[sliverstorm]

One thing that I have learned in the past is that large problems can often be completely absolved simply by growing beyond them. As an example, during the industrial revolution, cities were covered in soot. They were a mess. But we plowed ahead instead of saying "gee, we should stick with current technology and stop expanding until we fix the soot", and look where we are now. Today's power makes 1800's power look like a pigsty, purely as a side effect of our growth & development.

What I mean to say is, if past experiences are any indicator, supposing we push on into space, carbon footprints will probably become a concern of the past- most likely due to some development we couldn't possibly have foreseen from our current vantage point. (what 1800's coal plant worker could have foreseen nuclear reactors?)

[nostromo]

The classic example of this is the 'manure crisis' at the end of the 19th century. Since commerce and transportation over land and in cities usually required horses at that time, a simple calculation in 1894 by the Times of London forecasted that every street in London would be covered in 9 feet of horse manure by 1950. http://ibloga.blogspot.com/2010/04/weve-recently-had-some-di...

[electromagnetic]

Even just from the ideas we're already aware of, expanding into space could render global warming irrelevant. Things like solar energy collectors, space industry, tethers for transporting raw materials.

Humans have a very big problem with paying attention to the bigger picture. Carbon emissions are only relevant if we still need fossil fuels to run our industry. In space, without oxygen we'll be using nuclear or solar as power sources not hydrocarbons.