When I hear the "shouldn't we solve poverty and climate change here first?" argument about space exploration, I feel it's useful to remember that almost all improvement in the human condition throughout history is directly attributable to advances in human technology grounded in investment in exploration and basic research. Spending on science, technology development and exploration are the real "trickle down economics". I don't think it has to be an either-or proposition. ;)

You'd get neither when you could have both. A bit far fetched : "He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither."

Astronomers -- the very people pushing for the exploration of space -- are the ones who recognized climate change; largely through the study of Venus and the greenhouse effect on that planet.