London, United Kingdom:
Britain’s Prince William has launched an attack on space tourism, urging more consideration on issues closer to home ahead of the COP26 climate summit.
The comments by Queen Elizabeth II’s grandson had been airing in a BBC interview later Thursday, a day just after “Star Trek” star William Shatner became a genuine space traveller on Blue Origin’s second crewed mission.
The mission replayed the company’s maiden human flight in July, which incorporated its founder Jeff Bezos of Amazon and was seen as a breakthrough for the emerging space tourism sector.
But Prince William stated: “We need some of the world’s greatest brains and minds fixed on trying to repair this planet, not trying to find the next place to go and live.”
Virgin Galactic, which delivers a comparable encounter of a handful of minutes’ weightlessness and a view of the Earth’s curvature from the cosmos, launched its founder Richard Branson in July, a handful of days ahead of Bezos.
William was speaking ahead of the inaugural Earthshot Prize awards ceremony on Sunday, his initiative to honour these working on environmental options.
Looking ahead to the COP26 summit in Glasgow, which starts on October 31, he warned world leaders against “clever speak, clever words, but not enough action”.
‘Ahead of the curve’
“It would be an absolute disaster if (son) George is sat here talking to you… in like 30 years’ time, still saying the same thing, because by then we will be too late.”
William’s father Prince Charles, a lifelong environmentalist, has also spoken out on the require for action from the leaders rather than words in the buildup to the UN climate summit.
“He’s had a really rough ride on that, and I think you know he’s been proven to being well ahead of the curve, well beyond his time in warning about some of these dangers,” William stated.
“But it shouldn’t be that there’s a third generation now coming along having to ramp it up even more.”
Queen Elizabeth, Charles and William are all due to attend events at the two-week summit.
The gathering will attempt to persuade key creating economies to do more to reduce their carbon emissions, and get the wealthy world to cough up billions more to aid poorer nations adapt to climate adjust.
“I want the things that I’ve enjoyed — the outdoor life, nature, the environment — I want that to be there for my children, and not just my children but everyone else’s children,” William stated.
“If we’re not careful we’re robbing from our children’s future through what we do now. And I think that’s not fair.”
()