A Few Ideas for Those Who Want To Make a Difference Re: Sustainability
I thought readers might be interested in this note I just sent to an old friend who’s getting on in years and has become concerned that humankind has gotten off the track vis-a-vis sustainability. As a man of reason and compassion, he wants to use a healthy chunk of his life savings to make a difference in the outcome. When he asked for my advice, I gave him a few ideas, which I summarized in the email below.
Per our talk yesterday, here are a few ideas by which you can make a difference in creating a sustainable future for your grandchildren and the rest of humankind.
Invest! As I mentioned, I have reviewed well over 2000 cleantech concepts since the inception of my website (2GreenEnergy) and I have selected the best ones to promote on my page for cleantech investors. At your convenience, I’d be happy to chat at whatever level of detail you like about any that pique your interest.
Donate! We also discussed the concept that the real bogeyman is runaway population in the developing world. For humanitarians, the issue is the alleviating of suffering, as these people live in terrible conditions. Having said that, literally everyone on Earth suffers as a result of their activities, which include deforestation (slashing and burning the woodlands for fuel as heating, lighting, and cooking). On a per kilowatt-hour basis, this is by far the dirtiest form of energy known to humanity.
If there is a chance to deal with this problem effectively, it lies in education, especially women. To put it bluntly, educated women don’t have 15 kids; they have smaller, healthier, and more stable families. One of my favorite organizations operating in this space are The Turimiquire Foundation, specializing in education and family planning in Northern Venezuela. Another is The Eleos Foundation (based near us in Montecito, CA), which, albeit a non-profit, is really about “conscious capitalism”; the group doesn’t take donations per se, but rather investments in new businesses that are started by budding entrepreneurs, mostly in Africa, whose missions are to provide health and education services to the BOP (bottom of pyramid).
Advocate! We also talked about the fact that, in the U.S. at least, corruption is the norm in terms of law-making in Washington. Of course, it may be more visible in places like India, and I really don’t have an answer there. But I do here at home.
The reason our leaders have no incentive to do what’s right for the American people is that our interests are essentially irrelevant to them. They’re elected with huge campaign contributions from corporate interests, and then, when they’re no longer in office, they (in 85% of cases, anyway) become lobbyists in the industries that they served while in Washington. As long as this remains the case, we would be very foolish to expect fair-minded, responsible lawmaking to support the true needs of the people.
The first thing to do here, it seems to me, is to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court decision “Citizens United,” which enables corporations to spend as much as they want to influence our elections in whatever direction they choose. Fortunately, there is a large and growing number of grass-roots efforts in this space that are steadily gaining traction. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is sponsoring an initiative called “Saving American Democracy.” Perhaps my favorite approach, however, is led by a fellow I’ve met and interviewed on my radio show, David Cobb, green party presidential candidate in 2004; it’s called Move To Amend. These folks most certainly accept donations, and they use them judiciously to spread the word.
When you get a chance, let’s talk further.
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Yes! All of the above, especially the funding of politicians campaigns, counting votes correctly, and equal TV and radio time and a time machine to go back and fix these things and create policy based on science and sustainability and the UN Declaration of Human Rights.
Bribery is predictably at the festering roots of all the deepest evils in American politics, and the “Citizens United” and McCutcheon “decisions” are together a boatload of fertilizer for those roots.
All the elections in the nation in the 2012 cycle cost something like $2 billion, and just ExxonMobil by itself profits something like 40 times that number in a single year. That means ExxonMobil could have bought all the elections in the country with about 2.5% of its profits.
If ideas based on logic and sanity are going to have a chance in this game (the stakes of which could not be higher), we must stop the bribery.
If money to be regarded in law as Free Speech, then the elite few and their rampant corporate objects will scream through bullhorns while the voice of the People is reduced to a smothered and gasping whisper.
At the beginning of the last century, the people of Italy and Germany didn’t have the advantage of knowing what their own history would soon become – we who have the will to look backward as well as forward can’t claim that innocence.
Traffic congestion is the most ignored yet serious unsolved problem facing a modern society.There is an answer: Dual Mode where small (900 lb composite ) electric cars become the standard commuting vehicle; 32 transported on a Car Bus traveling on the HOV lane (converted to HVO).during the longer portion of the commute. GHG would also be reduced immensely via the synergy involved.
Here is a link discussing sustainability that may interest some. President Kennedy might have said “Ask not what the country can do for you. Ask what you can do for yourself, your country and the planet.”
http://hpjmh.com/2014/03/27/food-math-101-saving-our-civilization-made-simple/
As a clean tech innovator since 2006, having been run ragged with the eternal quest to find solid investment with legs to support our sustainable work, I add that he put his money where his intentions are – – tan turn to trusted friends, bankers, and advisers who can align his interests with prospective, validated, business opportunities. Stay out of the politics, in the US market is only serves to muddle the intended direction and purpose of the clean tech sector. There are too many DC interests to thwart sustainable enterprise, which only spends down money and yields little to get the clean tech sustainable platform to market with traction. :We were one of your showcased businesses Craig years ago, we are still struggling with investment for all the above mentioned reasons! Perhaps this gentleman’s resources will be best directed aligning with your advise, as we have received 6 international awards through the years, with no investment attached, show us the money…we are working to stay alive until the sector can walk on its own.
