The relatively new ideas of space tourism and cryptocurrencies for the masses are the last thing we need in our fight against climate change. They are the worst thing for the environment because they cause a huge amount of carbon emissions and add very little value to the quality human life. If you want to support the goal to getting to Net Zero, do not encourage space tourism or cryptocurrency in any way by investing in them. It will be practically impossible to meet our Net Zero goals with large uptake from the public.

Space tourism

From the perspective of climate change, space tourism can be considered the worst idea by multi-Billionaires such as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have ever come up with. Space rockets need kerosene and cryogenic liquified oxygen to launch. The quantity of fuel that is needed for space rockets is enormous. RivalSpaceX – Elon Musk’s space tourism company – offers a 400km trip to the International Space Station. This gets through 147 tonnes of kerosene and 341 tonnes of liquified oxygen. This causes 600 tonnes or carbon emissions per flight. Blue Origin’s New Shephard initiative by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos space trip in which a rocket takes you 100km into the atmosphere and a return in 10 minutes is estimated to cause 110 tonnes of carbon emissions per passenger. If you are aiming for a 5-tonnes a year lifestyle by 2030, which is recommended by climate change scientists, Musk’s space trip takes up 120 years of your annual carbon footprint and Bezos’ space is the equivalent of 22 years’ worth of carbon emissions. It is the worst form of tourism you could take part in and has no place in a Net Zero world.

Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency only launched in 2009 with Bitcoin and is already responsible for 0.12% of global carbon emissions. This trend is set to rise, and climate change scientist already believe cryptocurrencies can push global warming over 2 Celsius degrees alone. Cryptocurrency is very carbon intensive because it is a virtual currency that is ‘mined’ by computers by solving puzzles. Also, they record transactions digitally around the world using the system of Blockchain, so they cannot be forged. This increases the carbon footprint of individual coins massively. It is estimated that cryptocurrencies cause 68 million tonnes of carbon emissions a year. Cryptocurrency is an unreliable investment with its value fluctuating widely each year. It is still not clear what it is useful for as a form of currency and whether it will last in the long run. If you care about climate change, do not encourage it by investing in them.