Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise, its five-year mission to explore strange, new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before."

 Could it be that these immortal words spoken by Capt. James T. Kirk at the beginning of every episode of the 1960s television series "Star Trek" were actually more prophetic than we first thought? According to one of the world's smartest men, that may just be the case.

 Famed physicist Stephen Hawking recently suggested the survival of the human race would likely depend on heading off into space and relocating to another planet. He sent a minor ripple throughout intellectual circles when he declared that in the centuries ahead, it will be hard for earthlings to avoid a disaster of biblical proportion on their home turf, and he recommended that we avoid putting all our eggs in one basket - or planet.

 Hawking, who returned to the UK last month after spending six weeks at the Perimeter Institute for theoretical physics in Waterloo, Ontario, predicted that if we continue on our current course of action, great dangers lie ahead for the human race.

 He warned about a ballooning population using up the Earth's finite resources and the growing ability of humans to alter their environment. On a less apocalyptic note, he forecast that if humans can manage to stave off self-imposed extinction for 200 years or so, they should be able to spread their seed into space and thus save the species.

 So that got me to thinking - if we are to exile future generations to the stars, then we damned well owe them an explanation as well as a major apology. And so, for the record, I would just like to apologize right now to my great-great-great-grandchildren for subjecting them to a lifetime of planet hopping as they search for a new home.

 I apologize for the legacy of pain and suffering my generation has left our children and their children's children.

 I'm sorry for leaving future generations an empty shell of a planet and for passing on to them a world devoid of natural life.

 I'm sorry that we filled the once-rich and fertile land with plastic and radioactive material that won't break down for hundreds, maybe thousands, of years.

 I'm sorry that we polluted the air with so much carbon dioxide and other poisons that people can't breathe and that their eyes burn when they step outside.

 I'm sorry that we choked our lakes, rivers and oceans with our trash.

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 I'm sorry that we raped the ground and depleted all of its natural resources.

 I'm sorry that we overfished the oceans to the point that we made many species extinct.

 I'm sorry that we cut down all the beautiful, life-sustaining forests.

 I'm sorry that we turned our seas into percolating sludge pools as we drilled for oil under the ocean floor.

 I'm sorry that we allowed urban sprawl to eradicate the once furrowed fields and pristine pastures where the crops previously grew.

 I'm sorry that we plowed under the fields of wildflowers and turned them into parking lots.

 I'm sorry that we contributed to global warming that, in turn, caused the polar ice caps to melt and that, in turn, caused the water level to rise and wash away many of our coastal communities.

 I'm sorry that the rise in the Earth's temperatures led to massive climate change that resulted in severe storms, droughts and wildfires.

 I'm sorry that poor management of our resources combined with continued population growth led to major food shortages.

 I'm sorry that we continued to abuse and waste our sparkling drinking water, taking for granted that we'd always have a fresh supply.

 I'm sorry for the acid rain that falls from the sky and kills whatever precious life still exists on the land and in the waterways.

 I'm sorry that we allowed ideological differences and religious beliefs to segregate nations into warring factions that resulted in mass death and widespread destruction.

 I'm sorry that my generation allowed our greed and our desire for an easier life filled with luxury items that made us lazy and unhealthy to set us on a course of self-destruction.

 I'm sorry that our quest to feed our insatiable appetite for technological advancements caused us to create such irreparable damage that now our planet is nothing more than a huge receptacle for decades of waste, much of it toxic and harmful to our health.

 To future generations, I would like to say I'm sorry for all of this and much more. I'm sorry that my generation did not do a better job managing the valuable resources that we had inherited and that we weren't better shepherds of our planet. Sadly, those of you who now live on this barren globe are suffering the consequences.

  Our apologies must surely seem shallow and be of little comfort.

 Finally, I wish future generations all the luck in your quest for a new home among the stars and when you find that place where you can establish roots I pray for the future of all humankind that you do a better job than we did. If nothing else, let our mistakes be a lesson for those who come after us.

 E-mail me: editorial@southshorenow.ca

posted on 09/07/10