Having experienced an unprecedented flood event in High River, Alberta and accepting the science that fossil fuel use increases the risk of these events it is particularly galling to see Exxon smugly stating that they intend to capitalize their entire reserves regardless of impact. There are many companies particularly in the Alberta tar sands industries which have very high energy use, mainly natural gas which is sure to rise in price with liquified exports, that are vulnerable to any price put on carbon or any increase in natural gas prices or a drop in oil prices and whose stock price will fall as a result on any one of these events. A bear fund targeting the worse polluters in this group of companies would involve substantial risk and timing would be critical but it seems like there is an opportunity for profits which could be re-invested in proven sustainable projects with some margin held to target the big boys when they too become vulnerable.
Perhaps crowd sourcing could be used to collect a war chest to spread the risk around.
Craig – I always enjoy your thoughtful, well researched posts. I offer this link to a brief article by an equally brilliant thinker and writer. It’s about population, consumption and the “growth” economy. Per comments above, I agree we need to take back politics from big money interests. But mainly, I plan to continue following my heart. Whatever is calling – that’s where I will put my energy because it’s going to take all hands on deck.
http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/blog/concern-overpopulation-red-herring-consumption-problem-sustainability
Thanks very much, Julie. The guy makes a good point about consumption, but he doesn’t acknowledge the environmental impact of huge numbers for desperately poor people (not to mention the human suffering).
Thanks again for the kind words. And by all means, continue to follow your heart.
I too have heard David Cobb and agree with MOVE TO AMEND that the best vehicle so far proposed for saving our democracy is HJR 29 which will trigger the Constitutional amendment process of ratification by the 3/4’s of the states to become law. This is a slow process which seems to have slight hope at this point but must be started on the chance that the American people will finally rise up in disgust at what is being done to them.
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It is our duty to follow the track using alternative clean energy and clean energy sources , which do not cause global warming and do not contaminate the already scarce drinking water , as compared to fresh water of our planet Earth in global levels , water drinking becomes increasingly rare and scarce, being a natural resource for economic , strategic and social value , essential to the existence, human welfare and the maintenance of ecosystems , water is the greater good of humanity . The Earth should be called ‘ Water ‘ , as it has 70 % of its surface covered by oceans . Not to mention glaciers that cover the poles and near these areas , the present in the atmosphere, underground water reservoirs , and rivers and lakes . The total volume of water on Earth is estimated at 1.4 billion cubic kilometers.
Of these , 97.5 % is salt water (1.35 billion cubic kilometers ) and only 2.5% is fresh water ( 34.6 million cubic miles ) . The total fresh water on the planet , 30.2 % ( 10.5 million cubic kilometers ) can be used to plant and animal life, while 69.8 % are in glaciers and soils gelados.Dos 10.5 million miles cubic freshwater, 98.7 % (10.34 million cubic miles ) match Dágua underground portion , and only 92.2 cubic kilometers ( 0.9 % ) correspond to the volume of surface freshwater ( rivers and lakes ) directly available for human demands – or 0.008 % of the total water in the world. The largest volumes of renewable water resources around the world are concentrated in six countries : Brazil , USA , China , Russia, Canada and Indonesia.
Universal Declaration of water according to the UN – United Nations:
1 – The water is part of the heritage of the planet . Every continent , every nation , every region , every city, every citizen is fully responsible for it .
2 . Water is the lifeblood of planeta.A essential condition of life of every plant, animal or human. The right to water is a fundamental human rights : the right to life , as it is stipulated in Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights .
3 . ‘s Natural resources transformation of water into drinking water are slow , fragile and very limited . Therefore , the water must be handled with rationality , concern and parsimony .
4 . The balance and the future of our planet depends on the conservation of water and its cycles . These must remain intact and functioning normally , to ensure the continuity of life on Earth . This balance depends , in particular , the preservation of seas and oceans where the cycles begin , as well as the headwaters of the rivers .
5 . Protecting water is a moral obligation of man for present and future generations .
. 6 Water is not a free gift of nature , it has an economic value : one must know that it is sometimes rare and costly , and it may well become scarce in any region of the world .
7 . Water should not be wasted or polluted or poisoned . In general , their use should be made with awareness and insight , that can not be reached from depletion or deterioration of quality of the reserves currently available.
8 . Involves the use of water in compliance with the law . Its protection is a legal obligation for any man or social group that uses it. This issue should not be ignored neither by man nor by the state.
9 . Water management requires a balance between the imperatives of their
protection and the needs of economic , health and social order.
10 . The planning of water management should take account of solidarity and consensus because of their uneven distribution over the earth .
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UN Resolution 64/292:
“Recognizes the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights:”
Further…
Universal Declaration of Human Rights – Article 31 (Creative Commons, not yet adopted):
“Everyone has the right to clean and accessible water, adequate for the health and well-being of the individual and family, and no one shall be deprived of such access or quality of water due to individual economic circumstance.”
My personal position:
All water on the planet is a natural resource, and as such is the natural common property of all creatures on the planet – usable by all and owned by none – to which all have equal claim, and for which all humans have responsibility. It is limited, vital and indispensable. Pollution, wasting, and/or restriction of that resource due to malice, neglect, or for the purpose of economic gain, are punishable as crimes against life and nature.
I’m with you 100%, but there a considerable amount of disagreement on this. Please see: http://2greenenergy.com/2013/10/31/environmentalism-climate/.
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