this post was submitted on 12 Jan 2025
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When you pop a balloon, the helium floats to space and is lost into the solar wind forever. Unlike every other element we could run out, and nobody cares. (Helium is important for a lot of serious things, too)
There's more pressing issues, of course, but if you want one that's very unknown compared to it's long-term significance, there you go.
It's abundant on the moon. It can be mined. There's another space race going on. We don't hear about it because the west isn't winning. And we're in the middle of another cold war where propaganda must control the narrative.
Last I heard, the West was still on course to be on the moon first (again).
On the moon there's specifically small but valuable amounts of adsorbed Helium 3, which is far rarer yet on Earth. It's not going to displace the normal Helium in use.