Elon Musk appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience wearing an “Occupy Mars” t-shirt, and I found myself getting angrier and angrier as he pushed this message into the camera. Why was I so enraged? Well, there are two main reasons, and they both stem from the sheer audacity and shortsightedness of this mentality.
First off, this “Occupy Mars” message is nothing short of barbaric. It echoes the colonialism that has decimated cultures across our planet, spreading war, disease, and horror around the globe. The invaders of old would spread across continents, plant a flag in the ground, and claim it in the name of their monarch. Touch that flag, and you’d be attacked. It’s a story repeated ad nauseam throughout history.
Let’s not forget the Spaniards in South America, who brought devastation to the Inca and Aztec empires, wiping out entire civilizations in their quest for gold and glory. Or the British Empire, which at its peak covered a quarter of the world’s land surface, leaving a legacy of oppression and cultural erasure that still reverberates today. The Romans, the Mongols, the Portuguese – all left trails of blood in their wake.
The slave trade, a horror that spanned centuries, uprooted millions of Africans and subjected them to unimaginable cruelties. The Ottoman Turks carved out an empire that lasted 600 years, often through brutal conquest and forced assimilation.
And it’s not just ancient history. The Russia-Ukraine war has claimed nearly a million lives, and it’s just the latest in an endless string of conflicts. The USA has been at war somewhere, almost continuously, since Columbus first landed and kicked off centuries of invasion and genocide. That romantic Hollywood image of settlers being attacked by Indians? It’s a far cry from the truth of peace-loving tribes being deliberately infected with smallpox-laced blankets given as “gifts.”
Secondly, we need to get our own planet in order before we even think about occupying another. Humans are a shit stain on Earth. We pollute the oceans with plastic and chemicals, turning vast swathes of our seas into dead zones. We burn the Amazon and other crucial forests, destroying the planet’s lungs for short-term profit. We’ve driven countless species to extinction, from the dodo to the Tasmanian tiger, and countless more are on the brink.
We fight wars over land we don’t even own, killing each other over imaginary lines on the ground that move depending on how much metal one side can throw at the other. It’s madness on an unprecedented scale.
Occupy Mars FFS!!!
The sooner we take responsibility and realize we own nothing – not the Earth, and certainly not Mars – the better. All Musk and the other billionaires want to do is bloat their egos. “Look at me”, they say, “I’ve taken humanity interstellar!” But in reality, they’re just spreading the plague of humanity like a virus.
Sure, Musk claims to have taken some strides to clean up the planet with electric cars. But did he just see that as a way to become the world’s richest man? And are electric cars even the answer, given the environmental cost of battery production and the fact that much of our electricity still comes from fossil fuels?
True philanthropy would see Musk and the other billionaires truly giving. Wealthness is about doing something selfless that is bigger than you. Before even thinking about infesting Mars, Musk needs to divert his funds to cleaning up the cesspool we’ve turned our own planet into.
We need to address climate change, clean up our oceans, restore our forests, and find ways to coexist with other species instead of driving them to extinction. We need to resolve conflicts without resorting to war, and we need to address the vast inequalities that fuel so much of the world’s strife.
The rapid growth of human population, particularly among the poor and impoverished, has become a significant global concern. In many developing regions, having numerous children is seen as a form of insurance policy against economic uncertainty and lack of social support in old age. This mindset, however, exacerbates the strain on our planet’s limited resources. The demographic driving this population explosion tends to be less educated and economically disadvantaged, often lacking awareness of the long-term environmental consequences of their actions. In some cases, they view the planet’s resources as an infinite means to generate income, leading to unsustainable exploitation. This cycle of poverty, lack of education, and high birth rates creates a burgeoning population that continues to deplete Earth’s finite resources at an alarming rate.
