious Business

http://www.johnwyoung.org/main/jyessay.htm
http://www.johnwyoung.org/main/enlarge-main/young-2002.htm
"Conclusion: The human race is at total war. Our enemy is ignorance, pure and simple. The last 25 years of NASA's Solar System exploration including Earth is telling us what we need to do topre serve our species. This new knowledge is useless unless we act on it. Large volcanoes on Earth, giant impacts on Earth, or unreliable solar activity cannot be ignored. Historical statistics show thatthese events are likely in our lifetimes or the lifetimes of our children and grand children. Knowing what we know now, we are being irresponsible in our failure to make the scientific and technical progress we will need for protecting our newly discovered severely threatened and probably endangered species -- us. NASA is not about the 'Adventure of Human Space Exploration,' we are in the deadly serious business of saving the species. All Human Exploration's bottom line is about preserving our species over the long haul."