As NASA announced the Artemis III crew this week, the tone of the presentation made me wonder who would want to live on the moon.

Welcome to the 166^th edition of The Sunday Spark, a series with weekly thoughts and highlights, nuggets of learning, and a quote of the week. Along with thoughts about living on the moon, this week’s edition looks at fighting food insecurity with food waste, the environmental impact of chocolate, and the connection between diet and dementia.  

On my mind this week: Would you want to live on the moon?

As NASA announced the Artemis III crew this week, the tone of the presentation made me a little uneasy.

I shared in an earlier post how the Artemis II mission enthralled me. I loved seeing the pictures of the moon and the footage of the camaraderie of the crew as they travelled further into space than any humans before them.

When done for the right reasons, space travel has tremendous value. Through research and science, space exploration advances our understanding of the Earth and the creatures that inhabit it. It has also enabled the advances in communication technology that many of us rely on every day.

For all the wrong reasons…

Sadly, the current talk about building a permanent base for humans to live on the moon feels more motivated by political and economic dominance. It’s no longer about advancing the future of humanity through science and learning.

I suppose this shouldn’t surprise me.

The original space race that motivated the moon missions in the 1960s arose out of the cold war between the United States and the Soviet Union. In recent years, the global cooperation of the International Space Station gave me hope that those days may be behind us.

But what I’m hearing now about the motivation to build a permanent human habitat on the moon makes me uneasy. Some things I noted while watching at week’s NASA news conference:

• Talk of a “lunar economy” and a “commercial space station”
• The focus on “beating China to the moon”
• Reference to the moon as the “8^th continent”

Considering what a mess humans have made of the seven continents on planet Earth, the idea of humans littering the moon’s atmosphere with single-use plastic, and starting wars over who owns a coveted crater, just feels wrong to me.

The Earth is no longer enough for the elites

This is motivated fully by the desire to colonize the moon, to be first, and to have bragging rights. The involvement of SpaceX and Blue Origin confirms this program will prioritize profit over science. The oligarchs already control everything on Earth. Now they’ve set their sights on the moon. That makes me sad.

What type of person would want to live on the moon? It might sound like an incredible adventure, but we’re kidding ourselves if we think this will be an option for all but the most elite in our society. It will be another way for people with too much money to satisfy their self-indulgent whims with no regard for anyone but themselves.

That said, I can think of a few politicians and oligarchs I’d like to send to live on the moon… as long as it’s on a one-way ticket.

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Three highlights of the week

It’s important to celebrate big milestones and simple pleasures in life. Keeping the trend going, here are three highlights and simple pleasures of the week gone by:

• On Wednesday, Colleen went to New Brunswick for a meeting. We watched the live feed of the Confederation Bridge and waved to her as she drove across the bridge on her way back to PEI.
• On Friday, I had lunch with three friends I used to work with. It’s always fun to catch up and reminisce…and be grateful we’re no longer caught up in the corporate drama.
• I treated myself to a new pair of jeans and a new summer dress. Since losing weight, some of my old clothes are a little loose.

Things I learned this week

Life is all about learning. Here are three things I learned this week:

Vancouver chefs fights food insecurity with food waste

The amount of food waste they saw in their workplaces alarmed Vancouver chefs Sean McDonald and TJ Conwi. They left their careers behind, and founded ReRoot Kitchen, transforming surplus food from food service companies, local farms and food rescue organizations into packaged, chef-made meals.

To date, ReRoot has made more than 500,000 meals for charities across Vancouver from food that would otherwise have been wasted.

 (Source: CBC What on Earth)

The environmental impact of chocolate

If you’re a chocolate lover, take note that dark chocolate has a lower environmental impact than milk chocolate. As a lover of Cadbury Dairy Milk, that little nugget of information made me sad.

Milk and white chocolate are made with milk powder. Dairy production requires land, water, and feed, and livestock emit methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

I’ve tried convincing myself to like dark chocolate for its health benefits, but it just doesn’t work for me. Instead, I’ll reduce my impact by eating less of it.

(Source: Happy Eco News)

Diet and dementia

Researchers are finding new links between diet and dementia.

A study at Loma Linda University in California revealed people who ate at least one egg a day for five or more days a week had a 27 percent lower risk of dementia. The choline found in eggs is key for communication between brain cells and memory. And carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin are also linked to better cognitive health.

Not to be outdone, researchers in Sweden looked at whether low-fat or high-fat dairy made a difference when it came to the dementia. Consumption of high-fat cheese was associated with a lower risk of brain disease. And when compared with people who didn’t eat dairy at all, those who consumed high-fat dairy products had a 16 percent lower risk of dementia. 

Cheese omelette, anyone?

(Source: Zoomer Magazine, Kitchen Confidential, Longevity Style)

Quote of the week

The reality is the majority of us will not get off this planet. So the long run is, some kind of space exploration has to benefit us here on Earth.

Mae Jemison

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I’d love to hear what you think about any of this week’s topics. Drop me a comment below and let me know your thoughts and ideas.