Re: Don't go to space til we sort out Earth
A single rocket launch has CO2 emissions about the same as the annual emissions from 73 cars. In other words, so little it's not even worth thinking about. Even if rockets get more common, we're still looking at the entire world's launches being less relevant to the climate than a single small town. There are potential concerns about other pollution, such as soot and metal particles being emitted in parts of the atmosphere that don't get pollution from any other sources at all, but even there the quantities are likely so small when spread across such a large volume that it's unlikely to be particularly significant. The Earth is really big, and there just aren't that many rockets.
On the other hand, as others have already noted, being able to put things into space to look back down at Earth has been one of the most important ways for us to learn what we actually are doing to the planet. The benefits from just a couple of Earth-observation satellites easily outweighs the combined environmental effects of all rockets ever launched.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
