After considering a number of possible candidates for the next major science scare, the UN today annouced the winner was the asteroid Apophis.
‘We’ve got as much funding, and as many free holidays, as we are likely to get from global warming,’ UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon announced today. ‘It’s time to move on.’
‘The asteroid Apophis meets all the criteria for the next DSSO. There is a slim chance it could cause major destruction, on a scale the world has never seen.’ He said.
‘It will take billions of dollars in research funds, and several conferences, before we know whether this destruction is likely or or not. But the consequences of not acting are so dire, that even if the science is not proven, we owe it to our children and grandchildren to put the planet first, and give the world the benefit of the doubt.’
Anatoly Perminov told the Russian radio station Golos Rossii: “People’s lives are at stake. We should pay several hundred million dollars and build a system that would allow us to prevent a collision, rather than sit and wait for it to happen and kill hundreds of thousands of people.”
Mirrors, lights and even paint could change the way the object absorbed light and heat enough to shift its direction over 20 years or so. With less notice, mankind could be forced to take more drastic measures, such as setting off a massive explosion on or near the object to change its course.
Smoke and mirrors?
Same deal as climate change, then.
PS. Ban Ki Moon didn’t really say any of that. But he might as well have.
