Protect Earth instead of colonizing Mars – Obama

PARIS: Humanity must preserve Earth before dreaming of colonizing Mars because even nuclear war and unbridled climate change cannot make the red planet more livable, former United States president Barack Obama said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a renewable energy (RE) conference in France’s capital Paris, the US ex-leader mentioned Silicon Valley “tycoons, many of whom are building spaceships” that could take humans to Mars.

“But when I hear some of the people talk about the plan to colonize Mars because the [Earth’s] environment may become so degraded that it becomes unlivable, I look at them like, what are you talking about?” Obama said.

“Even after a nuclear war, Earth would be more livable than Mars. Even if we didn’t do anything about CC (climate change), it would still have oxygen, as far as we can tell. Mars does not,” he added.

“I would rather us invest in taking care of this planet here,” he said, adding that space exploration should be for gathering knowledge and discovery rather than creating new living space for humanity.

“We were designed for this place, and it would be good if we kept this place in a way that’s livable,” the former leader said.

During his hourlong talk, Obama discussed his climate record at the

White House between 2009 and 2017.

As for his successor and potential future president Donald Trump, a longtime climate sceptic who withdrew the US from the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement, Obama said the facts spoke for themselves.

Obama was speaking as a special guest at the opening of the POwR. Earth Summit, a gathering organized by two RE entrepreneurs and attended by industry players.