Earlier this week, Dr. Hawking Stephen, a professor in the physics department at UC Berkley, was interviewed and questioned about his thoughts on the new method of colonizing mars. Experts have been saying that since the creation of the Eco-Dome, life can now be sustained in areas never thought possible. The Eco-Dome is a "clear, semi-permiable structure that can be asembledd almost anywhere to create an ecosystem perfect to accomodatee humans, as well as being condusive to agriculture" (Gregory, 2014, p. 97). Before constructing the Eco-Dome on Mars, it was first constructed in a small town in Sudan to see if cooler and better living temperatures could be achieved within the Dome; success was found.
Dr. Stephen sees the Eco-Dome not only as a structure to be built to sustain life on Mars, but also as a step towards colonizing the rest of the galaxy. Society is always growing so there will always be a need to expand our civilization without ruining our enviornment through the destruction of nature. Were this endeavor to be sucesfulul, humans would be able to live in a higher degree of comfort as overcrowding will never become an issue. The area humanity has to expand upon is limitless due to the fact that space is ever growing.
According to a group of leading researchers at Stanford, by the year 2020, the population on earth will quadruple to 28 billion, effectively eliminating all viable living space. This will increase the poverty level by 40%, rendering once affluent cities to near slums. The researchers determined that if no area was found for humanity to inhabit, it would lead to the downfall of Earth. Due to the research presented by the Stanford research group, the Eco-Dome on mars was immediately considered as a primary option for humans to live.