In anticipation of NASA’s Perseverance rover landing on Mars Thursday, Swedish activist Greta Thunberg is taking an opportunity to slam space agencies and governments for using billions of dollars to visit other planets when our own’s suffering.
Thunberg, 18, released a satirical tourism ad for the Red Planet that is aimed at the ‘one percent,’ suggesting this group should escape from Earth and leave the 99 percent to stay and fix climate change.
The video shows Mars as an ‘untouched land’ with breathtaking landscapes and incredible landscapes that are just waiting for people wanting to create a new life, without enduring the stresses of climate change.
A spokesperson with The Fridays for Future (FFF), a climate campaign started by Thunberg, said: ‘We wanted to highlight pure nonsense.’
‘Government-funded space programs and the world’s ultra-wealthy 1 per cent are laser focused on Mars (NASA’s Perseverance Rover alone cost $2.7 billion for development, launch, operations and analysis) – and yet, most humans will never get a chance to visit or live on Mars.’
The video titled ‘1%’ begins as an enticing tourism ad that encourages Earthlings to be the ‘pioneers’ that colonize Mars, which has no pollution, wars or pandemics.
‘After more than 5 million years of human existence on Earth, it’s time for a change. Mars, 56 million square miles of untouched land, breathtaking landscapes, and incredible views. Mars, an untainted planet, a new world where we can begin again, says the video narrator.
‘Mars offers the ultimate freedom.’
It seems that by ‘ultimate freedom’ Thunberg suggests that those who make the great escape will not have to endure the constant reminder of climate change nor abide by protocols countries are rolling out to combat its effects.
Thunberg started FFF in 2018 to address the problem of climate change.
She has given many speeches on the issue, held numerous rallies and travelled all over the world to have herself heard.
And she is also using NASA’s Mars mission for a platform.
‘We aimed to create a film in a retro-futuristic and propaganda genre that would be both provocative and impactful, said the ad agency FRED & FARID, which was involved with making the video.
The idea of ‘1%’ is to highlight, according to FFF, the idea that the ultra-wealthy sees Mars as a new place to live once Earth has been destroyed.
However, the ultra-wealthy has the resources to escape to the new world, leaving the 99% behind to pick up the pieces.
‘And for the 99% who will stay on Earth we’d better fix climate change,’ reads the last scene of the video.
Although Thunberg hopes the video will resonate with the ultra-wealthy, those who fall in that group do not seem phased.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is aiming to send the first humans to Mars in 2026, and billionaire Jeff Bezos is also hoping to venture to the Red Planet with his company Blue Origin.
