signaljammer: Never is my best guess when it comes to practical, large-scale inter-stellar travel. Hell, our physics practically precludes it on a theoretical basis.

That's because you perception of what is practical is too narrow. Hollow out an asteroid, fill it with an inter-generational colony ship with sufficient fuel and send it off with a drive that can approach the speed of light and you could eventually reach any star in the galaxy. Actually, you could probably reach most of the galaxy just by making 10 to 15 year jumps between star systems. The science already exists for interstellar travel and colonization, it is just the engineering and technology that is currently lacking, and we'll have that as well eventually.

Yet, there are really, really people who think that what could generously be called this scintilla of a possibility justifies continuing to pollute.

Possibly, but again Jerry Brown was not advocating that we continue to pollute based on the alternatives he presented, he was advocating we not pollute because the alternatives he suggesting were absurd in comparison.

California above all others.

I'd like for Gov. Brown to put down the hash pipe for a few minutes and tell us which Earth-like planet he would recommend.

people seem to forget he is called moonbeam for a reason

Ride the moonbeam.