The Billionaire’s Space Club
It’s not just Musk with his Mars obsession; we’ve got a whole club of billionaires treating space like their personal playground. Let’s take a look at these ego-driven ventures:
Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin: The Amazon founder’s pet project aims to make space travel as common as air travel. With his New Shepard rocket, Bezos is offering joyrides to the edge of space for the ultra-wealthy. But let’s be real – the average person will never afford these trips, and they’re nothing more than expensive roller coaster rides for the elite.
Richard Branson and Virgin Galactic: Not to be outdone, Branson’s also got his own space tourism company. He’s selling tickets for suborbital flights at a cool $250,000 a pop. It’s just another way for the rich to flaunt their wealth while the rest of us deal with real-world problems down here on Earth.
Paul Allen and Stratolaunch: The late Microsoft co-founder poured millions into building the world’s largest aircraft for launching rockets into space. It’s an impressive engineering feat, sure, but is this really where we should be focusing our resources?
Yuri Milner and Breakthrough Starshot: This Russian-Israeli billionaire is throwing money at the idea of sending tiny spacecraft to Alpha Centauri. It’s an interesting scientific concept, but again, how does this help solve our immediate earthly problems?
The truth is, the average person will never afford to take a trip to space, and who in their right mind would want to endure Mars? There’s unbounded beauty here on Earth that we’re neglecting and destroying. Why would we want to take our evil, our pestilence, and our anger to space? These billionaires should be focusing their vast resources on solving the pressing issues we face right here – climate change, poverty, inequality – instead of indulging in these space fantasies that benefit no one but themselves and a handful of wealthy thrill-seekers.
The Cosmic Cost: Billionaires’ Space Ventures Amplify Their Already Massive Carbon Footprints
These vanity space projects aren’t just ego trips for the ultra-wealthy; they’re environmental disasters in the making. Let’s break down the pollution these self-serving ventures are adding on top of the billionaires’ already massive carbon footprints:
Rocket launches spew an enormous amount of carbon dioxide and other pollutants into the atmosphere. A single SpaceX Falcon 9 launch burns about 400 metric tons of kerosene and emits more CO2 in a few minutes than an average car would in two centuries. And we’re not talking about just one launch here – Musk wants to make these trips routine.
Then there’s the issue of space junk. These projects are contributing to the growing problem of orbital debris, which poses risks to operational satellites and future space missions. The more launches we have, the more debris we create, potentially rendering parts of Earth’s orbit unusable in the future.
Let’s not forget the impact on the ozone layer. Rocket exhaust contains chlorine, which is known to destroy ozone molecules. As these space tourism ventures ramp up, we’re looking at increased damage to the very layer that protects us from harmful UV radiation.
And what about the noise pollution? Rocket launches produce extreme noise levels that can harm local wildlife and disrupt ecosystems. The areas around launch sites often become uninhabitable for many species.
All this is happening while these same billionaires’ companies continue to contribute massively to global emissions. Amazon’s carbon footprint in 2020 was 60.64 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent – more than many countries. Tesla, despite its green image, has been criticized for its environmental impact in battery production and mineral mining.
The hypocrisy is staggering. These billionaires talk about saving the planet or making humanity multi-planetary, but their actions are exacerbating the very problems they claim to want to solve. They’re literally burning up our planet’s resources and polluting our atmosphere for their space joyrides, all while the average person struggles with the impacts of climate change that these billionaires have disproportionately contributed to.
It’s time we called out these space ventures for what they are – not visionary projects for humanity’s future, but destructive vanity projects that are costing us our planet’s health. The resources and brainpower being poured into these space programs could be much better used solving pressing issues here on Earth, like developing sustainable energy solutions or addressing global poverty and inequality.
The billionaires have the wealth and the power to effect real change, and with that privilege comes an immense responsibility. It’s time for them to step up and clean up, redirecting their resources toward addressing the pressing social and environmental issues we face today. The future of our planet depends on their willingness to use their influence for the greater good, ensuring that humanity can thrive without further damaging the world we all share.
