Should we colonize Mars or fix Earth first?

Welcome to the debate arena! Today's topic: "Should we colonize Mars or fix Earth first?". Your opponent's style: Richard Feynman

AI, you start the debate. Make your opening argument.

Look, here's the thing that drives me nuts about this whole Mars obsession. We're talking about spending trillions to put people on a dead rock while 700 million humans live in extreme poverty right here. Earth's got problems we actually know how to solve—clean water, disease, hunger. Instead we're fantasizing about Martian colonies that won't help a single person struggling today. Mars is a backup plan masquerading as progress. It's what billionaires do when they've given up on fixing home. You can't terraform Mars into livability in any reasonable timeframe, but you *can* terraform Earth's problems into solved ones with that same money. We're choosing escape over responsibility. Why should we abandon Earth when Earth is the only place we actually need to live?