Over 4 million people died from Covid 19 since the virus started to decimate humanity and Covid statistics are in the front page of all newspapers daily. However, rarely do you read about waterborne diseases, yet in 2020 they also caused over 4 million deaths throughout the world just like Covid. While the world is rightly focused on a major global pandemic we forget that today five of the world’s most significant dangers are all ecological: (1) water pollution; (2) extreme weather; (3) rapidly changing climates; (4) water crises including lack of availability and (5) loss of biodiversity.

The good thing is that today more than ever in history water technologies are improving rapidly especially with the aid of AI and IoT. One area that is seeing major consideration is the control of water usage. In a planet that uses three trillion gallons of water per day (a trillion is a 1 followed by 12 zeroes) the differences between countries are vast. In America the average person for his/her individual consumption uses 156 gallons/day while in Europe that number is half as big, in India people use less than 40 gallons/day and in Mali a mere 3 gallons per day. A big challenge to all readers: Water Technologies from source extraction to use, including water reclamation and reuse are tremendous areas of opportunity. This will be a megatrend for at least the next decade and an opportunity for us to be part of making our world even better. Take the challenge!

In the US, a great deal of work is needed to bring our potable water systems to modern standards, eliminating waste, improving quality of potable water, local and regional treatment systems, and fostering efficiency. Both government and private investment in this sector will greatly contribute to our planet’s health, providing both financial benefits as well as contributing to the health of our planet.

Now let’s just do it!

by Raul A. Deju, Ph. D. , Partner, Brightstar Capital Partners, Author of 7 published books , Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership Online-Curriki

There is mounting scientific evidence that the earth’s climate is changing, and as a result the global temperature has risen by about one degree Fahrenheit in the past century. Nonetheless, we should mention that the earth’s climate has been changing through the entire history of our planet, some times more dramatically than it is now. Furthermore, the changing nature of climate is part of the price of living on Earth. Scientists estimate that there is a possibility that within the 21^st century, average temperatures on earth could increase a few degrees largely as a result of a thickening layer of pollutants, mostly carbon dioxide that traps heat like a blanket in the atmosphere and makes the earth warmer. The largest sources of these gases are automobiles, industrial plants such as cement producers, and power plants that burn fossil fuels, now mostly from Asia and Africa.

A couple of years ago, I wrote a blog on Climate Change and earlier I wrote three books (still available in Amazon) the first was entitled “Extraction of Minerals and Energy: Today’s Dilemmas” published in hardback in 1974, 47 years ago, the second one “Planet in Conflict: Balancing Energy Needs, Economic Growth and Environmental Quality”, I co-authored in 2013. My third book “We Got Mojo!” was published in 2016. By the way the NY Times Best Selling author Mark C. Thompson labelled the 2013 book a “must-read book for the 21st Century”. Equally Frances Hesselbein who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom (for being a pioneer for women in America) by President Clinton and the Congressional Gold Medal labelled my most recent book “We Got Mojo” as a source of “inspiration and insight.”

Some more radical voices continue to assert that global warming resulting from carbon gases going into the lower atmosphere is today one of the most serious long-term threats to our environment, our health, our economies, and our national security and that we are indeed doomed. Some scientists have calculated doomsday scenarios that include rapidly rising sea levels, intense heat waves, severe droughts and floods, spread of diseases such as malaria and dengue fever, and extinction of many species. In parallel we have scientists that deny such occurrences or predict that changes will not significantly affect the Earth. So what do we believe?  First, let’s not panic and use technology to our advantage. For instance, there is a technology called Direct Air Capture. You probably have not heard about it but it is real and it works. This process is economical and getting cheaper and it mimics giant forests by taking carbon out of the atmosphere using an industrial scale photosynthesis process. You don’t hear about this but by 2050 the industry involving industrial scale carbon capture is expected to be an annual $4 Trillion market. Coupling capturing Carbon Dioxide with some better use of fuels in our society can get you cleaner air worldwide. Who is doing Carbon Capture today?, well many major enterprises such as Exxon Mobil, Shell CanSolv, Aramco and others. Yes these are companies you would not expect to be in the clean air world but they are assisting in the needed change. Other ways such as electric vehicles, and solar photovoltaics are also part of the solution. In fact the US emissions in 2020 and in the first half of 2021 fell 10.3% partly from behavioral changes due to the COVID pandemic but partly due to the increase in electric vehicles on the road. I am not worried about the US and Europe returning to again rapidly increase carbon emissions, it is the developing world that needs to catch up. Be hopeful, be proactive. Let’s foster the purchase of products that contribute to less carbon emissions and we will see change accelerating in the right direction.

