1) The whole expedition would start with some sort of vaguely comprehensive geological survey. I think it is important to have some sort of understanding of the place we are settling before we dramatically alter it. One may to address this might be to sort the planet into "biomes" of sorts. This would encompass getting an idea of topographical and temperature features of different areas. Thus, mountainous regions could be given some general characteristics, while huge craters might be given a different set.
I think this survey would also give us a better idea what exactly the planet has to offer. Instead of random rovers going out looking for metals, the geological survey could help us pin down where exactly to look for the resources we are looking for. It could also be used to estimate the amount of water actually on the planet.
Finally, this survey would allow to see how we are changing the planet in our terraforming efforts. This will be helpful in judging our efforts success, as well as seeing how we are negatively impacting the planet. The survey will help us when we go to fix problems we've created as well, because we can see how high a rock feature was before it started eroding or what the composition of the ground was in a certain area that has been contaminated. In Red Mars not knowing the exact origin of some phenomenon is torturous. As Ann Clayborne says at one point in Red Mars a thing that pains her is that "we'll never really know" if we discover some kind of life form in rock if it was here before human arrival or if we contaminated the rock (319).
2) As terraforming begins, I would like to investigate if there would be some way to leave area of Mars in tact and as they were before humans or terraforming. Mars is completely different from earth in many ways, with its red regolith and the highest mountains in the solar system. For us to completely change these things would be a sin. Maybe the areas that are particularly treachorous and unfit for human settlement and farming could be left as it, as a sort of reserve.
The other reason that I think this is important is that throughout Red Mars multiple characters talk about how relaxing and centering it is for them to go out and walk, drive, or fly around Mars. I think this suggests there is something special about the plains of crater-speckled red ground. The peace of mind the place itself can provide should be preserved for the benefit of future generations.
3) Terraforming will mean bringing people to Mars, probably a lot of people, and their should be sanctions about who is allowed to come and settle. People who come after the original members should be selected just as carefully, making sure each has a skill and definite contribution to provide to the terraforming efforts.
4) Diversity should be encouraged on Mars, and people who settle on Mars should be from all areas of the world, in roughly equal proportions. The settlers will not be allowed to seperate themselves from each other and stick to their own cultures. For example, a city will not have Medinas for the Arab population, but instead some kind of culturally-neutral housing only present on Mars. This is in effort to create a unified Martians culture, composed of people whose alliance is to the good of Mars and the people who live in their communities.
5) When looking at issues of land ownership, the communities who live on the land will be the ones who own it. No individual can own any piece of Martian land, and people in a community will work together democratically to decide what they want their community to do.
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| "Do you really want to change me forever?" |
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