That could be part of it, but I think he thinks the next few decades are so critical for Earth's biosphere that he believes we need to focus on it with everything we've got. He's openly stated fairly recently that he believes humanity will eventually settle throughout the solar system and wants to see that happen.
That could be part of it, but I think he thinks the next few decades are so critical for Earth's biosphere that he believes we need to focus on it with everything we've got. He's openly stated fairly recently that he believes humanity will eventually settle throughout the solar system and wants to see that happen.
I'm not convinced that we can't do both - solve or at least mitigate the climate crisis while also beginning settlement of Mars. In fact, I agree with Zubrin that the effort to settle Mars will bring humanity deep knowledge which will enhance our capability to deal with Earth-based problems. Even calling the climate crisis an Earth-based problem isn't accurate, as you can't really remove Earth from the solar context. It's ultimately a space-based problem and going to space in a big way is going to be important to solving it.
That could be part of it, but I think he thinks the next few decades are so critical for Earth's biosphere that he believes we need to focus on it with everything we've got. He's openly stated fairly recently that he believes humanity will eventually settle throughout the solar system and wants to see that happen.
I'm not convinced that we can't do both - solve or at least mitigate the climate crisis while also beginning settlement of Mars. In fact, I agree with Zubrin that the effort to settle Mars will bring humanity deep knowledge which will enhance our capability to deal with Earth-based problems. Even calling the climate crisis an Earth-based problem isn't accurate, as you can't really remove Earth from the solar context. It's ultimately a space-based problem and going to space in a big way is going to be important to solving it.