Editing Space colonization (section)

====Alleviating overpopulation and resource demand====
An argument for space colonization is to mitigate proposed impacts of [[Human overpopulation|overpopulation of Earth]], such as [[resource depletion]].<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1 January 1976|title=The impact of space colonization on world dynamics|journal=Technological Forecasting and Social Change|language=en|volume=9|issue=4|pages=361–99|doi=10.1016/0040-1625(76)90019-6|issn=0040-1625|last1=Vajk|first1=J.Peter}}</ref> If the resources of space were opened to use and viable life-supporting habitats were built, Earth would no longer define the limitations of growth. Although many of Earth's resources are non-renewable, off-planet colonies could satisfy the majority of the planet's resource requirements. With the availability of extraterrestrial resources, demand on terrestrial ones would decline.<ref name="ONeill-1977"/><ref>{{cite book|first=Jerry|last= Pournelle |title=A Step Farther Out |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vcQWZFu2t4kC|publisher=Ace|date=1979 |access-date=16 April 2025}}</ref> Proponents of this idea include [[Stephen Hawking]]<ref>{{Cite web|date=17 August 2014|title=Stephen Hawking: mankind must move to outer space within a century - Telegraph|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/7935505/Stephen-Hawking-mankind-must-move-to-outer-space-within-a-century.html|access-date=9 August 2021|first=Richard |last=Alleyne |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140817025438/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/7935505/Stephen-Hawking-mankind-must-move-to-outer-space-within-a-century.html|archive-date=17 August 2014}}</ref> and [[Gerard K. O'Neill]].<ref name="ONeill-1977"/>

Others including cosmologist [[Carl Sagan]] and science fiction writers [[Arthur C. Clarke]],<ref name="clarkebipeds">{{cite book|title=Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds!|date=1999 |first=Arthur C. |last=Clarke |publisher=Voyager |isbn=0-00-224698-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GbNi8Si_O4UC|access-date=18 April 2025}}</ref> and [[Isaac Asimov]],<ref>''The Good Earth Is Dying'' (1971), [[Isaac Asimov]], (published in ''[[Der Spiegel]]'').</ref> have argued that shipping any excess population into space is not a viable solution to human overpopulation. According to Clarke, "the population battle must be fought or won here on Earth".<ref name = clarkebipeds/> The problem for these authors is not the lack of resources in space (as shown in books such as ''[[Mining the Sky]]''<ref name="Lewis-1996">{{cite book |title=Mining the Sky: Untold Riches from the Asteroids, Comets, and Planets |date=1996 |first=John S.|last=Lewis |publisher=Helix Book |isbn=0-201-47959-1}}</ref>), but the physical impracticality of shipping vast numbers of people into space to "solve" overpopulation on Earth.