Not to be sour but Earth will not be here forever. Yes, sure it could last another five thousand years, which is way longer than any of us will live anyways, so who cares, right? Besides, why would you want to leave Earth with all its wonderful choices for president- I mean all the big horn sheep hunted near extinction.. I mean beautiful oceans!.. full of garbage... yikes! Wel,l at least we do have the beauty of nature.. at least for now until pollution makes Earth into a giant dirty New York alley way.
While that view might be pretty pessimistic, the answer to this problem is the exact opposite: space colonization. The next frontier! Again.. instead of the unknown North America's forest and mountains that our ancestors explored many years ago, our time on earth could be spent conquering the stars and planets that are currently unknown to us. While these plans seem ludicrous, humans are truly living in the early years of this project that will change the future of our species.
On September 27th, entrepreneur Elon Musk announced an idea to colonize mars, to have a civilization somewhere else other than Earth. While this has been the topic of science fiction since the eighties, the plan is now attainable with the technology we possess at this time in history. First off, we are living in this modern age where satellites have become key to modern civilization. The next step is simply living out in the vast vacuum of space. While the freezing emptiness seems daunting it is merely the gate between us and the rest of the unknown. Humanity has used religion to explain the stars and other planets as the heavens since humans ancestors formed on Earth. Now living in a age where we know worlds exist outside our own it is ridiculous to not take the opportunity in front of us. While we may not find aliens, which would be exciting, the advances of technology would benefit man kind in the long run.
The first space boom brought us many revolutionary devices which drastically changed the society we live in today. We have NASA to thank for firefighter suits to protect those who risk their lives to help others, enhanced weather casting so we do not buy baseball tickets on rainy days wasting money and time. Also solar energy which is cool. Turning light into electricity beats burning rocks into smog for power. While any scientist, professor, or engineer could list endless reasons for space colonization I ask the critics to think of reasons why we should not.