• Question: If the Earth were to become overpopulated, do you think that it is possible to live underwater?

    Asked by mhudspeth to Amy, Drew, Julia, Sara on 22 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Julia Griffen

      Julia Griffen answered on 22 Jun 2011:

      like on the simpsons..?? I think it would require alot of science and engineering to do so.. the problem would be with corrosion and erosion of the houses/buildings/etc under the sea. even under the sea there are stong currents and the salt water can damage and eat into metals. Maybe some new material a fancy plastic could withstand the harsh conditions under the sea. Also you’d get alot of plants and animals trying to live on th buildings under the sea…. oohh and pressure! depends how deep you go but this would have to be regulated … Lots of porblems to over come.. I think i;d miss daylight if i lived under the sea… Dont think i;d like it.. What do you think?

    • Photo: Amy MacQueen

      Amy MacQueen answered on 22 Jun 2011:

      I agree with Julia – it would take a LOT of engineering and you’d have to give people lots of vitamin tablets (especially D) because we are not meant to live under the sea so we’d miss the sun!! But then it would take a lot of work to terraform another planet…so it requires a lot of work to re-house us anywhere!!! 🙂

    • Photo: Drew Rae

      Drew Rae answered on 22 Jun 2011:

      Good question. I think under-sea counts as a hostile environment. Very hard to manage without being supported from outside somehow.

    • Photo: Sara Imari Walker

      Sara Imari Walker answered on 22 Jun 2011:

      Hi mhudspeth! Any particular predilection to the sea? Why not space? The sea might actually be harder to engineer than living in space – all that pressure and water you have to worry about. But then again you are on Earth so that does makes things easier! The problem with either scenario is not so much that you need to provide a living space and breathable air, but that you also have to have food and water!

      In the ocean you could distill salt water. In space this would be more difficult – probably you would end up recycling all liquids (that’s right even pee!) through several layers of filtration (unless you were on a water ice moon like Europa, maybe then you would just melt some).

      Growing food is a huge challenge, especially for an overpopulated world! Perhaps in your ocean scenario the land could be used for food growth and the ocean for living. That would be an interesting scenario! In space we could build large greenhouses to harness solar energy to grow our food. That is the nice thing about space – the Sun is everywhere. In the ocean its dark. Very dark at its depths.

      I guess long story short – yes I think it is possible. Probably not probable though. I think people would go to space, places like Mars for example, before trying to inhabit the interior of the oceans.

      Really cool thought though! Great question!

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