Jeff Bezos believes that investing in space will benefit the Earth and help preserve it.
The former CEO of amazon attended last Friday the delivery of the Galileo Prophets of Philanthropy Award. During his acceptance speech, he talked about the challenges facing the Earth, as well as his ideas about the work needed in the short and long term.
“Some people ask me why,” Bezos recounted. “Why invest so much in space when there are so many problems to solve on Earth?”
Bezos’ response was that investing in space would help preserve the Earth.
“We go to space not to leave our home, but to protect it”he added.
Bezos assured that the sun’s energy can be collected “in almost unlimited amounts” and can be used in conjunction with other resources in space “without harming the Earth.”
“The Earth is a garden that must be tended,” he added.
Bezos founded the aerospace company Blue Origin in 2000. During his speech, he confirmed that he was “determined from the start to build a path to space,” noting that as a child he saw star trek, he made models and turned his garage “into a laboratory with all kinds of gadgets”.
In fact, Blue Origin’s motto is as follows: “For the benefit of the Earth.”
Blue Origin’s goal, according to previous Bezos statements, is to make space travel cheaper, more frequent, and more accessible. Blue Origin builds, tests, and launches rockets that are reusable.
In 2018, Bezos explained that Blue Origin was “the most important job” he was involved in, during a interview with Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Axel Springer ?Axel Springer is the parent company of Business Insider?.
“Blue Origin’s long-term goal is to move all polluting industries off Earth,” Bezos said at the Vatican. “That road is long, and we will not see its end in my lifetime.”
For his part, Bezos declared that he would like to “do everything possible to build a path to space.”
Bezos also addressed his investments on planet Earth, pointing out the global warming threatsthe rise in sea level and the most extreme storms as the main dangers.
“In almost all cases, it is the poor and vulnerable who suffer the most from these disasters, while they have done the least to cause them,” Bezos said.
Bezos founded the Bezos Earth Fund in 2020, which will disburse 10,000 million dollars (about 10,210 million euros at current exchange rates) during this decade to combat climate change and protect nature. Bezos himself is the executive president of this fund.
In his speech to the Vatican, Bezos confirmed that the fund works on 50 key points related to climate, nature and development, including the decarbonization of steel and cement. Also to “empower indigenous communities that manage tropical forests.”
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Jeff Bezos responds to criticism for traveling to space, instead of improving the situation on Earth: “We are not going to space to leave our home, but to protect it”