Whatshot
The Road to a Sustainable Future
The Road to a Sustainable Future
Date: 2013-04-18
After being diagnosed with ALS when he was 21, Hawking went on to get his doctorate in physics from Cambridge University, along with 12 honorary degrees since then. Hawking estimates that we will consume or destroy the resources available on earth before the end of this millennium.
This is a very bleak reckoning, especially because it is coming from one of the greatest human minds of all time. Hawking believes that the only way for the human race to survive is to leave this "fragile planet" and make a new home somewhere in the depths of space.
However, during this time of global economic recession, space exploration has all but stopped, as budgets are cut, so is progress. According to Forbes Magazine we have "in excess of 50 years before oil production drops below half what is currently" and it is problems like these that the people of today have to come to terms with.
As sustainable energy no longer is a fashionable cause, but a necessary one for those who would like to see the human race living on this planet.
Hawking may be an intellectual genius, and I may not be, however I have faith in humanity, and I believe that with technology on our side, we will stop destroying our planet and start changing the way we do things. I guess we'll just have to see which one of us is right.