What’s next: space?

Will God or evolution finally decide that this human experiment has failed? Our oceans have whirlpools the size of Texas filled with human debris. Our lakes, rivers, and oceans are contaminated with pesticides and other pollutants associated with storm runoff.  We are cutting down tropical forests the size of Manhattan each and every day. We pollute or destroy the two things we need most to survive as a species, our water and air. 
 
Now we have started polluting a new frontier, outer space. Our astronauts are in constant fear of being hit by space debris. Our space stations are no safer. As science evolves, what will be the next place in our solar system we can pollute? I remember talk some years back of jettisoning our nuclear waste into space. What is it about our species that makes us so selfish and uncaring of what we leave behind?

This article appears in May 28 – Jun 4, 2009.