I, as a second speaker, feel very strongly that the problem with colonizing mars is that nothing could happen to earth that would make it less hospitable than Mars. Whether it’s nuclear war or massive global warming, post disaster earth would be way more habitable than Mars. For example, we worry that the oceans on earth will get too polluted or rise up too high, but on Mars the only surface water is frozen in the polar ice caps. We would be hard pressed to ruin the water on earth so badly that it’s worse than what’s available on Mars, another reason is space funding would be better spent helping people on earth rather than wasted on other planets. There are already enough problems at home into which the money could be invested. As Patti Davis argued in 2004, the funding for the mission ---$750 billion--- would much better be used in alternative energy research and fighting climate change, and there is sufficient room for exploration on earth; space is excessive. Rather than probing Mars for life, and with individuals constantly in the news for attempts to traverse the globe in rowing boats, hot air balloons and tied to gliders, there are clearly enough ‘boundaries’ on this planet to keep even our keenest explorers happy.
I, as a second speaker, feel very strongly that the problem with colonizing mars is that nothing could happen to earth that would make it less hospitable than Mars. Whether it’s nuclear war or massive global warming, post disaster earth would be way more habitable than Mars. For example, we worry that the oceans on earth will get too polluted or rise up too high, but on Mars the only surface water is frozen in the polar ice caps. We would be hard pressed to ruin the water on earth so badly that it’s worse than what’s available on Mars, another reason is space funding would be better spent helping people on earth rather than wasted on other planets. There are already enough problems at home into which the money could be invested. As Patti Davis argued in 2004, the funding for the mission ---$750 billion--- would much better be used in alternative energy research and fighting climate change, and there is sufficient room for exploration on earth; space is excessive. Rather than probing Mars for life, and with individuals constantly in the news for attempts to traverse the globe in rowing boats, hot air balloons and tied to gliders, there are clearly enough ‘boundaries’ on this planet to keep even our keenest explorers happy.