In recent decades there is a growing awareness that it is not only climate change, important as it is, that needs attention for the long-term viability of planet Earth. The damage to biodiversity is just an important an issue to address. The literature on ethical rights now covers the rights of all species including those in the air, on land and in the oceans. Those rights need to be protected. Creation of space to accommodate an expanding economy result in the degradation of the biosphere. This is especially true of land reclamation. Politicians, city planners and developers need a new benchmark to determine the viability of land reclamation. They need to walk the talk about the preservation of the marine eco-system. The government of Penang, Malaysia, turns a deaf year to the protests of 6000 fishermen when it decided to reclaim 1800 ha which would turn the rich fishing ground, and its vibrant marine ecosystem of corals, mollusks, seaweeds. The collateral damage to reclamation goes unreported. The livelihood of farmers and fishermen are compromised. The “pit stops” of migratory birds, and the places where sea turtles return to breed are destroyed heedlessly. The unwitting introduction of invasive species has the potential to cause damage far beyond the reclaimed area such as the aggressive beach vitex, the green crab, and the killer algae. Many unidentified species are lost through reclamation escape the attention of humanity and science. As the world population rockets to more than 8 billion, it is inevitable that more space is needed for humanity. Land reclamation cannot be the solution for a planet in crisis. It is unethical, inequitable and harmful to all living species including our own. The new touchstone for space creation is the use of floating structures.