Daily Archives: December 1, 2021

In recent years, technology has been rapidly evolving, giving rise to new industries such as space tourism. As innovators create advanced aircraft, a trip to space could one day be a realistic travel option. Entrepreneurs at companies including Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic and SpaceX are looking to capitalize on renewed public interest in space travel. These companies are backed by billionaires including Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Richard Branson, who aim to offer people a chance to travel to space.

Jeff Bezos company Blue Origin is dedicated to advancing space travel for the benefit of Earth, according to Blue Origin. Companies are beginning to generate publicity for their flights using celebrities like former NFL star Michael Strahan, who will launch into space aboard a Blue Origin flight. That launch will be the first time all six seats on the rocket will be filled, and it will likely generate additional media coverage and interest in the company.

Bezos undertook a journey of his own in July when he and three others reached the outer limit of Earths atmosphere in the New Shepard launch vehicle. The event was highly anticipated as many debated the capabilities of Blue Origins aircraft. During the flight, the rocket flew about 62 miles to the internationally recognized boundary of space.

The New Shepard surpassed the distance reached earlier by competitor Richard Branson and his company Virgin Galactic. Some have doubts about Virgin Galactics ability to attract customers because of its low ticket sales and safety concerns.

Virgin Galactic halted ticket sales in the past but recently reopened reservations, and has sold around 700 tickets. With tickets costing close to $500,000, space travel is for the rich now, but as more flights sell in the future, the ticket prices might slowly drop.

Virgin Galactic is a publicly listed company and trades under the symbol SPCE. Earlier this year the stock surpassed $60 per share, showing investors are interested in space tourism. The price fell but surged again over the summer, indicating investors believe this fledgling business may become an established field in the future. The stock price has recently fallen because officials temporarily closed ticket sales in response to safety concerns, but should increase once commercial flights take place.

Musks SpaceX, which recently collaborated with NASA on a project meant to protect Earth from asteroids, is another company in the space technology mix. The company will launch a rocket into space to crash into an asteroid, testing the possibility of pushing one threatening Earth off course.

This work with NASA has helped establish SpaceX as a well-known company in the space field. That could translate into consumer trust of space tourism. The company already has the backing of Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, who will be the companys first tourist on a flight planned for 2023.

While space travel sounds enticing to many as both a vacation option and an investment, there are many risks involved. One example is a fatal 2014 crash during a Virgin Galactic test flight. During the flight, the aircraft broke apart, scattering debris over a 5-mile radius in the Mojave Desert and killing one person.

That incident serves as a reminder of the dangers of pioneering a new industry. To gain consumer confidence, Branson boarded a flight of his own and reached the edge of space in July. This has helped stave off peoples fears as they see a billionaire willing to risk his life betting on his companys design.

Space travel is still a developing sector, but tickets are selling and new developments and test flights are happening each year. As the flights give people a chance to explore new heights and see the earth from above, the burgeoning industry represents an attractive but potentially volatile investment opportunity.

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Space tourism is becoming a reality, but investing in it carries risk - The Arkansas Traveler

Representational Image

From time immemorial, there have been relentless speculations about the possibility of alien life. Ever since space exploration took off, we have realised that the chances of complex life forms in our immediate vicinity are quite bleak. But the possibility of past or present microbial life in our nearby celestial bodies have always excited scientists.

And while most of us may dismiss the matter as a lesser concern, some researchers have proposed that the advent of increasingly frequent space flights might put us under a genuine threat of unwelcome alien visitors. And they might not be the friendly ones like E.T. or Bollywood's own alien, Jadoo.

In reality, the probability of extraterrestrial life is more along the lines of alien microorganisms and less spooky antenna-bearing creatures. According to Anthony Ricciardi and his colleagues from McGill University, microscopic organisms from outer space, should they exist, may even hitch a ride on a spacecraft back to Earth.

Not only that, we might also end up sending microbes from Earth to space which could be equally bad. The researchers warn that sophisticated protocols are required to prevent biological contamination of extraterrestrial environments from Earth and vice versa.

Frankly, a lot of things!

