> While the cost to colonize elsewhere is "mine the earth to a wasteland" it does make sense to preserve the basket we have. The cost of keeping human civiliza

> While the cost to colonize elsewhere is "mine the earth to a wasteland" it does make sense to preserve the basket we have. The cost of keeping human civilization on Earth is currently "(eventually, at this rate) mine the earth to a wasteland". We need to get as much of humanity's industry as possible into orbit and beyond if we want to avoid mining the Earth into a wasteland. That industry includes agriculture if we want to avoid clear-cutting the Earth into a wasteland, while we're at it.