We also need to understand the resilience of our earth. About 75,000 years ago a mega-volcano now known as “Toba” exploded in the island of Sumatra (Indonesia) next to the Indian Ocean. The amount of material spewed from this volcano was enormous and represents the biggest mega-volcano in the most recent 100,000 years of the history of our planet. The amount of material spewed in essentially an instant (in geologic time) was much more than the carbon pollutants the entire world puts out over many years today. Further, the volcano spewed also vast quantities of sulfur dioxide that made its way to the stratosphere.

Yes, some animal and plant species became extinct after Toba, a truly catastrophic event, but the earth and its living contingent although severely affected survived and in a few years the planet itself was back to essentially a normal growth pattern although with a much decimated plant and animal contingent. Also, it should be noted that no long-lasting global warming took place; instead the earth experienced an awful winter that lasted several years resulting from a lack of sunlight being able to cross the various layers of the atmosphere. Yes, the earth and humanity itself can be quite resilient. However, this resilience is certainly no excuse to indiscriminately pollute our planet. In fact as residents of Planet Earth it is our duty and those of all governments of the Earth to avoid destroying our planet’s atmosphere and biosphere.

Indeed, we should be good stewards of our planet, after all it is our home and we know how to minimize pollution into the atmosphere. Nations of the world need to act in unison as the earth’s atmosphere does not recognize national boundaries. This was the purpose of the Paris Accord, although some may say such a document was flawed.

Regardless, we know how to start fixing the problem — it is well within our reach. We have the technology. All we need is a resolve and the leadership to fix it. Solutions in each country will differ and in the balance of this article we will focus on what we should do in America. While governments have the responsibility to lead, individuals and the private sector are not being stopped from addressing the problem of putting gases into the atmosphere. In fact doing so represents a terrific business opportunity.

Programs to reduce carbon emissions into the atmosphere require much more than wearing homespun cotton and sandals, and eating tofu and yogurt. They involve conservation (in the factory, in the office, at home, and on the highway), modernization of power plants and factories (greater energy efficiency and emission control), building cleaner automobiles, having less dependence on fossil fuels especially without pollution control devices (coal, petroleum, natural gas) and more dependence on renewable energy (solar, wind and fuel cells). All of these can gradually lead to improvements year after year and will improve the quality of our air. The answer is not to panic and to note that in fact much progress has been made in the past decade in the United States to control atmospheric pollution.

Some simple measures illustrate the enormous payoff of conservation:

• If we all unplug our TVs when they are turned off, something relatively painless, we would save 8.45 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually in the United States alone. This is more than two times the electricity produced annually by the Hoover Dam.
• Producing aluminum requires vast amount of power. Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to light a 100-watt light bulb for 3 ½ hours.
• If SUVs could be built to reach the same fuel economy standards as ordinary cars have today, definitely not an impossible task, our country would save easily 1 million barrels/day of oil. These savings are greater than what the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge could produce at its maximum anticipated production rate, and equivalent to two times the daily oil production in California!
• We have to cut down 65 million trees to produce 500 pieces of junk mail sent to every household each year. The internet could help you save all those trees. Can we tax junk mail to create a fund to plant more trees? Not a bad idea!
• In the United States, normally underinflated automobile tires reduce fuel efficiency and cause us to waste millions of gallons of gasoline every year, and
• Recycling two gallons of used motor oil means generating enough electricity to prepare nearly 48 meals in a microwave oven.

We have made major progress in energy efficiency of our refrigerators, washers, and lighting systems via incentive programs such as the utility-sponsored SERP program (Super-Efficient Refrigerator Program) and the CEE program (Consortium for Energy Efficiency) supported by appliance manufacturers and adopted by the U.S. Department of Energy. Similar initiatives in other areas of our economy can also generate equally significant results at minimal expense.

