317: Will Space Settlements Save Us from Climate Calamity?—w/ Zach & Kelly Weinersmith, authors of A City on Mars

Off-world settlements are sometimes proposed as an insurance policy for Earthlings. Or as an escape for the super-rich. Is it actually either of those things? How should we be considering humanity's relationship to the cosmos and off-world civilization? And is the Overview Effect worth a damn?

On today's episode of the Reversing Climate Change podcast, Nori carbon removal marketplace Cofounder Ross Kenyon is joined by Zach Weinersmith and Dr. Kelly Weinersmith, science educators and authors all. Zach is also the person behind the long-running internet comic SMBC (Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal). They are the authors of the new book, A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?

Zach and Kelly are both sympathetic to space exploration, being avowed geeks of the subject matter. And yet, the further they dug into basically every facet of life off-world, the less likely it seems our species is ready for the challenges.

Whether it be the ease of hurling celestial objects back at Earth, the collapsing bone density of space denizens, the uncertainty of reproduction in low-gravity environments and therefore the necessity of experimenting without consent upon children, the cost, the geopolitics, the near-term impossibility of independence from Earth, and an entire book's worth of other concerns, it just doesn't seem like becoming a trans-Earth civilization is the solution or problem that its supporters or critics, respectively, have believed it is.

These are all worthy areas of research. Tune in to learn more and why Zach & Kelly are still exuberant space nerds, and how to keep space in mind with regard to climate change.

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Resources

Kelly's website

Zach's website

Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That'll Improve and/or Ruin Everything

A City on Mars

Mars One

David Grinspoon's Earth in Human Hands

David Grinspoon on Reversing Climate Change

The Right Stuff

Bryan Caplan on Reversing Climate Change talking about his book Open Borders, which Zach illustrated.