How did the Vulcans help Earth?

[Peach Wookiee]

Hi, everyone. I’ve just turned on a documentary about Centralia, Pennsylvania, and a thought occurred to me. Did the Vulcans help put out that fire? And did they help clean up other parts of Earth like Chernobyl? What disasters should come up in canon?

 

[Guy Gardener]

They filled in the Grand Canyon.

No one told them not to.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The Vulcans must have helped Earth in the cleanup and rebuilding after WW III.

Entire cities rebuilt? Earth's global infrastructure reconstituted from nothing? There's no way Earth could have recovered so quickly WITHOUT that help.

Hell, in real life it takes years just to build one building. And that's on an Earth which still has its infrastructure working. After a global thermonuclear war - with the Earth in ruins, 600 million people dead, and all industries presumably destroyed - Earth absolutely would have required help.

Think of it this way: Watch a TV-movie about nuclear war, like The Day After or Threads, and then ask yourself: Could Earth have recovered from THAT kind of disaster in only 50 years? I thought not.

That's probably also why, in the initial stages after first contact, Earth was so subservient to Vulcan. They would have wanted payment for services rendered.

 

[Gul Sengosts]

They offered helpful advice about how our rebuilding efforts were not entirely logical.

 

[BillJ]

Think of it this way: Watch a TV-movie about nuclear war, like The Day After or Threads, and then ask yourself: Could Earth have recovered from THAT kind of disaster in only 50 years? I thought not.

It sounded like a pretty limited affair, if only 600 million died.

And, Western Europe rebuilt astounding quickly after much of it being bombed into the ground. Not to mention Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Outside of the nukes, we firebombed much of Japan. It was pretty bad.

Humans are capable of great accomplishments, when we absolutely have our backs to the wall.

 

[at Quark's]

It sounded like a pretty limited affair, if only 600 million died.

And, Western Europe rebuilt astounding quickly after much of it being bombed into the ground. Not to mention Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Outside of the nukes, we firebombed much of Japan. It was pretty bad.

Humans are capable of great accomplishments, when we absolutely have our backs to the wall.

There was a lot of damage in Western Europe, yes, though I suppose not nearly to the level a massive thermonuclear war would have caused. Also, they got a lot of help for rebuilding, at least economic help. I wouldn't know about Japan.

 

[BillJ]

There was a lot of damage in Western Europe, yes, though I suppose not nearly to the level a massive thermonuclear war would have caused. Also, they got a lot of help for rebuilding, at least economic help. I wouldn't know about Japan.

We rebuilt a good portion of the world in twenty years. I have faith that we could rebuild fairly quickly after a limited nuclear exchange. A full blown exchange would've caused a much higher death count.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

WWIII goes without saying. I just learn about ongoing disasters we’ve had and wonder if Vulcan helped out. “It is not logical to allow this coal fire to continue to burn.” The Centralia fire is supposed to burn until into the 23rd century, for example. And the Chernobyl and Fukushima sites will be contaminated for close to that long. And what about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?

 

[Finn]

They filled in the Grand Canyon.

No one told them not to.

Phlox visited it.

WWIII goes without saying. I just learn about ongoing disasters we’ve had and wonder if Vulcan helped out. “It is not logical to allow this coal fire to continue to burn.” The Centralia fire is supposed to burn until into the 23rd century, for example. And the Chernobyl and Fukushima sites will be contaminated for close to that long. And what about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?

Yeah. They should make a throw back comment about someone coming across an ancient plastic Coke bottle in the Alaska wilderness.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Phlox visited it.

As soon as humanity had the resources, they would have dug it out again.

We rebuilt a good portion of the world in twenty years. I have faith that we could rebuild fairly quickly after a limited nuclear exchange. A full blown exchange would've caused a much higher death count.

The real problem is radioactive top soil.

Either 1. Vulcan Ships transport billions of tons of top soil into space, then industrial replicators replace the billions of tons of top soil, or 2. The very act of transporting a billion tons of top soil 8 feet into the air, clears and cleans the top soil from all it's nasty radioactivity, and 3. Ditto for their oceans and the sky.

 

[Citiprime]

My guess is, at least at first, it would have been humanitarian assistance only. Think something similar to what the UN does when they bring food and medical supplies to war-torn areas or places that suffered a natural disaster.

