Why We Must Colonize Planets

By now human population grew up to 7.7 billion. And as shown in figure 1 it seems like there will not be less humans on earth any time soon. Issue with that is that humans require resources like food, water and space to live. Caused by our finite earth, resources are limited. With a further growing population, at some point of time there will be not enough resources to supply for all humans on earth.

Graphic showing that population on earth grew to 7.794.798.729 on 2020
Figure 1 Population on earth since 1950 (United Nations)

However, even now we do experience issues coming with mega population. Climate change is ruling the world. Studies discover environmental changes, caused by climate differences, that will influence our way of life. And while studying the power consumption of the world it doesn’t seem like we are fighting against those changes. The main issue of climate change is the production of CO2, which enhances the greenhouse effect. To avoid the enhancement of CO2 pollution, there are projects for developing techniques to convert renewable energy resources. But by now consumption of energy from renewable energy sources cover less than 10% of the energy needs we have. Not really a pleasant percentage. On the other hand, using renewable energy sources can also cause issues. A team from Harvard University had shown that if the total energy need of US would be covered by windfarms converting wind energy to electrical energy, temperature in the US would still increase by certain degrees. Using renewables would have a more negative impact on climate change than CO2 pollution.

Seemingly the only solution is to decrease power consumption and get more efficient in converting energy. But even if we would achieve a relaxation of climate change by now, the population growth would force us to decrease energy consumption and increase efficiency of converting energy with every newborn.

We are facing the limits of earth with the sky drawing the limiting borders. But maybe sky isn’t the limit? Maybe we could break through these finite resource borders by colonizing other planets? It sounds like science fiction, but NASA, Amazon, Elon Musk and other entities are already on the road to get us to Mars. These entities are building a moon station, used by scientific and commercial institutions and are sending the first humans to Mars by 2024. This article will explain why sending people to Mars will safe humanity and earths nature.

Global Issue: Population
Factors Influencing Population
Longevity
Fertility
Sustainable Development Goals
International Conference on Population and Development
How Fertility Changed Over Time / Different Perspective
Global Issue: Climate Change
Renewables as a Solution against Climate Change
Climate Change and Mega Population
Planetary Colonization
Where Should We Start?
Current Achievements
Living in Space - Conclusion