Space-like conditions have proven to stimulate rapid genetic mutations in microorganisms. Researchers discovered that when a thousand generations of E.coli were grown in microgravity, the hazardous bacteria became even more competitive, resulting in antibiotic resistance.

Now imagine that such a resistant bacteria is accidentally carried back to Earth. It would be disastrous and might even endanger human life. And while this seems like a hypothetical situation, the authors reiterate an example of something that has already happened.

A while ago, bacterial strains showing extreme resistance have already been isolated in NASA "clean rooms", the place where engineers assemble spacecraft. The study's authors pointed out that if these tiny microbes find their way on board a spacecraft, they could grow even more virulent in microgravity conditions.

The recent research highlights several other instances where human-induced biological invasions of microorganisms on Earth have caused considerable damage to the native species.

Since 2013, scientists have been warning about the probability of radiation-resistant microbes returning to Earth, capable of surviving the severe conditions of space. Bacterial strains of this type have already been detected aboard the International Space Station, demonstrating how difficult they may be to avoid.

The researchers also point out that the evolutionary descendants of these bacterial strains could sabotage human efforts to colonise Mars!

As per Ricciardi, space agencies such as NASA have been aware of the possible concerns of biological contamination for many years, and planetary protection measures have been in place since the 1960s. However, the new phase of space exploration targeting places most likely to harbour life poses enormous risks, he said.

Unfortunately, the current planetary protection guidelines are not mandatory.

The International Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) has assembled a Panel on Planetary Protection, but none of the members has experience with invasion science. This, according to Australian invasion biologists, is a significant oversight. They claim that more complex processes are needed to prevent biological contamination of Earth from extraterrestrial settings and vice versa.

Another issue is the lack of knowledge about what's "alien" and what's native. Researchers propose greater collaboration between invasion biologists and astrobiologists to enhance existing international protocols for planetary biosecurityboth for Earth and for extraterrestrial bodies that could contain life.

The study was published in the journal BioScience this month and can be accessed here.

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Alien Bio-Threat: Space Travel Presents Biosecurity Risks of Pathogens Hitchhiking to Earth, Warn Scientists | The Weather Channel - Articles from The...

Oxford University researchers may have solved a mystery about the origins of Earth's water which could help future space travel.

The scientists describe how new analysis of an ancient asteroid suggests extra-terrestrial dust grains carried water to Earth as the planet formed.

According to the study, the water in the dust was produced by space weathering.

Researchers found the solar wind, made up of charged particles from the Sun, created water on the surface of dust grains carried on asteroids that smashed into the Earth during the early days of the Solar System.

They suggest the finding could answer the long-standing question of where the unusually water-rich Earth got the oceans which cover 70 per cent of its surface.

It could also help future space missions find sources of water on airless worlds.

Read also:See inside one of Oxford's cheapest homes to buy

Oxford University contributed to the study published in Nature Astronomy along with researchers from institutions across the world.

The University of Glasgow-led team used a process called atom probe tomography to scrutinise samples from a different type of space rock known as an S-type asteroid, which orbit closer to the Sun than C-types asteroids one type of water-carrying space rock.

The samples they analysed came from an asteroid called Itokawa, which were collected by the Japanese space probe Hayabusa and returned to Earth in 2010.

Lead author Dr Luke Daly, of the University of Glasgow said: The solar winds are streams of mostly hydrogen and helium ions which flow constantly from the Sun out into space.

When those hydrogen ions hit an airless surface like an asteroid or a spaceborne dust particle, they penetrate a few tens of nanometres below the surface, where they can affect the chemical composition of the rock.

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Over time, the space weathering effect of the hydrogen ions can eject enough oxygen atoms from materials in the rock to create H2O water trapped within minerals on the asteroid."

Co-author Professor Hope Ishii of the University of Hawaii at Manoa said: One of the problems of future human space exploration is how astronauts will find enough water to keep them alive and accomplish their tasks without carrying it with them on their journey.

We think its reasonable to assume that the same space weathering process which created the water on Itokawa will have occurred to one degree or another on many airless worlds like the Moon or the asteroid Vesta.

That could mean that space explorers may well be able to process fresh supplies of water straight from the dust on the planets surface.

