JUNE 16, 2022 – (Cont.) “From there we continually outdid ourselves in the pursuit of technology and production of stuff, fueled by coal and oil—fossil fuels—which heated the foundries that made the steel from which clever humans made heavy railroads, heavy machinery, and tall buildings, all in turn heated propelled and lubricated by the same carbon-based sources. The sky was the limit, meaning, in our imaginations and strivings to build more things higher, wider, bigger, better, farther, there was no limit at all.
“Or so we believed.”
“In any event, after many millennia and our transition from eating low-hanging fruit to consuming animal flesh, our brains grew at a faster clip than they had before. A bigger brain begets bigger ideas, and over time, we took our big ideas to the bank, as it were. We made weapons and cooking utensils and learned how to make cave art. Yes, cave art. Make enough it, and eventually cave artists become lords of the animal kingdom.
“Somewhere along this path we became certifiably human—and certifiably successful, by the measure of exponential growth in food production, population, technology of every humanly conceivable arena, and . . .” . . . mention of our moon landings started to roll off my lips before I realized how underwhelmed the alien from a distant galaxy would be to learn we’d traveled a mere 250,000 miles to our stony satellite. In my hesitation I took a dark turn . . . “pollution of the planet.”
“In my downloaded lexicon,” said the alien, “I see that pollution is derived from a Greek word meaning, ‘much,’ is that correct?”
I took a large gulp of lemonade to give myself inner space for reflection: If the alien knew everything that was to be known about science, his question about human language gave assurance he wasn’t a know-it-all. This assessment, however, gave me pause. Wasn’t I doing 90% of the talking, and by definition, didn’t that make me a . . . blowhard? How in the world, er, galaxy, had I gotten snagged into trying to explain life on earth to a vastly more intelligent being (thank you very much, Matt Seltzer, for the referral!)? Or was the alien just humoring me before it blew us all away? I imagined watching a video of my (mostly) monologue and cringing with embarrassment.
“What was your question—something about the Greeks?” I said, knowing full well what the question had been but seeking to buy more time.
“Pollution—what does it mean?”
“Ah, yes, it means an over-abundance of human-generated effluence in air, soil, and water. It’s the by-product of human activity, and it’s what scars this precious planetary home of ours. Pollution stings our eyes, compromises our lungs, triggers rogue cell growth in our bones and tissues.”
The aliens filaments grew very bright, held for a beat, then backed way down, like an human might raise her eyebrows upon hearing some patent incongruity. “Why would myopia be an issue in the case if pollution? The effects seem to be fairly immediate, so why would you have to overcome shortsightedness to remedy the problem?” (Cont.)
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© 2022 by Eric Nilsson
