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Dear lovely reader, this is an extra from me - your inbox may be seriously overburdened with mail, but I felt compelled to offer this up and hope you’ll spare a moment of your precious time to read and think on it. There is so much to dwell on, our brains are challenged, at least mine is, if you can’t face more thinking then you’re at liberty to swipe and delete, but I hope that at the start of this weekend you’ll use 5 minutes to reflect on what this all might mean.

“What’s that” I hear you say? Like you, I knew of the helium we pump into balloons for parties, (Helium4), this is it’s baby sister and the only stable isotope having more protons than neutrons 2:1. I know this because I listened to Inside Science on R4 driving back from a lunch date with a girlfriend. It’s a fascinating programme, I’ve listened before,  although for the large part they speak a language completely alien to me. This subject unsettled me and I would suggest it’s worth your time catching the programme on BBC Sounds to hear it for yourself. There’s a link below.

In Thursday’s episode, Professor Chris Lintott talked about his new book, Our Accidental Universe, and part of the discussion was centred on 3Helium which has been discovered on the moon by the Chinese…the idea being debated now in scientific realms is mining the moon to extract this isotope for potential use in nuclear reactors here. Can you see why I felt discomfited by this idea?

Although current conversations among interested parties centre on bringing it back to ‘inspire’ research into its further use. Nuclear fusion is the main area of interest. The financial cost of this is astronomical, appropriate language for a stellar subject. One company has thrown their hat into the ring with an initial figure of £15 million as a starting point. Let the battle begin.

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I can’t write about this isotope or any other, nor nuclear fusion, I have neither the knowledge nor expertise, got an F in chemistry GCSE. However, I can write about the ethics of mining on the moon. We have already littered it with our human debris. Did you know there are a total of 96 bags of human waste on the Moon. Scientists are keen to one day bring this back to Earth, to study how its time on the Moon has affected it, but for now it sits in bags upon the Moon's surface and all in the pursuit of gaining more knowledge.

Every nation with any money has wanted to have its own moon landing, to plant a flag, take samples, photographs, and stake a claim in whatever comes next. Richard Branson, Elon Musk and many other non-astronauts all want to be the first to take ‘a trip’ to the moon. The latest holiday destination for the obscenely wealthy. There is not a thought to the impact of our incessant rapacity. This colonial type attitude to conquering and ‘owning’ a piece of it. We’ve regressed, but under the subtle guise of advancement. We’ve plundered our own planet. Raped and pillaged to the point where we now stand on the brink of imminent disaster, but instead of funnelling necessary sums of cash, (£15 mill. would be a good start), into the protection and saving of our beautiful planet, we look up and turn our avarice heavenwards. The moon is something else to own along with any and all of it’s inherent properties. It’s simply not right.

As with so many things gone before, we open the lid of the box, only later to find it is the box of Pandora. In Greek mythology, Pandora's box was a gift from the gods to Pandora, the first woman on Earth. It contained all the evils of the world, which were released when Pandora opened the box out of curiosity…. I am not against research, evolution, human development and progress, but can we not direct it with a little more reticence and grace. Exercise caution. Unsee ourselves as Masters of the Universe and everything in it to hold some humility in our furtherance? Take care of things that are vital to our well being and existence. We do not know the impact of blowing craters deep into the moon’s surface to extract miniscule amounts of 3H. Will it put the light out…?

I cannot help but think of Jim Carey in Bruce Almighty pulling in the moon to aid his seduction of Jennifer Anniston. He lassoes the moon and draws it closer to the balcony. What follows is exceptionally funny, but carries with it more than a little irony around playing God and the abuse of power. If nothing else enjoy the clip.

The moon is magnificent. It’s luminous shining orb rising in velvety skies night after night is something we all share and are blessed by. Poems are written about it. Songs are sung. Photographers endeavour to capture it’s magic in an image. Love is felt, made and blossoms. Tides are turned. When I look at it, I hang my dreams upon it. I know that perhaps one of my daughters or maybe my son - all miles away - might be looking at it too, my grandchildren sleep beneath it’s light. As do you. We are closer and connected by it. I’ve stood many many clear nights in our garden with my head spinning at the marvellousness of this  planet suspended overhead like a bright silver sixpence (showing my age). I’ve lain down on a blanket outside and spent a silent hour alone soaking up its mystery in the early hours of the morning. It is the stuff of dreams. It asks nothing of us and gives everything.

‘So we go and the moon rises, so beautiful it makes me shudder, makes me think about time and space, makes me take measure of myself: one iota pondering heaven. Thus we sit, myself thinking how grateful I am for the moon's perfect beauty and also, oh! how rich it is to love the world.’ Mary Oliver

Scientists have an obligation to be brave and bold in their exploration, but please with a compass of responsibility towards the rest of us and the stuff they play with. My own thinking may sound naive and stagnant, ignorant even. I’m conscious that each generation wants/needs to progress our species, make things better, different, extend boundaries. However I cannot fathom why we haven’t learned from our predecessors mistakes and as a consequence exercise greater caution in steps forward.  Measure our endeavours by embracing some risk but with equal amounts of certitude. Keep the lid on at least until we have it worked out. Those Greek mythologists knew a thing or two when they coined the term ‘Pandora’s Box’.

This particular mining exploitation may never take place. At the moment it’s up for discussion and there’s a raft of experts getting excited at the prospect of it. Things always begin with an idea and in the wrong hands wreak havoc. We all know how  Oppenheimer and his development of the atom and consequent nuclear weapons turned out. The internet, AI, cloning, food genetics, even the production of paper…. in it’s earliest stages considered an incredible addition to the betterment of man’s existence and it is, but our over consumption of paper use has lead to vast swathes of deforestation around the globe. We scrabble around now trying to recycle and produce paper in a different way. Planting more trees in an effort to replace and restore the earth’s lung capacity. Too little, too late. That’s another story for another day.

And here we are discussing the possibility of ravaging another celestial body because the ends justify the means and we can. I have no idea what earth life would be like if we hurt the moon, but the prospect, even with my very little science-based knowledge, doesn’t look good. I’ve included here film excerpts, sounds, pictures and the science all to assist me in making a case for the moon. If Jim Carey didn’t swing it then maybe Mary Oliver’s exquisite prose or Audrey Hepburn with her melancholic rendition of Moon River will steal your heart. Enjoy.

Moon river, wider than a mile

I'm crossing you in style some day

Oh, dream maker, you heart breaker

Wherever you're goin', I'm goin' your way…

Back to Helium 3 and mining the moon. Here’s the link to the programme if you’re interested in learning more. (I hope it works). This is a debate we should all have a say in and raise our voices to. I leave you with this from John Stuart Mill in an inaugural address at the University of St Andrew in 1867:

“Let not any one pacify his conscience by the delusion that he can do no harm if he takes no part, and forms no opinion. Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing. He is not a good man who, without a protest, allows wrong to be committed in his name, and with the means which he helps to supply, because he will not trouble himself to use his mind on the subject.”

Till the next time and thank you♥️

A

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001xdfj