STUDENT OPINION

Humans should colonize Mars because the Earth is dying.  

May 7, 2024

“Life on Mars.” It's a controversial topic. Some people believe that it exists, while others don’t. According to loc.gov, “In the 1830s many astronomers believed Mars, the other planets, and even the sun, were inhabited.” They found the potential of humans existing on Mars. The same study revealed that “our image of Mars developed along with advancements in the quality of our instruments to study it. As that picture came into focus, similarities between Mars and Earth, and in particular the belief that dark portions of the planet were oceans, lead many to speculate about the possibility of life on the planet.” Scientists are investigating more and more to potentially find life on Mars because the Earth isn’t going to last forever. Although there are still many flaws of living there as of right now, eventually we opt to transform it into a suitable planet for humans. 

According to Live science, “A triple-threat of climate change, biodiversity loss and overpopulation is bearing down on Earth.” The Earth is facing a significant amount of damage through these side-effects and it can only hold for a to a certain degree. We need to investigate Mars and start to create a sustainable environment similar to Earth minus the climate change and biodiversity which is the leading issue to the downfall of Earth. (If we are ever successful in creating Mars, we have to make sure that we keep our planet safe and clean to limit all of these global issues). 

Another source from live science states “there is still several billion years from now. But life on Earth will end much, much sooner than that. Earth will become unlivable for most organisms in about 1.3 billion years due to the sun's natural evolution.” This shows us that the Earth had so much potential to last longer (several billion more years) but due to significant issues like climate change, scientists say that the time has shortened (1.3 billion years now). We can't just keep waiting around any longer. We need to start transforming Mars into a life that humans can adapt to. I think what people aren’t willing to understand is that life on Mars can actually exist, it's us who have to actually transform it accordingly. 

I am for this change especially because after exploring some parts of the world, I realized how much this change was needed. As traveling is one of my favorite hobbies, I recently visited Canada. It was beautiful, but filled with pollution. I was walking through the streets of Canada and although it was so much fun to see the lovely sites there, all I could feel was dust in my eyes and I was shocked with the amount of pollution I saw there. Now I've also been to India a few times before and the pollution there is endless. Due to the overpopulation, there's so much littering going there that it's just hard to keep the country clean. But it's understandable for India to be a bit polluted because of their large population but seeing Canada this polluted is shocking and a bit sad. It shows how much work we still have to do. But the bigger problem with pollution is that it creates such a toxic environment by contaminating bodies of water and soil that it can lead to the destruction of necessary resources like crops, trees, and especially oxygen. Pollution is only going to get worse from here because we are not doing enough to keep our environment clean. The Earth is our responsibility and we are running far from it. 

To start the process of circling Mars NASA needs government funding and advanced technologies. First we'll need to make sure we have a spaceship that will land safely, be reused, and function properly. Then scientists must devise a method that can help astronauts obtain breathable air and drinkable water, and with the help of engineers we’ll be able to establish a reliable source of power for the first settlement on Mars. But the bottom line is we need to do something about this now because transforming another planet is not easy and it's going to take time so if we keep waiting around it might just be too late.