4 ~ Wednesday, May 6, 1992 - North Shore News Something really big to worry about LIFE HAS to have a purpose, ch? That’s how i approach the great debate abovt whether to convert the world’s nu- clear siockpile into a standby armada of space-travelling nuclear missiles big enough to blow away any asteroids heading toward Earth. Now that it seems like there's 2 decent chance the human race will not totally wipe itself and nearly everything else out thanks to a nuclear war, a stunning possibility exists, something that is, of course, Straight from the pages of science fiction. In fact, it has al- ready been turned into a Hollywood thriiler. In the movie, the American missile keeps going after the Rus- sian missile falters, and at the last second, the incoming asteroid is blown to smithereens. l actually drafted a sci-fi book of my own around this theme many years ago. No one would pay me enough money to make it worth while taking the time to write it, so I missed my chance to become a prophet. The truth is we can expect our planet to be hammered by a major asteroid at least once every 300,000 to onc million years. The last major collision was apparently at the point where the dinosaurs got wiped out, some 65 million years ago. This would seem to leave us a lot of time to perfect our asteroid-busting techniques, ex- cept that a lesser cataclysm could occur at any téme. . The asteroid that missed us i March 1989 drifted across our or- bit just six hours after we'd been there, kind of like an iceberg pass- ing astern of the Titanic. There are calculated to be 2,000 asteroids routinely criss-crossing what we like to think of as ‘‘our” orbit. In fact, it’s their orbit too. A lot of them are mere space rocks, but some are the size of en- tire mountains. If one of these big lumps crash- ed into us at an unmarked in- tersection in space, the damage would be horrendous. Horrendous? Surely | can do better than that. Yet even venerable ‘‘apocalypse’’ is hardly a big enough word, and ‘‘mega- apocalypse’’ sounds silly. Let’s just say the impact of the last big dinosaur-snuffer has been described by scientists as being *‘many times’’ the equivalent of the world’s current entire arsenal of nuclear bombs going off at once. Go ahead, you figure out the right worc to describe that! Even a relatively peanut-sized Bob Hunter STRICTLY PERSONAL asteroid like the 55-metre-wide one that hit Siberia in 1908 managed to flatten 800 square kilometres of forest, sending shockwaves around the planet. There’s no debate any longer about the validity of the concern. It is just that, as usual, humani- ty’s priority list is topped by week-to-week survival: day-to- day for the one billion people estimated to be not getting cnough food. Worrying about something that might not happen for tens or hundreds of thousands of years seems quaint, I'll admit. But nobody is suggesting state-of-the-art asteroid elimina- tion programs need be anything other than a highly specialized field. Leave this one to the experts, | say. Let's just make sure that they’re the best at what they do. The only agonizing going on between astronomers, who are the main players in this game so far, is over the arrival of so many of the old Cold War rocket warriors on the doorsteps of observatories, talking with straight faces about asteroid intercepts, and the need for a massive infusion of funds into the field. There lurks a suspicion that the Star Wars cabal of industrialists and military is looking for a new excuse to build giant missiles and bombs and laser cannons. It is all very well, to hope that such a brain trust of hardnosed millionaires and CIA types doesn't work in concert in the U.S., mas- saging national policies to suit their self interests — but, come on, it does. And this would be logical work for them to get involved in. The fact that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has taken up the cause of asteroid- nuking suggests that, indeed, Ronald Reagan's old gang of Evil Empire-bashers is stil] hanging out in the inner circles. As a longtime fairly hardcore anti-nuclear person, I find it rather difficult to go along, even in theory, with the idea of keeping at least a few nuclear weapons, plus missiles, on hand, just in case. The question is, never mind who is involved and who isn’t, is it a prudent and logical thing to do? Is it the sort of thing a responsible world government ought to undertake? [ think it is. That's easy enough to answer. If the choice is doom or survival, obviously we are bound to protect ourselves, plus those famous future generations ecologists and native peoples are always talking about. A tougher exercise is the ques- tion of whether you put humanity more at risk by maintaining a stockpile of nuclear weapons than by leaving us to take our chances with the rolling of the cosmic dice. KURT'S CLOCK REPAIR Specialized tn restoring Antique Watches & Clocks 103-2433 Bellevue Ave. West Vancouver 922-7593 BUILD WITH CONFIDENCE New Homes & Renovailions Consultation Design Estimates precious regardless es age, gender, or place of residence For information on biomedical and ethical issues like abortion and euthanasia call the Resource Centre at 984-9094 &4 We can expect our planet to be hammered by a major asteroid at least once every 300,000 to one million years. 99 A stockpile of nukes requires at least one functioning reactor at a time, a bottomless uranium mine, hordes of scientists and techni- cians, disposal sites, manufactur- ing and transport systems, an en- tire high-tech infrastructure pro- jecting itself almost into infinity, and willing to project itself into space to blast anything dangerous that comes near the home planet. Maybe the solution would be to set up such a complex on the far side of the moon, or on a base out in the asteroids themselves. But then how many centuries would have to pass before some nutcase cult got the keys to the arsenal and tried to blackmail someone? Scary, what? On the one hand, God throwing giant lumps of rock around the universe, and on the other, human fanatics with their fingers on the nuclear trigger... There. Now you've really got something to worry about. Life was getting duil, wasn’t it? If you’re going to be paranoid, be paranoid BIG, I say. COMMUNITY ONMUSIC SCHOOL Free Workshop for Parents A guide for parents planning their children's musical education. Wednesday, May 13, 8 - 9:30 p.m. St. Catherine's Anglican Church 1058 Ridgewood Avenue, North Vancouver (Near Edgemont Village) _ The Community Music School offers group instruction in Pace Piano, Strings, Kodaly-Orff and Choir, and private instruction in most instruments. — CAPILANO COLLEGE Registration for the 1992/93 year starts Monday, June 1. Watch for a calendar in the mail May 26/27. Information/registration: 984-4901 Extension Programs & Services Department 2055 Purcell Way « North Vancouver ¢ 5.C. e DUND MARE MOTHERS DAY y LAST tik, WEELENP, Wty Wor PatNE ON FRY OR SATRDBY MGite wrt Wwe PANIST, OR, BRUMtH ON. Samevny or Sineay? TRénr Mon 7e WE fps BRVEDICT OF HER CHerce aey 2. gs Caan rE aD oad MPRINE PROVE wots ut. vars Fie-8€3F