Socio-scientific issues
Fracking
pollutes water resources
economic potential of extracting oil
Looking for life on other planets
ocean acidification
Alternate energy sources
Mass transport /importation of people and products
causes shellfish and other calcium carbonate dependant organisms to die
We're running out of fossil fuels and need new sources
Lots of countries/cities are not self sustaining and rely on import of goods to feed the masses
Taking samples from other planets
Moving to another planet if earth becomes too damaged
Hydro, wind, thermal, geothermal, biofuel
Not as easy or convenient as fossil fuels, and they cost a lot to implement so we run into the issue of who is going to pay for it
Could end up damaging other planets or species with human intervention
Impacts food chain which means lots of loss of life and species which could cause mass extinction
decrease ph in the ocean
Affects economy and fishing industries for humans
Could introduce foreign diseases or bacteria that could potentially be deadly to life (on both earth and other planets)
Who gets to move, who gets a say, how will that effect trade and other social interactions
Finding out if it is suitable for life, and if not, researching how we could terraform the planet
How to move everything we need from earth to the new celestial body
Getting there would be hard since it would be far away
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What might happen to the celestial body in future - finding a suitable place to move
Who would get to move and how would we decide who gets to go. Rich people would pay to get to go and it would only benefit them not the whole of society
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Countries rely on tourists for their income
We don’t have eco-friendly transport methods for large scale transport
Our transport methods rely on the burning of fossil fuels
even small scale transport (eg ferrying from north island to south island) we don’t utilise environmentally friendly methods of transport (eg ferries that run on electricity)
Don't want to pollute water or anything by using it for energy
Hydropower that utilises sea currents is highly effective, but transportation of energy is difficult,
some countries wont have the means (eg they wont have the wind required to make wind turbines worth it) so how do we get energy to them?
Privacy interference - if wind turbines get implemented in more highly populated areas
Risk of contamination
Could introduce new bacteria to earth or to the planet which could cause loss of life
Hard to get samples and transport them
Could help us learn from other planets and better ourselves
What would we do after we found them - study them, keep them as pets, use them in some other way
Would be hard to do and probably cost a lot
Could use other species to help better ourselves and new ways to live
Where to find energy to do this, what energy to use, what energy could you find on other planets
Climate change
Too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere which is causing the planet to heat up
Low lying islands vs rising sea levels
Gold mining
Deforestation
Burning the amazon
Good for fires and fuel
Loss of habitats and ecosystems
More CO2 and less oxygen
Why do we want to go to other planets and is it really worth the effort
Is it just curiosity that makes us want to do it or do we have something to achieve from it that can help us
What planets do we choose and why
The ethics of uncovering permafrost
We dig up samples of bygone single cell species-what else are we digging up?