Indeed, the challenge of fixing Earth is much, much simpler than that of constructing a contained self-sufficient habitat that can operate without input from Earth for hundreds of years. And maybe doing the first will produce useful knowledge for if we ever are ready to try the second.
To the extent this philosophy has merit, it’s in the societies that embrace it being virtually guaranteed to become poorer and thus, possibly, lower in population and energy and material intensity compared with their peers who keep technologically advancing.
