Mars colony 'will make the world a better place'

Prominent world thinkers were recently asked for their ideas on what would make the world a better place. Ideas ranged from choosing to drink organic shade-grown coffee to establishing a human colony on Mars.

Their suggestions paint a bleak picture of the world's current situation. Some of the concerns addressed were environmental destruction, inequalities in health care and the money driven selfishness of the Western world. The thinkers included such notable people as Richard Dawkins, the evolutionary biologist and prominent atheist, author Margaret Atwood, and Sir Richard Branson, the Virgin entrepreneur. The group did find reasons for hope even if some suggestions were a little far-fetched reports the Telegraph. J. Richard Gott, professor of astrophysical sciences, Princeton University said, "We should establish a self-supporting colony on Mars. That would make us a two-planet species and improve our long-term survival prospects by giving us two chances instead of one. It would change the course of world history - you couldn't even call it world history any more." And he added, "We should do this before money for the space program runs out." Sir Richard Branson agreed with Gott's suggestion saying, "If we are going to survive as a civilisation we need low energy and environmental access to space on an industrial scale." Richard Dawkins said, "The world would be a better place if everybody learned to think like scientists. I don't mean they should know more science, although that would be nice too. I mean that everybody should base their beliefs upon evidence, and be highly suspicious of any beliefs that are not based on evidence." Margaret Atwood, author, feminist and social campaigner, suggested that our personal choices are "a powerful tool for change." If we were to "drink organic shade-grown coffee" and to "ban fishing by bottom trawl dragging," for example, it would halt the devastating impact our present choices are having on our planet. Jane Goodall, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and a United Nations' Messenger of Peace said, "There is an indigenous saying: 'We have not inherited this world from our parents, we have borrowed it from our children.' This is simply not true. When you borrow you intend to pay back. We have been stealing the future of our children." Goodall told Newscientist Magazine, "I believe we have lost the wisdom of the indigenous people who made decisions based on how they would affect their people generations ahead. If we would all regain the lost wisdom and think about future generations, the world would rapidly become a much better place." Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX and chairman of Tesla Motors told the magazine, "One thing that could be done to make the world a better place is for citizens to demand that their governments shift the tax burden to fall more heavily on CO2-producing activities." Musk was not without optimism when he added that people should look on the bright side of life and to appreciate our good fortune.