Its exciting to think that the processes which formed the planets could help to support human life as we reach out beyond Earth.

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Have you got a story for us? Contact our newsdesk on news@nqo.com or 01865 425 445.

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Oxford researchers might have helped the future of space travel with new discovery - Oxford Mail

Our marvelous Moon is an inspiration for many creative folks. It certainly is for Sukhjit Singh. Ever since he was a kid, he has been fascinated by outer space. I would envision myself floating above the Moon lost in its incredible beauty, he recalls. Singh has now translated his love of the Milky Way into a creative product hes calling My Space Moon. Also known as the Moon Mirror, its a reflective surface that is color engraved with a pattern of a crescent moon accenting the edge of the piece.

My Space Moon is intended as a functional work of art that's as beautiful as it is useful. It contains incredible details that make the Moon Mirror a statement maker for your space. Carved into the piece are the intricacies of the surface of Earth's satellitecraters and all.

This attention to detail took two years of development and testingwith input from experts around the worldto produce the exquisite home accessory. What results is a mirror thats 31.5 inches in diameter with an engraved Moon surface encased in glass, making it easy to display and to clean. When hung, Singh hopes that it will evoke dreams of space travel.

My Space Moon is now available for pre-order. If youd like to reserve your own mirror, visit a LinkTree that Singh has set up.

My Space Moon: LinkTree | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok

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Exquisite Moon Mirror Is Engraved With Craters of Earth's Satellite - My Modern Met

Protecting open spaces from overtourism

Overtourism was a major concern prior to the pandemic. From Amsterdam to Venice, New Zealand to the national parks in the U.S., destinations worldwide were dealing with too many tourists.

Although the pandemic brought travel largely to a standstill, the scourge of overtourism is once again looming large. Rousseau points out that mankind's unsustainable production and consumption patterns has led to the planet losing nature faster than it can be restored.

Rousseau said she believes, however, that this decade is set to be defined by transformation and regeneration.

And Rwanda, Banda said, is the perfect example of regeneration and preservation of open spaces. The destination charges $1,000 for a gorilla permit that allows travelers to spend one hour with gorillas. The money is partially invested in protecting gorilla habitats, and as a result mountain gorilla numbers have surpassed 1,000 in the wild for the first time in 50 years.

The low-volume, high-value tourism in Rwanda can stand as a model to conservation efforts in the remote open spaces in Africa, according to Liz Loftus, a private travel designer for Alluring Africa.

Following that example, remote, sensitive ecosystems in Africa will survive and then thrive, she said, adding that conservation, community and open spaces go hand in hand. Impact is what we need to be cognizant of in the future. Low impact is only possible with low-volume, high-value tourism.

Suzanne Bayly, owner of Classic Portfolio, said there is no doubt this model is exceptionally beneficial for the environment, but it is important to ask who benefits from the high value. Is it larger companies that can invest at this level and get a commercial return, or it is the community and conservation stakeholders?

Bayly said that, with the price point of an average safari in Botswana and Rwanda set at over $1,000 per person, per night, it's important to be careful not to become a continent that is only available to the super rich. Africa is enormous, she said. We have loads of wild spaces that can be explored, exciting opportunities that can not only further conservation efforts but be truly inclusive of communities. We need to see a dramatic increase in tourism numbers, and the best outcome would be to have a variety of experiences at different price points and levels of comfort or luxury that appeal to as many travelers as possible.

It's not an easy balance to find, according to Raza Visram, director of AfricanMecca Safaris. He said that the low-volume, high-value tourism model can only be implemented in countries with low populations. Botswana has a population of only 2 million people. However, countries like Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa and Uganda, all with populations over 42 million, are hungry for employment opportunities.

Dealing in volume brings in more tourists and reduces costs, but volume tourism doesn't mean more land can't be protected for conservation and open spaces, Visram said. We can cap the number of camps and lodges being built, limit the environmental impact and still follow a high-quality model and provide value.

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Travel to Africa is space travel of a different kind - Travel Weekly

I started working at the Columbus Dispatch in 1986. Before that I worked for two years at the Tribune Chronicle in Warren, Ohio. I did freelance work for the Associated Press not long after graduating from Kent State University in 1981.

