NASA Space Exploration - Michael Evans

This entry ties into the ecological problems our Earth is having and the increased destruction of our ecosystems. I have often wondered why we feel the need to explore our galaxy when it costs so much money and is so dangerous. I had never sat down and actually thought it out, but I figured it was just something some people had to do, an insatiable curiosity on the part of our government. The other day, however, someone mentioned to me that they thought NASA was just looking for another place for us to live after we destroyed the Earth and sucked it dry. I laughed at the time at the seemingly melodramatic claim, thinking it was just a joke. I started thinking about it, however, and it would seem to make a lot of sense. We have been having a lot of environmental problems that don’t seem to want to be solved in our way of life. So if we are running our rivers dry, losing resources that can’t be replenished, we will need to find somewhere else to live. It is amazing what a human will do in a fight for survival, and I wouldn’t put it past us to be exploring options now as a preemptive strike against extinction. It is just a fascinating idea that I had never really thought of until I took this class and learned more about the state of our world and the adverse ecological effects of our way of life.