The Five-Billion Year Plan

In five-billion years, the astronomers say, the sun will go through a two-billion year red giant phase. Living on Earth will get tough. The consequences of the red giant transformation will be deadly for humanity, if we are caught flat-footed. The Astronomical Society of the Pacific website says:

[The Sun] will be pumping out a thousand times more energy, making Earth a good approximation to hell. … solar wind … will make radio communication impossible and perhaps evaporate the atmosphere altogether. Looking on the bright side, the red-giant Sun may be warm enough to melt the water-rich but now-frozen moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Humanity, if it is still around, might relocate there.

As Oestians, we are pledged to continue the existence of humanity. We need to develop a plan to deal with this threat. By assuming responsibility for the world we pass to future generations of humanity, we start taking ourselves seriously as a species.