The danger is not so much that these visions will be realized; geoengineering the
earth is a long shot, never mind terraforming Mars. Yet as Branson's own
emissions illustrate so elegantly, these fantasies are already doing real damage in
the here and now. As environmental author Kenneth Brower writes, "The notion
that science will save us is the chimera that allows the present generation to
consume all the resources it wants, as if no generations will follow. It is the
sedative that allows civilization to march so steadfastly toward environmental
catastrophe. It forestalls the real solution, which will be in the hard, nontechnical
work of changing human behavior." And worst of all, it tells us that, "should the
fix fail, we have someplace else to go.