Save Earth Or Go Into Space?

[Roobaba]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58903078

I say go into space, our planet is doomed!

[davebro]

doomed I tell ya - WE ARE ALL DOOMED!

(Do you go around with a sandwich board saying "The End is Nigh"?)

Damn savages...

[naomi24]

Stephen Hawking said that man will eventually have to find somewhere else to live and he was probably right. 'Saving the earth' can only ever be delaying the inevitable.

[dannyk13]

Does one preclude the other? Do both.

[dave50]

Saving the earth? The earth isn't going anywhere for millions of years.

[youngmafbog]

Our planet is not doomed. The human race may well be, but the planet will carry on until the sun gives out or its clobbered by an almighty meteorite.

And there is no reason we can't do both.

[andy-hughes]

That reduces the situation to an overly simplistic choice which does not actually exist.

Anything with a remote level of complexity is never an 'either / or' situation.

This is not one either.

[Roobaba]

naomi24 'Stephen Hawking said that man will eventually have to find somewhere else to live and he was probably right. 'Saving the earth' can only ever be delaying the inevitable.'

That's the urgency of 'Go into space'.. we need to establish a colony on Mars or beyond to give the human race an 'insurance policy' against us all being wiped out if/when a 'extinction event' sized meteorite strikes the Earth.

dannyk13 '
Does one preclude the other? Do both.'

Yes we should do both, but I fear that 'Go into space' will prove to be easier than 'Save planet Earth'. If there's money to be made with 'space tourism' it will become popular.. but on the plus side could ultimately help with humanity's exploration and colonisation of space.

youngmafbog 'Our planet is not doomed. The human race may well be, but the planet will carry on until the sun gives out or its clobbered by an almighty meteorite.'

Our planet is ultimately doomed as we all know. Colonisation of space is our only hope of long term survival, assuming the AI/robots don't get us first. But, I fear the human race will self destruct sooner rather later the way we are going we are all doomed. I'm told it repeatedly despite my best efforts to get people to see sense.. our human nature, greed, self interest etc cannot be overcome, it will hasten our eventual demise.. I continue to live in hope that this may not be so.

[archibaldy]

Space isn't habitable for us, the radiation will speed up death and all colonies will need to be well underground for the foreseeable future, not a very nice existence when we have a (theoretically) beautiful and safe planet that we can breathe in naturally already.

I believe that most of earth's environmental problems are caused by resource depletion and lack of energy, development of mining asteroids and planets/moons for metals, water and harnessing the energy in space is going to be much more feasible than terraforming an entire planet and atmosphere to at least make existing up there for ones entire life more pleasant than living on earth (however bad it gets down here!) will be our route out of it, if we can do it in time!

[smurfchops]

Save earth every time. What the …. Is the point of going into space? Too many people with too much money to literally burn.

[ToraToraTora]

The closest Earth like planet is at least 40 light years away. We'll have to stay and make it work, end of.

[barry1010]

So you want mankind to destroy another planet?

[1ozzy]

//end of//

Hmm, should have known that, silly me.

[Hopkirk]

How many gas boilers (that will soon be banned) could be run on the energy consumed by a rocket that gives a few mega rich a ten minute flit into the lower edge of space?

[1ozzy]

Lots?

Asking for a friend

[naomi24]

Hopkirk, saying gas boilers will be banned and leaving it at that gives the wrong impression. No one will be asked to remove a functioning gas boiler - simply to replace it with a greener alternative once it conks out.

[Hopkirk]

My point still stands.
Burning stuff in the atmosphere is bad for the environment. One rocket must cause huge emissions, just for a few rich people to be able to boast.

[ToraToraTora]

well my boiler is pretty old and will need replacing at some point but I'm ugberred if I'm going to spend 18k on one of those heat pump gizmos, even if Richie Rich is going to give me 5k towards it. I'm not convinced they work well enough in our climate anyway. So I'll just get another gas boiler.

[Spicerack]

I wonder what gorgeous Kate saw in the multi-millionaire Prince?

[Atheist]

It may be that humankind has a long-term future which involves colonising other planets, but that is going to be in the distant future. Think about the work required to make Mars habitable, compared to keeping the Earth habitable; it's a no-brainer. And Mars is on our doorstep. There won't be a heap of oxygen-rich temperate uninhabited planets just waiting for us. Of course, if God makes such places then there might be loads, but we've seen no sign of them up to now.