It is disturbing to read in the paper how the International Space Station crew were forced to take evasive action for fear of being hit by 'space junk', this seemed to tie in with the Chinese container ship that floundered off the Queensland coast spraying oil and ammonium nitrate into the ocean and the sea of plastic bags that form an island twice the size of the United States off the coast of California. All in all we are a messy bunch.
As we sit and argue about how best to clean the mess we are creating on this lonely blue planet we are now busy leaving our usual dust and debris trail through the cosmos. Experts believe that there are 300,000 orbital objects measuring at least 1cm to 10 cm in diameter and millions possibly billions of smaller pieces circling the globe. These travel at speeds of thousands of kilometres per hour forcing our astronauts, in the Space Station that we want to use as our launching pad to the Greater Universe, to take evasive action.
Every year while Ian Kiernan is busy cleaning up Australia we are busy messing up the solar system. We make learning nothing an art form. The movie Wall–E suddenly becomes a documentary and not a work of fiction.
Isn’t it the height of arrogance for us to believe that we have earned the right to consider searching for life on other planets while we are intent on destroying life on this?
Can you imagine the reaction on Altaris 9 when they see one of our satellites, blasting rock and roll and Beethoven, entering their solar system? Panic. The Altarians, a civilisation that is justifiably proud of the society they have created, working with their environment, learning to dispose of their waste effectively and creating a world of peace and harmony. Then from out of the darkness of space come the Earthlings – the “Trailer Trash” of the Universe. Their property values plummet as we begin to leave our little carbon footprints of rusting piles of carelessly discarded Iridium; a nuclear reactor here an Isotope there. Before they know it they have mountains of non recyclable waste fouling their forests and lakes, their off-spring have begun to gain weight as they become addicted to the sugary tang of left behind food wrappers.
As we gaze out with wide eyed wonder from the safety of our Command Capsule at this new world of possibility, without consultation, we send a signal to the folks back on Earth, “Y’awl wanna pack up all your cares and woes, time to go, say bye bye dead earth”. The great unwashed humanity, that we all so proudly belong to, descend like carrion fowl on this once pristine planet and we begin to populate.
“We come in peace” we say proudly. We’ll have a piece of that and a parcel of that if you don’t mind. Oh and by the way we’re changing the name for you, from now on this planet will be called “New Eden”.
As that Prince of Denmark said “What a piece of work is man”.
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