I've always known what I wanted to do for a living.I've liked photography since being a child and I was fortunate to get work doing what is my favorite thing to do.

The best thing about working for a newspaper is the variety of subjects I get to cover. I don't specialize in any one area. I've covered politics, sports and a variety of other news events. I've also done food and fashion photos. I've photographed famous people like the Pope and several presidents. I've traveled a lot in my 35 years at the Dispatch.But mostly now I photograph local people and activities. They are really the most interesting subjects to photograph.

The best assignment I've had at the Dispatch was photographing the space shuttle launch that returned John Glenn to space in 1998. I grew up during the 1960's space race to the moon and loved everything about space travel.

The biggest challenge I face is technology. It changes too fast. But I do learn what I need to know. If there's something I can't figure out, I am lucky that I have plenty of fellow staffers who can guide me.

I like to read. I prefer books about history.

To support Fred's work and all of the essential local journalism The Dispatch does, go to dispatch.com/subscribenow. And meet more of our staff members:

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Meet photographer Fred Squillante: 'The best thing ... is the variety of subjects I get to cover' - The Columbus Dispatch

Honorary Degree recipients (from left to right): Angela Swan, Roger Warren and Robert ThirskOwen Egan / Joni Dufour Owen Egan / Joni Dufour

The Fall 2021 Convocation ceremonies on Nov. 25 and 26 took on special significance for the McGill community, in that they were the first in-person ceremonies held atthe Universityin two years, after the forced COVID-19 hiatus.As part of the ceremonies, McGillconferred honorary degrees to a trio of three highly talented and engaged individuals who serve as an inspiration for its community of students, professors, researchers, and staff. Click on the video to watch the words of wisdom for the Class of 2021as imparted by each Honorary Doctorate.

B.Sc. (ME) (University of Calgary), M.Sc. (ME) (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), M.D.C.M. (McGill University), M.B.A. (MIT Sloan School of Management)

Doctor of Science, honoris causa (D.Sc.)

A Canadian icon of science and space travel, Dr. Robert Thirsk has mademajorcontributions to medicine, science, the Canadian Space Program, and science education in Canada.

A McGill M.D.C.M. graduate, Dr. Thirsk began his distinguished career as a member of the Canadian Space Agencys astronaut corps in 1983. Hisfirstspacemission was in 1996, a 17-day flight aboard the space shuttle Columbia.Later, in 2009, Dr. Thirskspent six months as a flight engineer aboard the International Space Stationconducting cutting-edge interdisciplinary research and complex robotic operations on behalf of Canadian and international researchers.Along the way, he set the Canadian record for longest time spent in space 204 days, 18 hours.

Much of Dr. Thirsks work has been dedicated to making space flight safer for astronauts, from researching the effect of weightlessness on the heart and blood vessels to strategizing the delivery of remote healthcare to future deep space explorers.He has also been avocal champion of science education, particularly for Canadas youth.

Robert Thirsks remarkable career as a scientist and astronaut, his commitment to science education and his generous dedication to community engagement make him an inspiring role model for all, and especially for future scientists of Canada.

B.Comm., LL.B. (University of British Columbia), B.C.L. (Oxford University)

Doctor of Laws, honoris causa (LL.D.)

Angela Swan is a distinguished legal scholar, practitioner, teacher, mentor and an acclaimed figure in both Canadian contract law and the Canadian legal community. She received a Bachelor of Commerce and an LL.B. from the University of British Columbia and a B.C.L. from Oxford University. She was admitted to the Law Society of Upper Canada in 1970.

With over fiftyyears experiencein the legal profession,shehas expertly filled a number of roles from professor to esteemed counsel. An award-winning author, renowned educator, and frequently cited scholar, she is regarded as one of the most distinguished experts in Canadian contract lawand private law broadly.

Professor Swan has inspired and informed several generations of law students with her legal expertise and scholarship. Her accomplishments are all the more remarkable for a trans woman of her generation. Angela Swan is a proud member of the LGBTQ2+ community and contributes to its ongoing development.

Angela Swan has a distinguished record of achieving the topmost professional standards of conduct, ethics, reliability, and diligence. Her name is synonymous with excellence in contract law and is a shining example of a dedicated teacher and mentor.

