New Earth

Well it has finally happened they have maybe found a new planet and it is feasible that one of its moons could conceivably support life. Nothing definite yet you understand and the fact that it is 41 light years away and we don’t have anywhere near the technology to travel those distances I don’t suppose anyone will be in a hurry to pack.

What a coincidence that this has occurred just after Jeanette Winterson has published her wonderful yet frightening new novel The Stone Gods. Talk about timing eh?

I can almost hear the world’s politicians heave a collective sigh of relief. Well at least it’s possible that we will have found somewhere else to run and hide on if our planet goes tits up, as I have an eery feeling it will before much longer. Maybe not in my life time but soon enough. Anytime is too soon.

Winterson’s novel explores what it would be like if we reached a global situation where the only future left would be to set off and inhabit another planet. Of course the reason this would come into being is because we’ve pretty much destroyed the planet we are living on. Would we learn from our mistakes? Would we rape, pillage and burn a New Earth?

Well I won’t give away the ending but I certainly know what I think.

Now I’m nowhere near an expert on these matters and would never conceive of trying to argue a scientific point but I can’t help think; if we developed the technology required to travel those distances what damage could that do to the Earth? Look at the damage we have been told that aeroplanes have caused.

Can we be trusted with what’s out there? Are we reliable enough to take care and nurture what we may find however different or similar it may be?