Space Stations Were Always So Green
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 11.13.08
Avi at Dark Roasted Blend does a great collection of images of distant worlds, but I was most interested in the visions of space stations from NASA Ames in the early 1970s; notice how everything is so green.
Clearly these designers knew something that we seem to have forgotten: If you want to build a sustainable community you need lots of trees. Cylinders, Bernal Spheres, Toroidal Colonies, all full of trees.
The occasional bridge is nice too, to remind one of home;
But clearly, the over-arching image is that of trees, clean water, modern architecture and flat roofs. (Don Davis, the artist of this and a few others, is still at it, including work for TreeHugger owner Discovery Channel). It appears that he was sensitive to this:
The 1975 NASA Ames/Stanford University Summer Study worked out the broad engineering requirements for a toroidal shaped space colony design. This painting used the design, but I refused to fill the interior with the 'shopping mall gone mad' clutter of other drawings. Again the challenge of sustaining something like a closed ecosystem was a theme I wanted to emphasize. This design became known as the 'Stanford Torus'.
If the builders on earth had done half as good a job we would be in a lot better shape today. Space Colony Art from the 1970s
and Donald Davis Public Domain Works for NASA
Instead we built monster garages with houses attached to them and nary a tree in sight. Space looks far more attractive.
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You need to recheck the URL in your first paragraph.
How about we take the $700 billion to bail out financial institutions and build one of these instead; it's about time for a new venue and off planet living and work sounds quite fetching.
Yes, I think space living and travel (and actual living and travel, not the current short stints now in a "space station" will teach humans what it really means to recycle, reuse, and simplify.
Well, I at least like to think that.
Check out the L5 Society...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L5_Society