Doctor of Laws, honoris causa (LL.D.)

A generous, inspiring, and humbling philanthropist, Mr. Roger Warren has been quietly making an impact within Canadian education institutions and beyond for over 50 years.

Completing three years of a Bachelor of Commerce degree at McGill University starting in 1951, Mr. Warren struggled with undiagnosed dyslexia and was unable to complete his fourth year. This made an enormous impact on him, instilling a deep sense of compassion for others facing their own challenges, which in turn became the motivation behind much of his engagement andgiving.

Roger Warren began his career in the investment business in 1954, working in Toronto, New York, and London, England. In 1984, he established theRathlynFoundation, named after his parents Ontario cottage, as a small, private family foundation to support medical research, veterinary science and education. TheRathlynFoundation has since grown tremendously and supports numerous institutions such as McGill UniversityThrough theFoundation, Mr. Warren has endowed graduate and professional degree fellowships at McGill across the Faculties of Arts, Law, Science, and the Desautels Faculty of Management, as well as scholarships for Indigenous students.

Mr. Warren is a prime example of how extraordinary success can be achieved by overcoming challenges. His generosity, perseverance, and determination to help others have created monumental strides for the Canadian education sector and are an inspiration to all.

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Honorary Degree recipients offer words of wisdom to the Class of 2021 - McGill Reporter - McGill Reporter

If history is anything to go by, it's been easier to fold space and time than to film Frank Herbert's 1965 sci-fi classic Dune, an epic far-future tale of feuding space dynasties, secret sisterhoods and New Age prophets that cleaves to and critiques the genre's classic hero narrative.

Many have tried and perished in the sandstorm. Wild-eyed Chilean surrealist Alejandro Jodorowsky had grand designs a 14-hour version he hoped would star Salvador Dali, Mick Jagger and Orson Welles that proved way too ambitious to realise. Ridley Scott toyed with the idea before giving up and moving on.

David Lynch a filmmaker in sync with Herbert's psychic visions made it all the way to the screen with a memorably grotesque piece of pop art in 1984, only to have it chopped down to the point of near incoherency.

The latest filmmaker to put their hand in the pain box, Canadian writer-director Denis Villeneuve, seems like a bit of an odd choice by comparison. He's the kind of filmmaker dubiously marketed as a 'visionary' by studios, even as his recent sci-fi forays Arrival (2016); the deeply unnecessary Blade Runner 2049 (2017) seem better suited to show off flatscreen TVs in designer apartments than evoke any kind of sweeping mystical future.

So it's a pleasant surprise to report that his take on Dune, which finally descends upon cinemas this week, is an engrossing, well-mounted adaptation that makes good on his potential as a sci-fi craftsman not exactly enough to qualify as a visionary work, but an ambitious and largely satisfying space opera that rises like an oasis against the desert of Hollywood's current superhero cinema.

Boosted by Hans Zimmer's speaker-rumbling score with its metronomic thump and guttural alien chants the film is burnished and commanding, full of immense wide shots that dwarf the screen, jagged spacecraft that seem to emerge from misty oil paintings, and an admirable commitment to big, earnest movie myth-making.

But Dune's prettiest effect might be its cast, especially its young leads, baby-faced androgyne Timothe Chalamet and galaxy-eyed princess Zendaya two kids who're enough to suggest a brighter, or at least hotter, cosmic future.

Chalamet is Paul, teenage heir to the noble House Atreides, a mall-goth glowerpuss who divides his time between learning mind tricks from his witchy mother, Lady Jessica (a soulful Rebecca Ferguson), and putting off the politics of the family business with dad, house boss and resident dreamboat, Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac).

It's the very distant future never mind the swords, faux-medieval trimmings and bagpipes and the galactic Emperor has dispatched House Atreides to take custody of Arrakis, the desert planet rich in the spice that is essential to space travel.

The appointment isn't going down well with the Atreides's bitter rivals House Harkonnen, a planet of sinister creeps who bathe in black slime, keep giant spiders as pets, and whose leader, Baron Vladimir (Stellan Skarsgrd), seems modelled after Marlon Brando's performance in Apocalypse Now (1979).

