The snow is melting, and I can actually step outside without questioning my survival instincts.

Just a few weeks ago, I was staring out my window at a frozen wasteland, bundled under layers of blankets, contemplating my life choices as the temperature outside sat at a soul-crushing -20°F. Now? It’s in the 40s, the snow is melting, and I can actually step outside without questioning my survival instincts.

This kind of dramatic weather swing is peak Minnesota, where winter likes to give you a taste of spring before slapping you with one last blizzard just to remind you who’s boss. But as I watched the world around me shift from an arctic tundra to something almost habitable again, it got me thinking about a much bigger kind of seasonal change—one that takes centuries instead of weeks: terraforming.

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What if we could speed up planetary transformation like Minnesota fast-forwards from deep freeze to t-shirt weather? What if we could take a place like Mars—currently colder than my driveway in January—and turn it into a second Earth? It’s one of the biggest ideas in both science and science fiction, and while we haven’t pulled it off yet, history shows we’ve been trying (on a smaller scale) for a long time.

So, with the seasons changing and my brain warming back up, I decided to dig into terraforming in real life and in sci-fi, from historical projects to Dune to what it could mean for humanity’s future.

Check out my latest article, and let me know—if we ever do terraform another planet, do you think we’ll get a Minnesota-style “fake spring” before it actually works? Because that would be so on brand for the universe.

About Leif J. Erickson

Leif J. Erickson is a science fiction and fantasy author from a small farming community in west central Minnesota. Using his time wisely when he was a farmer, Leif developed many ideas, characters, and storylines to create over fifty unique first drafts and outlines for stories. From his start in a small town school, to college at North Dakota State University, back to his family farm, then to the bright lights of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and back to his small farming town, Leif has always had a love of writing.

When Leif isn’t writing he can be found with his wife hiking in state parks, canoeing local lakes and rivers, exploring local and regional ghost towns, experiencing museums, or simply reading or hanging out with friends and family. Leif draws on the local nature and ecology to find inspiration for his writing while he also asks what’s possible for technology and the human race, weaving them together for amazing stories that will stay with the reader for years to come. Leif looks forward to having many novel and story releases in the years to come.

You can see all of Leif’s Books here: Leif’s Amazon Author Page