I am sure by now most of you have seen or heard about the movie Gravity, starting Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.
In case you haven’t seen it, the basis of the movie is about two astronauts repairing a portion of the space station. Suddenly, things go horribly wrong and they have to use their intuition to survive and try to return to earth.
I have always had a desire to go into space, but after this movie, I am not so sure! It is really scary to be alone in space.
At some point during the movie, George Clooney refers to our planet as mother earth. I then realized how true this is. Despite all its problems, we are really infants to our mother earth. Release us in space, and we are helpless, just like an infant.
We are decades away from being able to live in outer space. Yes, we know some of the side effects of short time weightless- ness, but what about years of living in space? There is also constant radiation, which increases the risk of certain cancers significantly.
We still haven’t found any planet which is habitable, and if there are any (assuming no one who can kill us live there!), there are too far for us to reach. The other option is to transform (terraform) a planet into a habitable one. However, we do not have the technology. Even if we did, it will take time to terraform a planet. Our mother earth is the only mother we have! It is, therefore, critical we take care of her. We have little control over what our governments do (especially other countries governments). However, we do have some control over our immediate environment. Please recycle! It is the least one can do.
Michael A. Jazayeri, M.D. is a board certified plastic surgeon in Santa Ana with over 13 years of experience. His office is located in Orange County, California. To schedule a complimentary consultation, please call (714) 834-0101.