Exploited for its natural resource, Arrakis also known as Dune is inhabited by the indigenous Fremen, a band of blue-eyed nomads who include Zendaya's Chani, the desert warrior who's been turning up in Paul's dreams.

These premonitions also suggest that Paul might be a kind of space messiah; much to the concern of Lady Jessica's clan, the Bene Gesserit, a shadowy, distaff order of psychic witches who've been trying to summon forth a chosen one via an Atreides daughter to bridge space and time, past and future.

"So much potential wasted on a male," hisses the order's Reverend Mother, played by Charlotte Rampling in a neat echo of her all-female-cult queen in John Boorman's Zardoz (1974).

No wonder Paul looks so gloomy, moping about like some post-punk wanderer above a sea of fog.

It's certainly a lot to swallow for the uninitiated: a fact that undid Lynch's truncated version, in which poor Virginia Madsen (as imperial Princess Irulan, heir to the galaxy) had to dispense reels of exposition over the eerie, spectral opening moments.

Villeneuve has the relative luxury of two chapters be warned, this is only Part One and he uses this to his advantage, allowing the narrative to breathe against the scope of the images.

Shooting partially on location in Jordan, Abu Dhabi and Norway, Villeneuve, Australian cinematographer Greig Fraser (Rogue One) and production designer Patrice Vermette (Sicario; Arrival) give the story a sense of scale and lived-in detail, welding the wide-screen vastness of Lawrence of Arabia (1962) to the scrappy grit of the first Star Wars (1977), a film whose desert sequences were famously inspired by Herbert's writing.

The vistas are enhanced by all the special effects a reported $165 million dollar budget can buy: combat holo-shields that glitch and glimmer, insect-like ornithopters that swoop through sandstorms, and titanic spacecraft that seem to have teleported right off the pulp paperback covers of the 60s and 70s.

For sci-fi nuts, it's hard to resist.

But the showy effects are also offset by an attention to less expected, human-sized details: Jason Momoa's easy, movie-star charm as Duncan Idaho, a swordmaster who Paul adores; the way the great Stephen McKinley Henderson, as human computer Thufir Hawat, parades a parasol during a military inspection; or the beverages distilled from sweat, tears, and spit presumably not available in the Dune combo at the candy bar, unless you incur the wrath of a disgruntled teenage employee.

What Villeneuve and his co-screenwriters Jon Spaihts (Prometheus) and Eric Roth (A Star Is Born) will do with Dune's overarching narrative with its Messianic leader and looming holy war is harder to assess, given the obviously unfinished nature of their story.

At least initially, Paul is a character in conflict with his destiny as an heir to a patriarchy that ravages an ecosystem; as a potential saviour to a people and Chalamet plays him with a suitably furrowed brow.

Villeneuve has also tweaked Herbert's novel to open the film not on the imperial princess's tale of Paul, but on Chani effectively framing events through the eyes of the Fremen.

"Who will our next oppressors be?" she wonders in the film's opening minutes.

The Atreides' arrival on Arrakis carries the distinct feel of high-tech imperialists landing to pillage a desert nation.

Elements drawn from Arabic culture and Eastern mysticism run throughout Herbert's work, which tangles with themes of colonialism, ecological neglect and the corruption of power, though this mixing of cultures a staple device of science fiction sits less well with the current moment, where such creative license, however nuanced, is viewed with suspicion.

The new Dune has drawn some intelligent criticism for flattening the nuances of Herbert's text, downplaying the source material's grounding in Middle Eastern culture even as Hans Zimmer's recourse to Arabic vocal tones often used to underscore an emotional moment of pause for the protagonists leans on a Western audience's notion of the 'mysterious' for dramatic shorthand.

All of which might have been less noticeable had Villeneuve been more attuned to the psychic power of images in the way Lynch, and certainly Jodorowsky, understood the kind of filmmaking that might transcend a real-world analogue and transport an audience to something genuinely strange or alien.

His Dune is too polished and cautious to risk putting a foot wrong which makes sense, given this project's history, but also means there's nothing here willing to court ridicule, and by extension, genius. (If we can't have pugs and space slugs, couldn't we at least have gotten Timothe Chalamet doing the worm in place of the sand walk?)