The power of conservation is enormous, and we need to continue to strengthen our civic sense to practice conservation individually at home, at work, and on the road. Simple things such as turning off lights when we leave a room or using more efficient light bulbs do make a big difference especially if everyone does it. Making conservation part of our everyday ethic would make a significant difference in alleviating the danger of polluting the atmosphere and possibly affecting our global climate. Conservation is the answer to not adversely affect the climate of our globe. Panic is not the answer as all it usually accomplishes is to create paralysis and charlatanism.

Strategies that reduce carbon inflow into the atmosphere will go a long way toward reducing the danger of global warming. While power plants are a significant contributor to this inflow of carbon, autos and trucks are also a large source of carbon into our lower atmosphere and so are cement plants and even cow flatulence. Here are a few major pollution-reduction strategies that require minimal adjustment to our lifestyle and allow us to sustain our long-term romance with the internal combustion engine:

• Improve the fuel economy of new cars and trucks powered by gasoline engine technology. The auto industry has the technology right now to raise fuel efficiency to an average of more than 40 plus miles per gallon. Do we really need 300-hp cars for shopping and commuting to work?
• Widespread use of hybrid gas-electric engines and especially fully electric ones can cut carbon emissions into the atmosphere very significantly. This is a “no-brainer.” It is encouraging to see that a number of major automobile manufacturers have introduced hybrid SUVs and fully electric vehicles and sales of these are booming.
• We also have the technology and capacity to put hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicles on the road in a matter of a few years by using tax incentives, supporting cooperative programs between manufacturers, and also between government and manufacturers and through innovative approaches. It is entirely possible to put tens of thousands of such vehicles on the road in a matter of a few years provided we invest in infrastructure to support these vehicles. This is a realistic and attractive longer-term option — a matter of 10 to 20 years.
• The notion of “smart growth” is an important strategy and has been a matter of bitter debate over the years. The value of living near our place of work and everyday amenities, including shopping and recreation, is unquestionably important in terms of quality of life and pollution reduction.

We are absolutely amazed at the lack of widespread acceptance in the United States of the notion of a “more livable community with less driving.” An additional factor that is part of encouraging the development of such communities is choice of transportation — public and private. However, the pandemic has brought on the “work at home remotely option” and this should substantially reduce miles driven in the future as many people learned the benefits of working at least part of the week without having to commute.

Finally, the US as a world leader in new technology development (including energy-efficiency technology) can turn the global effort to reduce carbon emissions to the atmosphere into a business opportunity. We can be both responsible adults cleaning up pollution that we contributed to while evolving the technology to clean our mess as well as the mess of other nations.

While not something to alarm all of us, good stewardship of the earth is a matter of intergenerational equity — we should do it not only for our children and ourselves but also for generations to come. I am a believer that humanity’s footprint can have positive or negative consequences. Whether one is a believer or doubter of climate change, thinking in terms of “stewardship of the environment” rather than just as consumers and producers would make a lasting difference to the survival of our planet.

Twenty four years ago, the President’s Council on Sustainable Development wrote in their Progress Report on a Sustainable America that: “in order to meet the needs of the present while ensuring that future generations have the same opportunities we have, the United States must change by moving from conflict to collaboration and adopting stewardship and individual responsibility as tenets by which to live.” That statement is equally true today.

Reviewers’ Comments regarding “Planet in Conflict” by Raul Deju and Tapan Munroe and “We Got Mojo” by Raul Deju:

“Deju and Munroe have thoughtfully created a masterwork of insight about the state of the world and the opportunities and challenges we share as a planet. This is a must-read book for the 21^st century”

-Mark C. Thompson, New York Times Best Selling Author

“Great leadership is found in courageous acts in every corner of the Earth. This compilation of compelling stories from around the globe is a source of inspiration and insight.”

–Frances Hesselbein, Recipient of the Presidential Medal of Honor.

Note: In 1973, 48 years ago Dr. Deju coordinated, held and chaired the first International Conference to address the Environmental Problems of the Resource Extraction Industries conducted in cooperation with the Geological Society of America, the Society of Mining Engineers and a number of international entities.

