And neither can anyone else.

While I certainly am no poster boy for environmentalism, the word "caution" comes to mind--strike that--the word "are they nuts?" comes to mind when discussing drastic alterations in a planet-wide characteristic of the Earth that has been largely stable for a billion years (I use the word "largely." What happens when the Earth's field flips? Does it go away for a while? Where do the belts go then?)

The Van Allen Belts do not present a serious threat that cannot be dealt with the same way we have dealt with it for years. On the other hand, I have no idea what effect the Belts have on the characteristics of our atmosphere, the shielding capacity of the magnetic field, or and other factors. Given that, the adage, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" should be uppermost in our minds.

Anyway, how long would it take a few good solar storms to stuff them full of charged particles again?