But it more than captures the attention, and sometimes even inspires awe. If this is the beginning of a resurgence in ambitious, operatic space fantasy, then bring it on.

Dune is in cinemas from December 2.

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Dune review: Denis Villeneuve's adaptation of Frank Herbert's sci-fi epic kicks off promisingly with largely satisfying part one - ABC News

I dont think its far-fetched to say that travelling is at the heart of every travesty that has happened to humankind since the beginning of time. Slavery is the direct result of a trip overseas, I would say. A European with a ship told himself he wanted to see the world and the fateful Contiki tour was afoot. World War 2, I reckon, began after an innocent interchange, a harmless thought, when Hitler turned to Goebbels and said: Ever been to France? I hear its nice.

So, why do we like to travel so much? Were like electrons darting from one spot to the next. Why cant we be protons? Why is there always better than here? What is driving humans to be constantly on the go?

I think a major contributor to this affliction of having to travel to feel human is the language in use today. We should really revisit sayings like A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and Wish you were here. Why journey for a 1,000 miles if a change of scenery is often as easy as getting up from your laptop? And why travel to a distant land only to wistfully want to change your circumstances once youre there? If you want me by your side so badly, dont leave. Hopping from one continent to the next does nothing for feelings of loneliness. Wish all you like, the only way to feel less lonely in the world is to be your own best friend, which is something you can achieve at home, or, at worst, commuting to a psychologists office once a week.

Advertising is another major trigger for the wayfarer. And this started long ago, I think. Perhaps at the same time that hunting and gathering contentedly in the same valley for generations went out of fashion. Calling it the nomadic lifestyle, for instance, made it sound like something to aspire to. The early adopters probably told others they should really get out more. Or, perhaps, more time-appropriate: A rolling stone gathers no moss. Once again, you have to ask yourself what is so bad about moss? In the right quantities, moss adds to the appearance of a stone, in my opinion. It gives it character, doesnt it? Moss is a sign of life, if anything; an indication of the abundance that comes from not rolling around all the time. Yet, Roll society says. Flatten everything in your path on your way to some undefined destination, and once youre there, roll some more.

People seem to want to travel to the bitter end. Is anyone today willing to give up a holiday for the greater good? How long before we realise that extensive travelling flying especially is the main cause of the climate crisis?

Adverse living conditions are often to blame for mass movement and you can hardly fault someone for wanting to get away from war. Nothing wrong with that. The migrant crisis is not the cause of the climate crisis. Refugees dont fly, they take a boat. A paddle-powered one or, at best, one with a very small outboard motor. No, governments may point the finger at migrants for many things; global warming is not one of them. Space travel, on the other hand, might be jet-fuelling our demise at speeds as yet unrecorded. Here we have those whove been everywhere on Earth saying: Where to next?, and strapping in for lift-off exactly perpendicular to the force of gravity for a jaunt among the stars. Imagine the energy it takes to overcome the very force that holds everything in place. Leave air travel to the environmentalists, the affluent seem to be saying. Wed like to pollute on a cosmic level.

So, how are we going to save the planet from the travelling hordes? My solution is to ban private transport altogether. If you want to go abroad so badly, you can do so on foot. Burn some calories to get to your precious tourist destination. And the same goes for going to the shops. No more popping out for milk and bread, and taking a ton of metal with you. In fact, the ban should extend to all moving objects not made of human flesh (barring bicycles). This will of course remove the luxury of having stuff delivered to your house and also take ambulances out of commission. But have you heard of cooking at home? Have you even considered dying exactly where you are?

These might all be considered extreme thoughts, but so was flying when it was first attempted. Give it a little time and well get used to staying put for hours on end. Things might get done. No traffic, no stress. Car trouble? Forget about it. No more Are we there yet? or We really need to get going. Were here. Weve arrived. Everything is going to be okay. DM168

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper which is available for R25 at Pick n Pay, Exclusive Books and airport bookstores. For your nearest stockist, please click here.

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Final destination: Travel will be the end of us - Daily Maverick