We bring you something a little lighter and more fanciful on this Labor Day holiday on Sustainability Now!, as your host, Justin Mog, shelves his plans for colonizing Mars with Barry Zalph, retired engineer and environmental advocate. Tune in for a conversation that will debunk some of the myths about our ability to successfully settle humans on Mars and, hopefully, help you understand just how precious Earth is and how important it is that we focus all of our energy and innovation into protecting the only truly habitable planet we know of. The ideas for colonizing Mars fall into two categories: Living underground for protection from the radiation that bombards the surface; and terraforming Mars to make it more suitable for human habitation. Tune in to hear more about Barry’s top ten list of the stupidest assumptions behind the “terraforming” idea: 1) We can increase the density of the Martian atmosphere by 160x; 2) We can shift the Martian atmosphere from 96% CO2 to match the earth's atmosphere; 3) We can control the CO2 concentration of the reconstituted atmosphere to 350 ppm +/- 100 ppm, outside of which humans can't function; 4) We can bring enough organisms from earth to build not one but many diverse, resilient ecosystems there, so that inevitable fluctuations in ecosystem health don't collapse all life on the planet; 5) We can bring enough small and large animals, not just microbes and plants, to reproduce without inbreeding; 6) We can function well with the day length, year length, sky color, solar radiation, solar wind, weather, clouds, gravity, magnetic field, etc. all different from that with which we have evolved for millions of years; 7) The first group of colonists, no more than a couple hundred, didn't die of boredom, claustrophobia, mutual murder, and alienation while living underground and slaving toward an impossible terraformed utopian ideal; 8) The resident population of Earth would keep busting their asses to provide the ludicrous amounts of energy, materials, and labor over at least 100 years in an attempt to fulfill this dream; 9) There is no life on Mars, or any life on Mars can coexist with our living systems or deserves to be killed off to make room for us; and 10) It is ethically sound for us to colonize another planet. What could possibly go wrong?? For more, check out: Book: A City on Mars (2023), Kelly and Zach Weinersmith - humorous and well-researched. Kelly Weinersmith is a professor of Biology at Rice University in Houston. https://acityonmars.com/ Podcast episode: “Infinite Monkey Cage” episode dated 7/16/2025, “Should We Settle in Space,” with panelists Tim Peake, Kelly Weinersmith, and Alan Davies. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002fwpz As always, our feature is followed by your community action calendar for the week, so get your calendars out and get ready to take action for sustainability NOW! Sustainability Now! is hosted by Dr. Justin Mog and airs on Forward Radio, 106.5fm, WFMP-LP Louisville, every Monday at 6pm and repeats Tuesdays at 12am and 10am. Find us at https://forwardradio.org The music in this podcast is courtesy of the local band Appalatin and is used by permission. Explore their delightful music at https://appalatin.com
