Surviving 1000 Centuries: Can we do it?, published in 2008, was co-authored by prestigious astrophysicists Roger Bonnet and L. Woltjer. Its Chinese edition was launched on February 14, 2012 in Beijing which is translated by Wu Ji, Director General of National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences and other team members of “Space Science & Technology in China: A Roadmap to 2050”. The Chinese edition was published by Science Press.

　　“The book, based on a large body of scientific data, analyzed the current status of humans’ social development and made scientific predictions of the future from the perspective of the Earth’s natural history and human being’s evolution”, on receiving interview from China Science Daily, Wu Ji said.  

　　“To the issue of humanity’s survivability, this book presents us the optimistic tune”, Wu Ji said. It’s worthy rethinking the proposals and suggestions raised by the authors in the book on human being’s development in the 21 century.

　　Planet Earth is a spaceship

　　“It took some 100,000 years for evolution to lead to the appearance of modern humans. 100,000 years is equivalent to only 2 seconds if the age of the Earth were artificially shrunk to 24 hours.”

　　On the launching ceremony, Roger Bonnet delivered a speech titled The Future of Mankind, in which he recalled the reason and process of writing the book and made in depth evaluation of the current status of Planet Earth.

　　“We aim at giving a rationale evaluation of the status of our planet, its resources and limits and discuss solutions permitting Humanity to survive on Earth for the next 100,000 centuries.”

　　According to Roger Bonnet, whether we could survive on the Earth depends on what we will do in the 21 century. The priority is the control of population and then we need to search for the new sources of energy and devote ourselves to environment protection.

　　“We estimate that the resources and land on Earth could only support 11 billion people” said Roger Bonnet. If humans want to live with dignity, the population control is very necessary. If humanity wants to survive in a healthy way, there is an urgent need to set up a political system which can control the growth of population.

　　Roger Bonnet pointed out that “in 1000 centuries, the fossil energy will be exhausted. Only the renewable resource and fusion energy could support the society”.

　　In addition, attention should be paid on climate change to ensure the long term survival of human beings. ……

　　Can human beings run away from the Planet Earth? Roger Bonnet’s answer is negative. This is no reliable replace solutions.

　　The author believes that the Planet Earth is the best option for humanity. Living on Earth is the only reliable and feasible way.

　　The future of Earth needs global solutions

　　“The in-depth analysis by the authors will provide direction for decision making for policy makers and scientists alike” said Wu Ji upon answering the motivation of translating the book.

　　Surviving 1000 centuries, can we do it? Roger Bonnet is optimistic: “But above all, because the most valuable lesson from the history of China is that a two or three thousand years continuity is possible, admittedly less than the 100,000 year world aimed for in our book, but still unequalled elsewhere.”

　　This is the reason why he is willing to publish the book’s Chinese edition.

　　Roger Bonnet and L. Woltjer said highly of the contribution of China, as a responsible country, in maintaining the safety of the spaceship Earth: “The successful limitation of the growth of the population as the precondition for creating and maintaining a livable society. The rising Chinese public’s awareness on environmental issues illustrated through: reforestation just started, the country improving its energy efficiency at a fast pace resulting in minimal increases in greenhouse-gas emissions.”

　　“There is convergence of the actions of China to improve conditions in the country and our view of what is needed for the future of the world”, Roger Bonnet said.