Have you all seen the recent article by President Obama on CNN claiming that America will lead the way in putting humans on Mars? You can check it out here. Perhaps you’re also familiar with the privately funded expedition known as Mars One. Have you guys heard about this? A year ago I was following the Mars One selection process a little bit, being slightly intrigued and perplexed by the whole thing. Many believe Mars One is a scam or just too ambitious, but very few are talking about what leaving our planet would even mean. The whole set-up is precisely the plot of Interstellar, which, by the way, is a fantastic movie that I found incredibly moving and gripping. But the idea is that as the earth moves ever closer to a dystopian reality, we will be in need of a new planetary home.

A while back I listened to a TED Talk that for some reason I cannot find on the internet to save my life. I don’t remember the title of the talk, or the name of the presenter, but I do remember some of the key points (PS if you know which one I’m referring to please send it along!). The presenter posed the issue like this: why not, instead of looking for a new home, we become better stewards of the one we have? This I think is precisely the right question. We were made for the Earth. The quest for Mars (and other habitable planets), to me, is the Humanist version of Gnostic eschatology—fleeing our earthly home for a new one in the sky.

I often think about space travel and finding habitable planets. Sometimes think of this in the context of considering whether there might be life on other planets, and sometimes in the context of whether we could ever live on these other planets someday. But the thought that I’m often struck by is the idea that we live on the sort of planet that we would want to find in the Universe. And then I think, and we’re the sort of creatures that we would hope to find on other planets. When considering how ridiculously vast and expansive the universe is, I’m reminded of just how exciting this place is for its uniqueness, and how exciting it is to get to know the creatures of this planet, and to travel and experience all that it has to offer. I’m reminded of one of my favorite quotes:

“The world will never starve for want of wonders; but only for want of wonder.” —G. K. Chesterton

I think we need to cultivate that sense of wonder for our planet, because it will translate into a care and concern for it. Space travel is exciting and impressive, but if we’re looking to find a new home on another planet, as that TED Talk presenter notes, we will miss out on this one in the process. Why would we think that, if we could make other planets habitable, we wouldn’t continue to bring ecological disaster wherever we end up? It seems like we need to change our attitudes and behaviors instead of our homes.