TO THE ASTONISHMENT OF THE MARTIANS…PART 2

TO THE ASTONISHMENT OF THE MARTIANS…

By Professor Duncan Richard Shaw

Madrid, 17 July 2022

The report of the Martian reconnaissance mission to Planet Earth continues, as seen in the legendary 1970s television adverts in Britain was for Smash powdered mashed potato.

“So, please tell us what else is happening on Planet Earth, dear reconnaissance group leader – in addition to this new terrible war.”

“Well, dear elders, they have so many problems at the moment that I really don’t know where to continue my report. One of their biggest problems is that there are now almost eight billion earthlings, on a planet that can only sustain five or six billion of them comfortably – according to our calculations.”

“Almost eight billion earthlings now? That’s far more of them than in our last reconnaissance report. Why do they continue to increase their numbers so dramatically?”

“Because they seem to have no planning system, dear elders – no government for the entire planet like we have here on Mars. They have divided the planet into around 200 entities that they call ‘countries’, instead of having a collective organization. Each one of these ‘countries’ seems to be encouraging families to have more babies, without considering whether there will be enough food and water for them.”

“So each of these ‘countries’ wants to have as many new babies as possible? That sounds very dangerous.”

“Yes, these ‘countries’ are encouraging the families to have many babies, with different incentives. They prefer that to allowing people to enter their ‘country’ from other ‘countries’, even though there is a lot of work to be done everywhere. They build massive walls and fences to prevent people moving from one ‘country’ to another one, though at the same time they accept that they need more people to work in the fields and in the cities. It is a very strange situation, dear elders. In addition, they have many odd belief systems that they call ‘religions’, that often fight against each other. The only things these different ‘religions’ seem to agree about is having more babies and more what they call ‘economic growth'”.

“Do the earthlings have a proper plan for the future, like we have here?”

“No, dear elders – they seem to have no plan at all. Instead, they are told to worship something they call ‘market forces’ – and seem to think that these ‘market forces’ and ‘business as usual’ will sort out all their problems. Meanwhile, the total number of earthlings continues to double every 40 years or so, and their oceans and skies seem to get more and more polluted.”

“Why is there so much pollution on Planet Earth, dear reconnaissance group leader? Every time we send a reconnaissance mission, this pollution seems to get worse.”

“Dear elders: I think this is because of the fossil fuels that they burn up for their cars and their houses. They pull these fossil fuels out of the ground, making a terrible mess, then use them to move around on the ground or in the air. Every year they seem to have more of what they call ‘airplanes’ flying around, polluting the skies. Most of their cities now have a problem they call ‘smog’, in which the sky above their houses is dirty and polluted.”

“Why are they not finishing with these fossil fuels, if they are making the skies and the seas so dirty, and if they are having so many wildfires?”

“That’s a good question, dear elders: it is all rather odd. I think it’s because the people who make themselves rich out of these fossil fuels are telling the earthlings that they are really not dangerous at all.”

“But why do the earthlings believe that, when it’s obviously not true? Why do they believe the people who say that burning fossil fuels does not really pollute the skies and make their planet hotter?”

“Yes, it’s very strange, dear elders. I think it’s because this small group of rich people – who live in absolute luxury, unlike most of the earthlings – are the owners of what they call ‘television channels’ and ‘websites’. They seem to use these to lie to the poor people by denying that the burning of fossil fuels is dangerous.”

“But surely the earthlings can see that these fossil fuels are really destroying their planet?”

“It is an odd situation, dear elders. Many people seem to believe these ‘television channels’ and ‘websites’ when they deny that Planet Earth is getting hotter and dirtier because of fossil fuels. The leader of these ‘media moguls’, as they call them, is a 91 year-old man who has been throwing out lies for many decades now. He cruises around in polluting cars and boats, and changes his wife every few years. This old man has so much influence and money that he seems to be controlling the so-called ‘leaders’ of the wealthiest countries.”

“Why do these ‘leaders’ not tell this old man to stop his lying and instead start to tell the truth about the problems of Planet Earth?”

“That’s another good question, dear elders. These so-called ‘leaders’ seem to be in thrall to this 91 year-old man, for some strange reason. They must surely know that he is telling lies, but they seem worried that his ‘television channels’ will make them unpopular if they dare to criticize his lies. It is a very odd situation. Many of these ‘leaders’ get elected because they are promoted by the lying old man. He has also caused a lot of confusion about the causes of the pandemic that the earthlings have had for the past three years.”

“Do they not have this pandemic under control yet, after three years.”

“Not really, dear elders. Every ‘country’ seems to have its own way of handling it, without any planet-wide strategy or organization. They wanted to believe that the pandemic would be killed off by rising temperatures, but this has not happened. Planet Earth is getting hotter every year, but this pandemic continues to kill off a lot of poor people.”

“Why do they continue to burn fossil fuels, if their planet is getting hotter every year?”

“That’s a difficult question to answer, dear elders. Instead of looking for a planet-wide solution, the earthlings continue to heat up their buildings in winter with fossil fuels. Then when temperatures rise in summer the wealthy earthlings have something called ‘air conditioning’, which seems to make the problem worse by throwing out something they call ‘greenhouse gasses'”.

“Do all of the earthlings have this ‘air conditioning’ to combat the rising temperatures?”

“No, only the wealthy ones. The poor people have to suffer these rising temperatures and this pandemic, without complaining. They are told by the rich people that they have to ‘learn to live with it’ . The poor mostly live short and miserables lives. They are sometimes washed away in flash floods, because they live in overcrowded and vulnerable areas. But most of the wealthy people seem more interested in something they call ‘celebrity culture’ than in what happens to the poor.”

“Well, thank you for your interesting report, dear reconnaissance group leader. Just one final question: is there anything at all that we can learn from these strange earthlings?”

“Well, dear elders, possibly one important thing: how not to ruin our planet like they have done.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Well, thank you for your latest report, reconnaissance group. Yes: they are clearly a most primitive people!”