The Global Earth/Mars Initiative

Join William Bookmaker, a fictitious historian from the late 2050s, as he chronicles the first thirty years (2025-2055) of the most remarkable project humanity has ever envisioned and attempted to execute.The project, founded by Edward Fisher, the world's richest person, called for the realization of three bold, interrelated goals:Ø The gradual improvement of the human condition through enduring changes in the distribution of knowledge and wealth among nations.Ø A massive restorative effort across the world's environmental systems, culminating in reducing human-generated emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) to "net zero" by 2050.Ø The creation of a long-term, audacious, near-impossible goal to spark humanity to new creative heights. Using published NASA theoretical work as his guide, Fisher proposed colonizing and terraforming Mars.To fund what he named the Global Earth/Mars Initiative (GEMI), Fisher raised $3.4 trillion from almost 200 nations, thousands of businesses and organizations, and individuals. He then handed over control of this unprecedented organization to an eccentric world-renowned scientist and a relatively unknown university professor of cultural anthropology.In a concise essay format, historian Bookmaker describes the project - and the seminal events, movements, developments, and characters that profoundly influenced our collective history over these thirty years - as we attempted to repair our damaged world while reaching for the stars.