WHEN I WAS A KID, I was totally into space exploration. I naively thought that humans would learn to treat Mother Earth with respect, and stop destroying her, as we reached for the stars. I was as fascinated by the heavens, just as I was by the marvelous critters and plants in my own backyard.
Well, obviously it hasn't turned out that way. So now I see the push to colonize Mars as a grotesque and perverse display of what humanity ought not be. (Make no mistake about it, terraforming Mars would be colonialism in the most exploitive sense of the word.)
Intentionally or unintentionally, NASA and a handful of billionaires are deceitfully promoting a false narrative of humans as a “multi planet species” while the ability of our living Earth to support life diminishes right before their very eyes.
Just imagine if the vast amounts of money and talent for going to space were used for protecting tropical forests, educating young women, or stabilizing the world's population...I could go on and on. Imagine all the metals, energy, and other resources extracted from Earth to support space fantasies at a time when we need to boldly and heroically fight climate change, protect life on Earth, and scale back consumption (thank heavens for the noble minority who are already so engaged).
Our friends at Rising should be applauded for their funny critique of Marsism and weirdness like a "business park in space." Oh, how I wish the whole matter were simply a joke.
My advice is “Don't Look Up” — instead watch the movie by that name!
You are right on target, as always. The amount of fuel consumed to lift mass out of Earth's gravity well is .astronomical. It is ridiculous--criminal insanity to plunder precious Earth resources on a rush into space. To say nothing of the human resources put into the project.