THIS IS A FREE COMPREHENSIVE COURSE PROGRAM ON HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEUR

I am happy to let you know that three months ago we announced the launch of the Deju Institute of Entrepreneurial Leadership’s course, How to Become a Successful Entrepreneur, as a free, online interactive program geared to help entrepreneurs grow and expand their businesses. This is the same course I taught over the past decade as part of the Institute of Entrepreneurial Leadership to entrepreneurs and as you may know, the course has led to the creation and expansion of hundreds of successful companies several with revenue in the hundreds of millions of dollars annually. We have now transformed the program into an interactive 20-hours plus online experience offered free to university entrepreneurship programs, incubators and entrepreneurs themselves.

I am confident that the new online course will inspire entrepreneurs to build enterprises that will make the world a better place and financially reward them and their teams. I invite you to review the course and consider adopting it as part of your entrepreneurship programs and pass the material on to others. Please visit this page to review the course.  You will note that the program includes how to frame a business, what works and what does not, how to create world class products or services, how to raise early funds and many other topics. The course includes about 20 hours of interactive lectures with supplementary material featuring Bill Marriott, Tony Robbins, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and numerous other successful entrepreneurs and authors. Check out the comments from some of the students that have taken this course and seen the success it has brought them. Their comments are in the course attachment.

The interactive course was created through Curriki’s content authoring platform and their incredible team is available at your convenience to guide you through the process of bringing this course into your organization’s Learning Management System/Website/Other.  For a demo of the CurrikiStudio system and more information about how the course can be brought into your institution, please contact Abby Ross, Curriki’s CEO at Abby@curriki.org. For a direct conversation between their technical team who can guide your team through connecting the course with your Learning Management System/Website/Other  please submit this form.  

We will provide this program to any school, incubator, individual entrepreneur or university in the modality they use be it Canvas or otherwise totally free. In fact as of today we now have thousands of users.

Please feel free to contact me after you peruse the materials. Suggestions of other potential users are always welcome (universities, schools, incubators, veteran groups, etc.).

Thanks for what you do. I look forward to hearing from you.

Raul A. Deju

rdeju@deju.net

,As we struggle in many nations with Covid-19 and begin in some more advanced societies with the slow recovery from the Covid 19 pandemic, we have to look at what our nations have gravitated to and look for what has changed and how we adapt to the enormous changes that have taken place. In the book “We Got Mojo” published a few years ago I made it clear that in our world there is one group of things that drive our world and I call them Megatrends. These drive commerce, investments, job creation, and education of future leaders. Megatrends, can be defined as global, sustained macro-economic forces of development that impact business, the economy, society, culture and personal lives thereby defining our future world and its ever increasing pace of change. Megatrends are the hurricanes that shape and reshape our road to growth. Surviving Covid-19 has brought us one of these hurricanes, probably the most powerful one in most of our life times. Humanity’s well being and literally our survival depends on how we listen to this hurricane.

Here is my list of megatrends especially for those nations that are now in the later stages of the Covid-19 pandemic. For those still in its midst the only megatrend at this time must be “survival”.

Ten of the Post Pandemic Megatrends

1. The speed of change will continue to increase, disrupting life in its wake. As the speed of change increases, the emphasis will be less on owning assets and more on the use of these assets.
2. ESG is expected to be a major driving force in all business heretofore. ESG, of course stands for integrating into all businesses to focus on sound Environmental Protection, a Socially responsible approach to enterprise management and an open and progressive set of Governance practices. This will create a clear opportunity for businesses involved in the betterment of our planet, and create more open opportunities for many people left behind in prior business cycles.
3. Of course one of the hot megatrends especially in the more advanced nations will be an increasing focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) and communications to ensure improved human to human, human to machine and machine to machine connectivity. More and more networks will have to be created and must be robust, agile and sufficiently fast to drive communications, industrialization, entertainment, drug discovery, drones, driverless vehicles, machine learning, and basically all aspects of our lives. They will serve to run our human infrastructure.
4. Recycling, and reuse will come alive as we continually focus on extending the lives of all products with an ever growing drive to eliminating waste in all production and product-use cycles.
5. Clean fuels and electricity availability, will help the world’s living and working conditions to improve. The world needs to increase its focus on reducing carbon emissions in total and at the same time ensuring efficiency of power transmission and modernization of all facets of power delivery.
6. The pandemic has brought into focus the importance of health, healthy living, healthy eating, exercise , the importance of leisure and wellness to leading a balance life.
7. AI and IoT will lead to new drug discoveries, new vaccination technologies and the production of a myriad of new drugs. AI and IoT will also play a key role in leisure activities especially in the more advanced societies.
8. Dealing with information in the vast quantities thrown at us every day and sorting out what is disinformation will be ever more difficult.
9. Changes of the current educational system to a more effective and efficient educational system that teaches people to think and analyze different points of view will present great opportunities for development of new tools and approaches. Education needs to become balanced, cost effective, flexible, relevant and as human as possible. We need to create approaches to education that do not create enormous intergenerational debt, debt to the nation and debt to individuals.
10. We all need to deal with polarization. Various groups in the world have a mission to create polarization to their advantage. Individuals and governments need to understand and listen to various different point of views and explain decisions made to the various groups with care and empathy.

