Breck’s Homepage

The Atlantic has a very, very interesting article on the danger to earth posed by meteors and asteroids. I liked it because it echoes my general philosophy on the environment. My general idea is that it’s important to protect the environment, preserve reservation areas, and do what we can to take care of the earth, but lets not get all worked up about the harm humans are causing the planet, when in reality mother nature will most likely obliterate this planet without our help. (This opinion was largely influenced by Bill Bryson’s book: A Short History of Nearly Everything–a great read).

The basic summary of the article:

1.) Objects in space travel extremely fast. Tens of thousands of miles per hour–many miles per second. So a relatively small extraterristial object can create a nuclearesque explosion when it hits the earth at 20 miles per second.

2.) There have been many more earth impacts than previously thought–the subject of the article is a scientist who had the insight that if 70% of the earth is covered in water, then 70% of impact zones will be underwater as well. Subsequent findings have confirmed this.

3.) There are many more near earth objects than previously thought. Recent advances by NASA and others have led to satellites and equipment better able to detect smaller objects near the planet.