Water, water on the moon, nor any drop to drink … in Africa!

Mickey Glantz

November 16, 2009

Recently, a headline appeared in the New York Times that captured my attention. At first it was of interest but the after-thoughts were of concerns. The interesting part was really a curiosity raised by the idea that after years and years of searching for water on the moon, scientists seemed to have discovered it in dark recesses on the lunar surface untouched by the sun’s rays. The years of searching and research paid off. “Eureka, they found it”. Chalk one up for the sciences and the discoverers.

Nothing I say from here on detracts from their success. Like true scientists with a hunch, they stuck to their guns so to speak in their search. The more they were questioned about the possibility or lack thereof about water on the moon, the more resolved (some might say pig-headed) they became. It is the nature of a true scientist as well as of a true engineer. “Seek and ye shall find”, so the saying goes. So what is there to be concerned about with regard to this particular discovery? It did not take place on Planet Earth.

Climate change is not the only major life-threatening environmental crisis facing inhabitants around the globe in developed, graduated developing and developing countries. Water is being touted as the sleeping crisis of the 21st century. In any given year there appear in the media news items about water shortages just about everywhere. And, in many places where water is available its quality has been compromised to an extent that human health has been degraded. People see photos of others in developing areas, for example, drawing water from a well. Great. They have water, even if they have to dig for it several meters down. What the photos usually fail to show is the murky quality of the water or the pesticides and other contaminants, natural and manmade that made their way into the groundwater as well as surface water.

Back to my original concern, as I read the article about discovering water on the moon: how much did our society (the US Government, national research foundations, others) have to pay over the years to find out if water existed on our moon: millions, hundreds of millions a few billion dollars? I have no idea but I am sure that discovery did not come cheap. My follow-up thought was then “what if that amount of money had been spent to find new water on Planet Earth and also to clean existing water supplies, making what does exist not only available but healthier for human consumption”.

Maybe this is too ambitious to have hoped for or to think about, so let’s narrow it down. What would it have cost to bring clean water to the poorest people on the planet? At the very least, it would have greatly improved their health condition, enhancing their ability to function in daily life as well as the personal strength to improve their family’s well being.

Hey, I got to thinking, why don’t oil companies invest in space exploration in general and the search for oil reserves on the moon? The answer I came up with is that it makes no difference to life and well being on Planet Earth, if oil is found on the moon. Besides, they are busy looking for oil in deep and dark geological nooks and crannies on land and, increasingly, under the sea.

My bottom line point is that Earth is our only home though we, as humans have not yet accepted that fact, the successes of scientific space exploration notwithstanding. We had better start putting funds toward creating a better more equitable life on Planet Earth, starting with a serious moral and financial commitment to aid at first the poorest of the poor and then the poor. We can worry about the moon and its potential resources once we put our planet’s house in order. The funds to do so exist. It is the will to do so that is missing.

Mickey Glantz

p.s. I also saw an article about the world’s worst crook, the one who bilked people out of $85 billion dollars, Bernie Madoff. One of his score of Rolex watches was auctioned off at $86,000! So, don’t tell me there is not enough money around to save many lives on our Planet.