These megatrends literally affect all of our day to day living, including capital investments, social priorities, legislative actions and everything humans are involve with. Let’s understand them and use this understand not for self advantage but to ensure our earth continues to be a better place for everyone to inhabit, care and enjoy. Those of us who authored “We Got Mojo!” certainly have used these and continue to do so as our Life Mantra.

By Dr. Raul A. Deju (2019)

Material in this series of articles is based on the book “Planet in Conflict: Balancing Energy Needs, Economic Growth, and Environmental Quality” by Dr. Raul A. Deju and Dr. Tapan Munroe, available in Amazon and major booksellers.

There is mounting scientific evidence that the earth’s climate is changing, and as a result the global temperature has risen by about one degree Fahrenheit in the past century. Nonetheless, we should mention that the earth’s climate has been changing through the entire history of our planet, some times more dramatically than it is now. Furthermore, the changing nature of climate is part of the price of living on Earth. Scientists estimate that there is a possibility that within the 21^st century, average temperatures on earth could increase a few degrees largely as a result of a thickening layer of pollutants, mostly carbon dioxide that traps heat like a blanket in the atmosphere and makes the earth warmer. The largest sources of these gases are automobiles, industrial plants such as cement producers, and power plants that burn fossil fuels, now mostly from Asia and Africa.

Some more radical voices have asserted that global warming resulting from carbon gases going into the lower atmosphere is one of the most serious long-term threats to our environment, our health, our economies, and our national security and that we are indeed doomed. Some scientists have calculated doomsday scenarios that include rapidly rising sea levels, intense heat waves, severe droughts and floods, spread of diseases such as malaria and dengue fever, and extinction of many species. In parallel we have scientists that deny such occurrences or predict that changes will not significantly affect the Earth. So what do we believe?  First, let’s not panic and use technology to our advantage. For instance, there is a technology called Direct Air Capture. You probably have not heard about it but it is real and it works. This process is economical and getting cheaper and it mimics giant forests by taking carbon out of the atmosphere using an industrial scale photosynthesis process. You don’t hear about this but by 2050 the industry involving industrial scale carbon capture is expected to be an annual $4 Trillion market. Coupling capturing Carbon Dioxide with some better use of fuels in our society can get you cleaner air worldwide. In fact the US emissions today are at pre 1985 levels. Be hopeful, be proactive.

First, we have to understand the resilience of our earth. About 75,000 years ago a mega-volcano now known as “Toba” exploded in the island of Sumatra (Indonesia) next to the Indian Ocean. The amount of material spewed from this volcano was enormous and represents the biggest mega-volcano in the most recent 100,000 years of the history of our planet. The amount of material spewed in essentially an instant (in geologic time) was much more than the carbon pollutants the entire world puts out over many years today. Further, the volcano spewed also vast quantities of sulfur dioxide that made its way to the stratosphere.

Yes, many animal and plant species became extinct after Toba, a truly catastrophic event, but the earth and its living contingent although severely decimated survived and in a few years the planet itself was back to essentially a normal growth pattern although with a much decimated plant and animal contingent. Also, it should be noted that no global warming took place; instead the earth experienced an awful winter that lasted several years resulting from a lack of sunlight being able to cross the various layers of the atmosphere. Yes, the earth and humanity itself can be quite resilient. However, this resilience is certainly no excuse to indiscriminately pollute our planet. In fact as residents of Planet Earth it is our duty and those of all governments of the Earth to avoid destroying our planet’s atmosphere and biosphere.

