"There was another of those talks on campus Friday afternoon. The original idea* was proposed by Alexander Abian, a mathematics professor from Iowa who was trained at the University of Chicago and later at the University of Cincinnati. The mercurial Professor Abian, now deceased, had proposed blowing up the moon with nuclear weapons to eliminate extremes in the weather. And to my astonishment, students I knew were saying stuff like,

“That would be so cool to see the moon being blown to pieces!” or

“Way more exciting than fireworks on homecoming!”

The idea excited students even before they had heard the actual talk or the impracticality of this proposal. In an interview with People magazine, Professor Abian had proposed, “You make a big hole (on the moon) by deep drilling, and you put atomic explosive(s there). And you detonate it by remote control from Earth.”

All of which reminded me that we Indians used to live like tukupetsi (cougars) in the canyons. Like kamunts (rabbits) in the bush. Like kwanansti (eagles) in the sky. We have specific instructions to take care of the planet. When we made a fire, we made the fire over rocks so as to not hurt the earth. We believe the earth, the moon, the mountains, the animals, the trees, the rocks, everything around us has a spirit."

Get the Story:
Mike Taylor: Wild Santa Ana Winds? Melting Sea Ice? Wildfires? Why Not Blow Up the Moon? (Indian Country Today 12/2)