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Jesus Hernandez

Ms. Alexia Enriquez

Humanities

May 21, 2021

Thriving Mars Community

There are already plans to settle on the moon in the future, but what about Mars? A

thriving Mars community has many requirements that need to be met in order for it to properly

thrive, and to maintain aspects such as polished looks, new technology, and satisfied residents.

It should, of course, be completely habitable. There should be a maintainable environment that

is able to sustain human and plant life like Earth does. The community should also have rights

to freedom and the right to chase their own paths in life. Our thriving Mars community needs to

have freedom of speech, press, and religion; electricity; and to ensure that uncontrolled climate

change doesn’t occur, because people should have the rights to their own freedoms, society

already relies on electricity for the most part in their lives, and uncontrolled climate change can

destroy lives and crops that need to grow.

When looking at the United States, one of the first fundamentals of the country that one

person may think of is freedom. The country is built on it, and our thriving Mars community

should have it as well. According to MLDI, “Freedom of expression is a core value in the

democratic process. It ensures people are able to discuss, exchange, and debate ideas. This

human right allows individuals and communities to find information which is important to them

and share it with others, without censorship or reprisals” (“10 Reasons Freedom of Expression

Is Important”). This means that due to the freedoms we have, people are able to find information

on anything they’d like and freely share it with others and come up with their own ideas. It is

important because it freely gives people the freedom to enjoy themselves and to know how to

improve their own or other people’s lives. It has also led to the use of electricity when people

exchanged ideas freely and started to work together on electricity without interference.
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Electricity is essential to a thriving Mars community. Everyone already uses electricity in

their everyday lives, and many cannot live without it. According to research conducted by the

EIA, "People use electricity for lighting, heating, cooling, and refrigeration and for operating

appliances, computers, electronics, machinery, and public transportation systems" (“Use of

Electricity”). These are some examples of what people use electricity for at home back on Earth.

When on Mars, there would need to be more electric-powered machines in order for humans to

survive, such as oxygen filters and heaters. Generating electricity might be slightly difficult, as

solar might currently have less efficiency to have in a huge mass taking up area on Mars, and

many other methods of generating electricity can cause uncontrolled climate change damages.

A thriving Mars community shouldn't have uncontrolled climate change. According to a

2018 report, "Regional economies and industries that depend on natural resources and

favorable climate conditions, such as agriculture, tourism, and fisheries, are vulnerable to the

growing impacts of climate change" (“Fourth National Climate Assessment: Summary

Findings”). This means that many important functions and species on Earth are there due to the

perfect temperatures of the planet for them to exist, and are quickly being damaged by current

global warming. Although Mars is a completely different planet with different geological features,

there are still consequences with tampering with its atmosphere. For example, if frozen lakes on

Mars start to melt, some harmful elements could start to float around in the Martian atmosphere,

poisoning the community, similar to how climate change has endangered and killed off many

species back on Earth.

Of course, Mars is a completely different planet, and there are many activities and

practices such as food production and gardening that should be done differently than on Earth.

However, humans aren’t completely different between planets, people would still need

freedoms, electricity, and liveable climates like they are used to on Earth. As mentioned above,

three of the major issues are the freedom of expression that most countries already have, the

need for electricity, and to avoid climate change that can pose a risk to the community as much
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as possible. These should be included into our thriving Mars community, because one that does

not follow these would not thrive for long.

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Works Cited

EIA. “Use of Electricity.” U.S. Energy Information Administration, 7 Apr. 2021,

www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/use-of-electricity.php. Accessed 18 Apr. 2021.

Media Legal Defence Initiative. “10 Reasons Freedom of Expression Is Important.” 10 Years,

10years.mediadefence.org/10-reasons-freedom-of-expression. Accessed 18 Apr. 2021.

U.S. Global Change Research Program. “Fourth National Climate Assessment: Summary

Findings.” Global Change, 2018, nca2018.globalchange.gov. Accessed 18 Apr. 2021.