Indeed, we should be good stewards of our planet, after all it is our home and we know how to minimize pollution into the atmosphere. Nations of the world need to act in unison as the earth’s atmosphere does not recognize national boundaries. This was the purpose of the Paris Accord, although some may say such a document was flawed.

Regardless, we know how to start fixing the problem — it is well within our reach. We have the technology. All we need is a resolve and the leadership to fix it. Solutions in each country will differ and in the balance of this article we will focus on what we should do in America. While governments have the responsibility to lead, individuals and the private sector are not being stopped from addressing the problem of putting gases into the atmosphere. In fact doing so represents a terrific business opportunity.

Programs to reduce carbon emissions into the atmosphere require much more than wearing homespun cotton and sandals, and eating tofu and yogurt. They involve conservation (in the factory, in the office, at home, and on the highway), modernization of power plants and factories (greater energy efficiency and emission control), building cleaner automobiles (hybrid gas-electric engines), having less dependence on fossil fuels especially without pollution control devices (coal, petroleum, natural gas) and more dependence on renewable energy (solar, wind and fuel cells). All of these can gradually lead to improvements year after year and will improve the quality of our air. The answer is not to panic and to note that in fact much progress has been made in the past decade in the United States to control atmospheric emissions.

Some simple measures illustrate the enormous payoff of conservation:

• If we all unplug our TVs when they are turned off, something relatively painless, we would save 8.45 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually in the United States alone. This is more than two times the electricity produced annually by the Hoover Dam.
• Producing aluminum requires vast amount of power. Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to light a 100-watt light bulb for 3 ½ hours.
• If SUVs could be built to reach the same fuel economy standards as ordinary cars have today, definitely not an impossible task, our country would save easily 1 million barrels/day of oil. These savings are greater than what the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge could produce at its maximum anticipated production rate, and equivalent to two times the daily oil production in California!
• We have to cut down 65 million trees to produce 500 pieces of junk mail sent to every household each year. The internet could help you save all those trees. Can we tax junk mail to create a fund to plant more trees!
• In the United States, normally underinflated automobile tires reduce fuel efficiency and cause us to waste millions of gallons of gasoline every year.
• Recycling two gallons of used motor oil means generating enough electricity to prepare nearly 48 meals in a microwave oven.

We have made major progress in energy efficiency of our refrigerators, washers, and lighting systems via incentive programs such as the utility-sponsored SERP program (Super-Efficient Refrigerator Program) and the CEE program (Consortium for Energy Efficiency) supported by appliance manufacturers and adopted by the U.S. Department of Energy. Similar initiatives in other areas of our economy can also generate equally significant results at minimal expense.

The power of conservation is enormous, and we need to continue to strengthen our civic sense to practice conservation individually at home, at work, and on the road. Simple things such as turning off lights when we leave a room or using more efficient light bulbs do make a big difference if everyone does it. Making conservation part of our everyday ethic would make a significant difference in alleviating the danger of polluting the atmosphere and possibly affecting our global climate. Conservation is the answer to not adversely affecting the climate of our globe. Panic is not the answer as all it usually accomplishes is to create paralysis and charlatanism.

Strategies that reduce carbon inflow into the atmosphere will go a long way toward reducing the danger of global warming. While power plants are a significant contributor to this inflow of carbon, autos and trucks are also a large source of carbon into our lower atmosphere and so are cement plants and even cow flatulence. Here are a few major pollution-reduction strategies that require minimal adjustment to our lifestyle and allow us to sustain our long-term romance with the internal combustion engine:

• Improve the fuel economy of new cars and trucks powered by gasoline engine technology. The auto industry has the technology right now to raise fuel efficiency to an average of more than 40 plus miles per gallon. Do we really need 300-hp cars for shopping and commuting to work?
• Widespread use of hybrid gas-electric engines can cut carbon emissions into the atmosphere very significantly. This is a “no-brainer.” It is encouraging to see that a number of major automobile manufacturers have introduced hybrid SUVs. Fully electric cars are also becoming more prevalent as technology improves their range and performance and brings down their base costs.
• We have the technology and capacity to put hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicles on the road in a matter of a few years by using tax incentives, supporting cooperative programs between manufacturers, and also between government and manufacturers and through innovative approaches. It is entirely possible to put tens of thousands of such vehicles on the road in a matter of a few years provided we invest in infrastructure to support these vehicles. This is a realistic and attractive longer-term option — a matter of 10 to 20 years.
• The notion of “smart growth” is an important strategy and has been a matter of bitter debate over the years. The value of living near our place of work and everyday amenities, including shopping and recreation, is unquestionably important in terms of quality of life and pollution reduction.

