The Bear Cave
All of America turned its eyes to the skies when Elon Musk’s astronautics company, SpaceX, launched its Starlink satellites into orbit a few weeks ago. In the month before that, Congress held a public hearing on a government task force that studies unidentified aerial phenomena. During the hearing, “non-human” aircraft and “biologics” were mentioned, sparking alien conspiracy theories across social media and igniting a newfound “craze for space.”
But America’s enthusiasm for space dates back far later than a few months ago. In the 20th century, the United States and the Soviet Union had engaged in a space race during the Cold War. The two countries competed to achieve superiority in the area of space exploration, especially in human spaceflight.
I bring all this up not to partake in the debate over aliens, or to give Elon Musk any more attention, but to demonstrate the past and current fascination America has with big, lofty achievements that seem “out of this world.” Right now, it’s space, but it could easily be the ocean or Antarctica if the public were as entertained by it. Whenever space exploration is in the news, it tends to overshadow the fact that we still have a lot of studying left to do on Earth.
Proverbs 26:16 states, “The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly.” This verse speaks to the pride in a lazy, unknowing person who presumes to be wiser and more knowledgeable than others. Sometimes we as humans get ahead of ourselves and presume that we know more than we do. We forget that scientific knowledge is constantly evolving and that we still have much to learn about our planet.
Don’t get me wrong—space exploration is amazing. It has brought mankind numerous benefits like GPS, satellites and more accurate weather prediction. I have no problem with funding and encouraging space exploration. But I think the current public interest in space can highlight humanity’s pride.
We are obsessed with grand discoveries and achievements. We like to think we already know everything. After all, we make assumptions about other planets based on what we know about ours, even though we know so little about the Earth we call home.
According to earth.org, a new study has revealed that “just over 50% of Earth’s land surface can be classified as having low human influence or being untouched completely.” And that’s just the Earth’s surface. The National Geographic states that more than 80% of the ocean is unexplored.
I believe it’s important to not forget all the good we can do on Earth in this craze for space.
For example, Zhongwen Zhan, a professor of geophysics at the California Institute of Technology, and his team recently published their findings on how fiber optic cables may impact earthquake monitoring. These internet-providing cables run underground for millions of miles globally. Zhan and his team used a 100-kilometer section of the cables to measure the details of a magnitude 6 earthquake that struck California in 2021.
Their research suggests that fiber optic cables can be repurposed to measure seismic activity more accurately than current monitoring systems. The cables are much more abundant and convenient to use, and they’d be able to provide a more advanced warning of an impending earthquake.
Zhan and his team’s research is just one example of how studying the Earth can provide so much goodness, even if it doesn’t make for as interesting of a headline. So, in the current fascination with space, let’s not forget all the good we can do here. The work here on Earth is not finished and nowhere near being complete.
Bear is the feature editor for the Liberty Champion
