Terraforming:The future?

Is terraforming really the last hope of ours?When we need to get out of Earth we must need somekind of planet to live in?Is terraforming fact or fiction?Some say that scientist are secretly working on it right now.Terrafroming can be used to make conditions in the atmosphere livable.Like for example we would terraform mars into a planet similar to earth.But my question is.....IS it fact or fiction?

It may be fiction now but probably fact in the future.

Humans seem to be like locusts, rape the planet with little regard for sustainability. Our only step from there is move on.

The most important factor is an atmosphere, followed closely by liquid water. If we find a nearby planet which can sustain both then it could, quite possibly, be a reality.

I'd say it's pretty much fact. We know terraforming can occur, because we know the environment of the Earth and it's atmosphere used to be radically different. We've proven that our technology can have an impact on the environment. So the only thing left is scale. While I don't think we're currently actively trying to terraform a planet - I'm sure someone, somewhere, is thinking up scenarios on how to go about it.

The only problem is... timescales. Terraforming is surely possible, but is it possible within enough human generations to make it viable? That's the question.

Humans seem to be like locusts, rape the planet with little regard for sustainability.

You're not describing humanity there, you're describing all life on the Earth. Don't paint humanity to be the badguy for simply doing what every other species on Earth does. It's not a violation of nature, that IS nature. Humanity is an invasive species because our intelligence allows us to adapt to and overcome population barriers such as predation, disease, climate, etc. Nature does not seek balance, we only perceive balance because we're looking at the end results of interaction and selection.

There's plenty of other species who, when removed from their natural environment and placed in a new environment to which there is no predation, native adaptations for resource competition, etc, will quickly consume all of the available resources - pushing out native populations who are not yet adapted to compete with the intruding species. For example, Cain Toads in Austrailia, African Bees in South America, Kudzu Vines in the Southern US, Brown Tree Snakes in Guam, etc.

Humanities natural environment is sub-Saharan Africa as it was 200,000 years ago. We've left that environment, using society and technology to overcome population checks of our new environments. And lo and behold, what do we see? We see humanity operating as an invasive species... just like any other species displaced from a natural environment and placed into a new one with no solid checks against population growth.

[edit on 13-4-2009 by Lasheic]

I watched a programme on TV about how Humans might go about terraforming Mars, so there are definitely people working on it, or atleast trying to figure out excactly how.