Is Mother Earth Your Home?

Reema felt it was Herculean task to stay awake. She was dozing away in between the lecture. Being seated in the last row of seats aided her sleeping spells. Her partner was snoring on the writing desk. Reema cleared her head and woke her partner.

“Hey! Get up, it is about to end soon.”
“Has the language class ended?” asked Vinay yawning.
“Not yet, but it will end in a few minutes. Just revise all the debate points now. This way we can be ready for the debate in the next session.”
“Right,” said Vinay and opened his research workbook to summarise the points to talk.
The bell rang and the language lecturer left the hall. Everyone murmured a “Thank you, Sir,” and thumped head-on over the writing desk.
Reema and Vinay were busy preparing for the next session.
The teacher for Social Studies entered the classroom and cleared his throat to announce his arrival. Everyone woke up disoriented and mumbled, “Good afternoon Sir.”
“Good afternoon. So, are we all prepared to have this discussion? Let's get going then, the students who are talking in support of India's endeavours regarding manned space mission, come to my right. The students talking against this mission to come to my left side. I want the audience to be interactive,” he clapped twice to shake them out of the sleepy stupor.
Slowly, four students gathered around the teacher.
“Let's begin. First I want the students who are talking in support of the mission to speak about it.”
Vineeta and Rubin came forward. Vineeta began with an introduction about the successful space missions of our country at length. She concluded by summarising about the future plans for the space missions.
Rubin continued with the visions of the former ISRO Chairman Udupi Ramachandra Rao and the efforts our country has been putting into realising his vision.
At this point, Sir interrupted and asked the audience a question. “So, don't you think we should explore the space and set up colonies to aid in our research.”
A student raised her hand, “Yes sir, indeed, space is for everyone to explore and whoever finds something first will get rights overusing it. So, we should focus on finding resources in space as soon as possible. This is the only way we can evolve further. Moreover as predicted by the ISRO Chairman China has built its space station on the moon and is testing the atmosphere. Gaganyaan is a huge step forward for India in the space mission.”
All the students clapped for her to show their support.
It was now Vinay and Reema's turn to speak against the mission.
Reema cleared her throat and began
“While it is true that we should aim higher shouldn't our endeavours be sustainable? If we are leaving a trail of ruination while on the path of evolution, can we really call it evolution? Our Mother Earth is now almost replete of mineral resources. If you call Mother Earth your home, would you not try and mend things at home rather than abandon it?”
Vinay continued, “I admit that our geographical location gives the advantage of launching space missions cost effectively. India is now trying to be self-sufficient for space machinery, this might still be a huge cost. Working in collaboration with other countries may reduce the cost greatly but, given the requirement for advanced machinery for setting up colonies on Mars, the project may become redundant because everything depends on the possibility that we may find a useful resource in Space.”
He then spoke about focusing on more pressing matters at hand in Earth. He spoke at length about how everyone should unite to conserve our natural resources and thrive to give the future generation a cleaner and greener Earth.
A student in the audience raised his hand.
“Let us agree with what Reema says. Mother Earth is our home, and we have run out of resources. Now, if you run out of groceries, would you starve to death or go out and buy some. Here, in this case, we have to go in search of a resource. It is just like hunting the space for resources. If you do not make an effort you will simply perish and not evolve on the planet Earth.”
Reema smiled confidently and began talking.
“Now, when you are buying grocery how can you buy with no or little money. How much can the grocery shop owner loan you? You say it's like hunting but will you ever go on a hunt if you are unsure of making a kill. All this research hangs on a theory that other planets may have abundant resources which we can make use. But, what is the use of a resource if the planet is uninhabitable? You cannot possibly teleport the resource to Earth, Can you? So, you will have to build machinery which makes the planet habitable. So, in a way you are simply abandoning Mother Earth and using your intelligence to make another planet your home.”
Everybody clapped for Reema. She had a valid point.
Reema continued, “In my opinion spending crores of rupees, intellectual treasure and technical knowledge over building manned space crafts or probe crafts for exploring, or building technical tools to make a planet habitable, should never go waste. Instead, why do we not focus on reviving our planet? Can't we revive our water bodies? Why not work in collaboration to devise a tool which can control the weather? A tool that can help purify our air quality would be a welcome change. The real evolution according to me is to modify the conditions on our planet instead of searching for a habitable planet.”
The class fell silent at this. Not a single question.
The only sound that rang through the place was the school bell ringing.