I just don't think the Vulcans went big in trying to establishing a huge presence on Earth or trying to "nation-build" by helping along the establishment of United Earth.

One reason is what's depicted in TNG's "Encounter at Farpoint."

Q's court of atomic horrors occurs in 2079. That's a full SIXTEEN YEARS after first contact. So that would imply, even with first contact and possible outside assistance from the Vulcans, it took a while for humanity to recover and there existed pockets of armed resistance (i.e., the drug-addicted soldiers of whatever government that court represented) and full-on Mad Max levels of post-apocalyptic living for decades after the development of Warp Drive.

Also, TNG's "Attached" implies United Earth didn't have full claim to representing the entire planet until 2150. That's almost a century after first contact, and only one-year before the launch of the NX-01.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Also, TNG's "Attached" implies United Earth didn't have full claim to representing the entire planet until 2150. That's almost a century after first contact, and only one-year before the launch of the NX-01.

No it doesn't. Beverly gives a hypothetical

CRUSHER: Well, think about Earth. What if one of the old nation states, say Australia, had decided not to join the World Government in twenty one fifty? Would that have disqualified us as a Federation member?

 

[Citiprime]

No it doesn't. Beverly gives a hypothetical

The dialogue implies United Earth became a "world government" in 2150.

For example, Memory Alpha uses that as the basis to say the "final holdouts joined in 2150."

 

[Nerys Myk]

The dialogue implies United Earth became a "world government" in 2150.

For example, Memory Alpha uses that as the basis to say the "final holdouts joined in 2150."

I don't think there any wiggle room. It definitely states it became a World Government.

 

[Guy Gardener]

No it doesn't. Beverly gives a hypothetical

CRUSHER: Well, think about Earth. What if one of the old nation states, say Australia, had decided not to join the World Government in twenty one fifty? Would that have disqualified us as a Federation member?

Perhaps?

RIKER: Makes sense. Most of the major cities have been destroyed. There are few governments left. Six hundred million dead. No resistance.

So lets assume that there was 12 functioning Governments left standing in 2063, and %90 percent of earth was unclaimed territory infested with rabid illiterate cannibals rotting from radiating poisoning.

I find it more likely that those 12 (hypothetical) nation-states grew their borders to cover the entire Earth, rather than those 12 surviving nation-states, glued the earth back to how it was before the bombs dropped respecting land deeds and claims from people who can't even prove who they are anymore, after spending 40 years living like apes.

Although Picard, the show, makes out that you can just own a bar, all the way through WWIII and it's really no different than before of after the war, where everyone has money, and you have a supply chain to keep your patrons lightly toasted.

 

[somebuddyX]

I think Vulcans removed all the radiation around places and helped us design a very basic food replicator type device to feed everybody. I think we did everything else. Maybe they introduced us to some other aliens and consulted on those warp ships that launched a few years later and kept disappearing. I think with all the cities turning up intact in future Trek that Riker's line in First Contact has to have some wiggle room. Maybe all the populations of cities got obliterated but the cities were left intact. Like, I don't think Star Trek's ever been to future New York but I feel once they depict it it'll just look like regular New York with a bunch of future buildings added in.

 

[Shawnster]

600 million dead from what? Combat? Nuclear blast? Does this number include those who died from radiation, malnutrition, etc...? Would this number include those who died due to the anarchy and civil unrest following the collapse of governments?

Did Vulcan aid help limit the deaths to only 600 million? Was the prospect of Vulcan help impetus to establishing a united government? "We can only give you limited 'humanitarian' help now but,, if you ever unite under a one world government, we can offer much more assistance".

Was the chaos we saw in Farpoint at least partially caused by Earth's reaction to first contact? How many nut jobs screamed conspiracy and wanted to fight these alien invaders?

 

[The Wormhole]

Did Vulcan aid help limit the deaths to only 600 million?

Since those deaths occurred before the Vulcans even showed up, that'd have to be a resound no.

 

[Nyotarules]

How did the Vulcans help Earth after WW3? They policed the internet and destroyed the Anonymous identity option. Once everyone had to pay to use it and their ID exposed the level of vitriol, lies and misinformation disappeared.
I would reboot the number to 6 billion instead.

 

[Guy Gardener]

How big was Owo's Luddite collective, how many Luddite Collectives were there, and if there were enough of them, or enough people opting out of the new Utopia, does that disqualify Earth from Federation membership?