Skip to content

Billionaires not on same planet

Carrying tourists into space doesn’t seem too important now
25932209_web1_210729-CHC-Editorial-July29-coins_1
Most of us only have pocket change compared to billionaires, who could do so much better with their money for the world than sending ordinary citizens into space. (Black Press photo)

Earth to billionaires: we have a problem and it’s time to get into the real world.

The last thing we should be endorsing now or caring about is the space race that’s evolving among the planet’s richest men. Surely, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson and Elon Musk can put their hordes of money to better use with what’s going on now than playing around in space.

We need people like them who can make a difference to pump some significant money into the climate change issue. There is no time to waste.

But instead of helping to combat the greatest crisis this old Earth has ever seen in modern times, the billionaire playboys are messing around with capsules to carry civilians on a new tourist mission that can only cause more harm than good.

Concerns have been expressed about the three beating the National Aeronautics Space Administration at providing such ventures, but that’s the least of our worries.

In case they haven’t noticed, large swaths of this world of ours are burning up while there’s catastrophic weather events occurring around the globe almost every day. Warning alarms should be going off not only in the spacecrafts, but in the billionaires’ heads.

It’s certainly their right to play around with their money if they want. But many would argue people like them have an opportunity to do so much good with their wealth toward alleviating what’s starting to seem like a desperate situation.

If we don’t care about future generations and what might be left for them, fine. Continue to fly around in space and create more emissions in the atmosphere and beyond and maybe we can start polluting more planets.

We don’t even know yet what it’s going to take to bring this climate crisis under any kind of control. Maybe it’s not even possible to undo all the damage inflicted by humans on the Earth from constant neglect.

It’s going to take considerable time and energy and, of course, enormous amounts of money to seek a solution. If these billionaires are any kind of humanitarians at all, it might be time to look in the mirror and start investing in a future that could become beyond repair if something isn’t done soon.



Don Bodger

About the Author: Don Bodger

I've been a part of the newspaper industry since 1980 when I began on a part-time basis covering sports for the Ladysmith-Chemainus Chronicle.
Read more