Even after nuclear war, Earth would be more liveable than Mars: Obama

NEW DELHI: Former US President Barack Obama emphasised the importance of prioritizing the preservation of Earth over ambitions to colonize Mars during his speech at a renewable energy conference in Paris on Wednesday.

"But when I hear some of the people talk about the plan to colonise Mars because the earth environment may become so degraded that it becomes unliveable, I look at them like, what are you talking about?"

"Even after a nuclear war, Earth would be more liveable than Mars, even if we didn't do anything about CC (climate change) it would still have oxygen -- as far as we can tell, Mars does not," the former US president said.


Obama addressed the notion of colonizing Mars as a response to potential degradation of Earth's environment due to factors like nuclear war and climate change, stating that even under such extreme circumstances, Earth would remain more habitable than Mars.

"We were designed for this place, and it would be good if we kept this place in a way that's liveable," he said.

Obama's remarks were made during his participation as a special guest at the Powr Earth Summit, organized by renewable energy entrepreneurs and attended by industry leaders.

(With inputs from agencies)