With so Many Problems on Planet Earth, Should the Us Continue to Fund Space Exploration?

With all of the many problems on Earth, I believe the United States funding for NASA and space exploration should be re-evaluated and shifted more to the important issues here on Earth and with its people. It is vital for us to save the planet we live on now rather than to explore and waste money and resources on space exploration for a new planet to inhabit.

We cohabitate and share this planet with many different people, as well as animals and ecosystems we should be taking care of what we have here, before we try to find another place to live on another planet in space. While reading over Mr. Rischard's article and study (Rischard, J. F. 2002), what he had written much troubled me. We have many issues involving our planet as a whole. As Mr. Rischard pointed out “we have 20 years to solve them.” His article from the Washington Quarterly on this, called Global Issues Networks: Desperate Times Deserve Innovative Measures. The points and issues raised were very fascinating.

Some examples include as Mr. Rischard mentioned (Rischard, J. F. 2002), Global Common Issues: Global Warming, Ecosystem Losses, fisheries depletion, Deforestation, Water Deficits and Maritime Safety and Pollution these problems can be solved with more effort from our nations and countries all around the world. If we continue to ignore these issues, it could be the ruin of this planet and the people and all of who and what we cohabitate with. In essence we could possibly become extinct or find ourselves on a planet without resources or growth.

The more I research and read on my topic, the information from many places and the cost of caring for our global common issues on Earth is minuscule compared to the long term cost of not addressing them. We have the funds in every country to help its people and our planet out of this problem. We could be putting some of those funds to research and assist in issues such as fighting against poverty and hunger, peacekeeping and conflict resolution,...