Bruce Ratcliffe - unpublished February 2017 - Earth First!

Earth First!
     Recently astronomers announced the discovery of seven Earth-size
planets orbiting a nearby star.  They’re excited about looking for
evidence that life has evolved there.  Perhaps they need not waste their
time.
     Consider: there are 100 billion stars in our galaxy.  SETI (Search
for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) has been looking for life out there
for half a century.  The basic idea is that any civilization advanced
enough to have invented radio would now be sending out a steady “I’m
here!” (Think: Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who”) signal. This would be
easily picked up with SETI’s extremely sensitive radio telescopes.
     So far?--nothing. Hmmmm.
     Here’s a sobering theory: Any civilization with modern electronics
would require lots of electricity to run, electricity generated by, say,
burning of fossil fuels.  They became so addicted to the lifestyle that
oil made possible, they couldn’t cut back even when it became clear
where they were heading.  Rising CO2 levels caused runaway heating of
their planet, cooked everyone.
     Citizens’ Climate Lobby has a workable plan to stop global warming
before it stops us.  Let’s make Earth be the first planet to avoid the
fate that brought civilizations on all the others to an end.

Bruce Ratcliffe