• Question: will there be a time when the earth will be too crowded, and people will have to search another planet like ours?

    Asked by WoofWoof to Steven, Sarah, Lidunka, Connor on 24 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Sarah Beasley

      Sarah Beasley answered on 24 Jun 2015:

      The search is already very much on for finding a second Earth! We have a finite time here, whether due to the destruction of the Sun or impact from an asteroid. I don’t think space is the issue, more that we will run out of resources at the rate we’re expanding.

    • Photo: Steven Thomson

      Steven Thomson answered on 24 Jun 2015:

      Yes, if population growth doesn’t slow down or stop, we’ll reach that point within a few generations – scary stuff!

      Already, we use more food and electricity than the Earth can sustain. If everyone in the world lived like the average person in the Western world (e.g. America, Britain and the richer parts of Europe) then we’d need FOUR planets to support us all.

      So we definitely need to find another planet to colonise, and fast. But however fast we go, it will still take too long. What we really need to go is start taking better care of the planet we’re on, and fast!

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