Would you live on terraformed Venus?

[Shell B]

Depends on the WiFi signal.

[Alan V]

It's kind of funny that we're discussing terraforming Venus, which has runaway global warming, when we haven't solved global warming at home.

[The Grand Nudger]

We have a notion called a strategic reserve. We need to start thinking about the entirety of the earth as a strategic reserve. There are alit of us, this business of being human has become a massive undertaking, and we can’t afford not to treat it like we would treat any other massive undertaking.

[Anomalocaris]

It's kind of funny that we're discussing terraforming Venus, which has runaway global warming, when we haven't solved global warming at home.

It’s easier to let terraform proceed on a planet that has no one living on it, and have no established processes that would require modification or reversals, but in it’s present form the part of society has invested short term interest.

[zebo-the-fat]

No point trying to live on the surface, but a floating colony would make a lot of sense (but you would need acid proof balloons!)

[Chad32]

I would imagine any place we could find, or create, that' as close to Earth as possible, would be fine to live on. Although if we don't learn to take care of the planet, the next one will just wind up like this one.

I wonder, if we left, how long would it take for the planet to replenish itself. I know vegetation is really good at overgrowing cities in mere years, once people leave.

Depends on what aspect you are thinking of replenishing.

Restoration of the climate until all effects of anthropogenic influences are suppressed?  Tens of thousands of years.

Replenishing of full biodiversity lost in the last 15K years?  Millions to ten of million years

Replenishing of fossil fuel consumed? Tens to hundreds of million years. 

Replenishing of mineral deposits that are continually but slowly formed through geological processes, like gold or nickel?  Millions to billions of years.

Replenishing of mineral resources like iron that formed under particular conditions unique to one past age of the earth?  Never.

That's longer than I expected.

[Anomalocaris]

Depends on what aspect you are thinking of replenishing.

Restoration of the climate until all effects of anthropogenic influences are suppressed?  Tens of thousands of years.

Replenishing of full biodiversity lost in the last 15K years?  Millions to ten of million years

Replenishing of fossil fuel consumed? Tens to hundreds of million years. 

Replenishing of mineral deposits that are continually but slowly formed through geological processes, like gold or nickel?  Millions to billions of years.

Replenishing of mineral resources like iron that formed under particular conditions unique to one past age of the earth?  Never.

That's longer than I expected.

Yes, but total replenishment is not necessary for practical human purposes.  Marginal cost increases and marginal value of additional replenishment diminishes with increasing replenishment already accomplished.

Full replenishment is only a reference and it’s attainment appeals only to certain aesthetic sensibilities.

But it does show we are changing the environment of the planet and consuming the resources of the planet at a rate from hundreds of times to hundreds of thousands of times faster that the ability of the planet to compensate.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Yes, I would live on Venus if it were terraformed.  I would also like to live on Barsoom, in The Emerald City, Minas Tirith and Loompaland.

Boru

[Peebothuhlu]

You can place large sunshades in around a 30k km orbit around Venus.  These would shadow any given area for appropriate lengths once every 24 hours during the Venusian day and create artificial night.   Similarly large reflectors in the same orbit can illuminate any given area once every 12 hours during Venusian night and create artificial day.

Large reflectors and sunshades can be very light, made of aluminized synthetic membrane small fraction of millimeters thick.  Such a sunshade 1000 km on a side would still only weigh a few thousand tons.   Preserving the appearance of an earth like circadian rhythm would not be totally insurmountable even with present day technology let along with an technology equal to fully terraforming the earth.

The fact that Venus rotates backwards is no problem.  Nothing I can think of depends on any planet rotating prograde.

Oh. Was just commenting on the amount of 'Hours' a Venusian day would have because of the borked rotation. Push the spin up a bit more, even if it is 'back wards, to get something closer to a 'Normal' day/night cycle.

Otherwise the amount of energy comming into the venusian system will/might have to be mittigateda tad by 'Shades' and such.



Not at work.

[Rev. Rye]

The atmosphere is sulfuric acid, the surface temperature is 870 Fahrenheit (a result of a greenhouse effect that’s far worse than even the biggest global warming alarmist expects us to reach), the atmospheric pressure is 92 times that of Earth’s, and it has active volcanos out the wazoo. At this point, you’d have to be high to think terraforming Venus is an option.