Asteroid Hunter Talks About Greatest Planet-Killing Threat To Earth

An asteroid hunter from the U.K. revealed that climate change is a more pressing matter to Earth than the threat of an impact from a massive space rock. He noted that due to the effects of climate change on the planet, Earth is slowly dying.

Jonathan Tate is the head of the U.K.’s The Spaceguard Center in Powys, Wales. It is the only independent observatory that tracks near-Earth asteroids in the region.

According to Tate, Earth is currently not in danger of getting hit by an asteroid that’s big enough to trigger mass extinction events. Unfortunately, this does not mean that the planet is safe from getting destroyed.

As noted by Tate, climate change is a bigger threat to Earth right now than asteroids, primarily because it is already affecting the planet. Through extreme weather patterns and increasing global temperatures, climate change is slowly destroying vital aspects of the planet, such as natural habitats and sources of food and water.

“We’re trying to prevent damage to the planet and our species,” Tate told Express. “I would say that the immediate problem there is, you know, climate change. Let’s get that one sorted out because we’re quietly committing suicide.”

Despite the devastating effects of climate change, Tate believes that this global environmental issue can still be solved. Although the Earth can be saved from climate change, the same cannot be said for an asteroid impact.

As noted by Tate, an impact event caused by an asteroid is inevitable. Even though it is not yet clear when this might happen, the asteroid hunter said that it is important to act now in order to prevent an impact event from happening. Fortunately, space agencies such as NASA and the European Space Agency are already experimenting with ways to destroy an asteroid or redirect it away from a possible impact with Earth.

“Which problem are you going to sort first? One is inevitable, the other is not,” he stated. “We can sort out the one that isn’t inevitable but we need to still keep a finger on the pulse of the one that is inevitable.”