This post is part of our year-long series, Apocalypse 2012,
where our favorite futurists, resiliency and disaster experts
examine the role of design to help you prepare for...the end? If
you asked me what the two most important design tasks at hand
for humanity is right now it would be: 1. Preserving human
habitat 2. Creating new habitats for humans The response I often
get to these mandates is that the two are mutually exclusive;
that if we preserve our habitat, planet Earth, we don't need to
find a new planet. Some might argue that searching for new
planets advances unsustainable technologies while simultaneously
promoting fatalism with regards to our environment. In other
words, the first proposal is proper tree-hugging and the second
is dirty, quasi-steampunk. I believe nothing could be further
from the truth. It is an astronomical fact that planet Earth, in
the long run, is doomed regardless of how well we handle the
present greenhouse effect and related environmental challenges.
Secondly, finding altern