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| World Summary Library Data Index |
Surprisingly, Garden's first explorers found the remnants of another civilization. This prior civilization - identified within the past ten years as belonging to the Salika, a non-human minor race - had abruptly ended around 1000. Buildings were still intact, and all signs pointed to a mass migration offworld. At the time, no one knew the identity or destination of Garden's original inhabitants.
The colonists found the planet's environment in an unbalanced state. Carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere were abnormally high, warming the world's climate. Garden's climate was further worsened by its star, a long-period irregular variable, now in a bright phase. All in all, Garden was much less habitable than its name implied.
The settlers, with aid from the Imperial Ministry of Colonization, began a wide-scale atmospheric terraforming project. Designed to remove the excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, it has already started to show slight signs of cooling the planet's climate.
Garden's current inhabitants live by a strict conservation
ethic. They refuse to use any sort of destructive or exploitive technology.
They shy away from using chemical fertilizers or pesticides in agriculture,
and put considerations of environment foremost in their work. What technology
exists on Garden is used for power, communications, or environmental control
purposes. The starport is the
only planetary installation to sport a high degree of automation. -ref
TD 20