Dear co-planetarians,

We are glad to be back from our mission to Earth. This planet looked very promising but after visiting it, we were quite disappointed about the civilization we found there – or rather the shortage of it.

Earth is beautiful and could indeed be even more beautiful, but all things considered, it is too hostile to establish direct contact or set up a partnership.

The natural environment is quite similar to Ombra’s, but the way Nature is treated there is simply beyond belief. It is treated in a predatory way. Earthians deliberately damage it and do not invest sufficiently in making or keeping Nature healthy. Earthians or at least many of its leaders do not seem to understand they are depleting Nature and thus jeopardizing Earth’s survival.

Many human activities still cause a lot of pollution and so damage the health of Nature and of Earthians themselves. Many thousands of them die or become ill as a result of pollution.

Earth is divided in about 200 different countries. Some of these are more advanced than others in terms of economic and technological development. Some countries are extremely poor, leaving millions of Earthians to die because of the lack of food and water or the lack of basic medical care.

Enormous differences

Why such enormous differences? Throughout Earth’s history, different tribes, peoples and countries have fought each other for different reasons, the main ones being the ownership of land and other resources, the struggle for power, the exploitation of other people, the gathering of money and prestige, religious superiority… This has led to incredible amounts of money and people being lost and to the destruction (of resources and people). The destruction still goes on and on, with new and more destructive weapons being developed continuously, the dominating belief being that violence has to be combated with violence. Too little is done to combat the reasons behind the violence.

Capitalism

The economic system on Earth, called capitalism, allows such differences to be perpetuated and even strengthened. A limited group of Earthians can build up enormous riches, often by exploiting other Earthians. Many of the products sold on Earth are made in countries with low wages and limited legislation to protect human rights and the environment. Workers often have to work long hours in abominable conditions and get paid very little in comparison with the price consumers have to pay for those products.

Even in the so-called more developed countries, the differences between the various groups of population are often huge. A virtually endless and complicated system of laws and rules imposed by a wide range of political parties – more or less linked to the various groups of population – allows some groups to get “preferential treatment” as compared to the rest of the population.

Some Earthians can earn up to a hundred times more than others for reasons we, Ombrans, cannot understand. Some Earthians can even hide their – often ill-gotten – riches in so-called fiscal paradises and escape from paying taxes in their home countries, though they use the infrastructure and services there.

Such huge differences contribute to tensions, conflicts and wars. They also contribute to crime, which is rather high and often incredibly brutal.

Materialism

The education system on Earth seems to focus more on material values than on human values. Young people are trained to fit in with the economic and financial system suffocating Earth and its inhabitants. Too little attention is paid on teaching children how to build a society where people work together and treat each other and Nature with respect and honesty instead of competing with each other in ways that lead to such huge differences, conflicts and destruction.

Lower level

Earth is a beautiful place and most of its inhabitants are peace-loving. Many Earthians do care about each other and about Nature. Many of them would like things to be different. But the system running Earth – with its many different countries and diverging interests – largely overshadows or destroys the positive elements found there.

It all clearly shows civilization on planet Earth has not reached the same level as ours. If Earthians go on competing and fighting each other the way they do now, if they do not treat Nature with due respect and do not treat all inhabitants of Earth with respect and care, they will probably never reach the level of civilization we have.

We do hope Earth will start to really learn from the many – often extremely horrible – lessons from the past and change for the better to create a society based on co-operation and not on domination (for reasons that make life for many innocent people on Earth unacceptably cruel and even lethal).

Therefore, we did not directly communicate with any Earthians as we consider them to lack the right qualities to establish any partnership with them. Also, their communication systems are not really that advanced as their focus is quite different and mostly competitive.

Many thanks.

Ombra Earth Mission Team

(*) report is Sci-Fi – but sadly enough quite real