We are absolutely amazed at the lack of widespread acceptance in the United States of the notion of a “more livable community with less driving.” An additional factor that is part of encouraging the development of such communities is choice of transportation — public and private.

Finally, the US as a world leader in new technology development (including energy-efficiency technology) can turn the global effort to reduce carbon emissions to the atmosphere into a business opportunity. We can be both responsible adults cleaning up pollution that we contributed to while evolving the technology to clean our mess as well as the mess of other nations.

While not something to alarm all of us, good stewardship of the earth is a matter of intergenerational equity — we should do it not only for our children and ourselves but also for generations to come. I am a believer that humanity’s footprint can have positive or negative consequences. Whether one is a believer or doubter of climate change, thinking in terms of stewardship of the environment rather than just as consumers and producers would make a lasting difference to the survival of our planet.

Twenty two years ago, the President’s Council on Sustainable Development wrote in their Progress Report on a Sustainable America that: “in order to meet the needs of the present while ensuring that future generations have the same opportunities we have, the United States must change by moving from conflict to collaboration and adopting stewardship and individual responsibility as tenets by which to live.” That statement is equally true today.

Reviewers’ Comments regarding “Planet in Conflict by Raul Deju and Tapan Munroe:

“Deju and Munroe have thoughtfully created a masterwork of insight about the state of the world and the opportunities and challenges we share as a planet. This is a must-read book for the 21^st century”

-Mark C. Thompson, New York Times Best Selling Author

Through the history of the Earth, our environment has been an excellent place for promoting life and has fostered a thriving plethora of animal and plant life for billions of years. Of course during much of the life of our planet humans were not in existence.

In a modern society such as ours, we tend to forget the environmental progress we have made through the ages and the fact that pollution is not a new problem. In some respects in some quarters of our planet, environmental quality levels have actually improved enormously. London, for example, in the 19^th century and in the first half of the 20^th century was so heavily polluted from essentially uncontrolled burning that horrible smog episodes with catastrophic consequences were commonplace. Nonetheless, today London’s air quality has dramatically improved.

On the other hand, China’s atmosphere today in many parts of the country averages three times or more of the level of particulate matter deemed safe by the World Health Organization and furthermore more than 40% of China’s rivers are so contaminated that they can only be used for industrial processes.

The problem of environmental protection of our planet as pointed out by the noted former Prime Minister of Norway Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland in her report “Our Common Future” to the United Nations delivered 32 years ago was that “A world in which poverty and inequity are endemic will always be prone to ecological and other crises…Sustainable development requires that societies meet human needs both by increasing productive potential and by ensuring equitable opportunities for all.” This statement is as current today as it was three decades ago.

 Environmental degradation results from inefficiency on our use of resources as humans move on the road to development and further as many societies live beyond their means. In 1969, fifty years ago, when we were first able to see the beauty of our planet from the tranquility and the vastness of outer space, we truly can say that the movements to protect our planet began in earnest. A few years later, the UN Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm properly stated humanity’s responsibility for the protection of our planet by declaring that “A point has been reached in history when we must shape our actions throughout the world with a more prudent care for their environmental consequences. Through ignorance or indifference we can do massive and irreversible harm to the earthly environment on which our life and wellbeing depend. Conversely, through fuller knowledge and wiser action we can achieve for ourselves and our posterity a better life in an environment more in keeping with human needs and hopes.”

The environmental movement has been shaped and re-shaped for the past 50+ years sometimes positively and others negatively yet, in many respects, people in the world perceive environmental issues from opposite poles. Many in the developed world view environmental protection as an absolute emergency. They perceive the planet will be destroyed by us humans unless we change our evil and destructive ways. They feel many technologies such as nuclear energy, coal burning or heavy industrial processes must be banned as they deem these technologies unsuitable for the health of our planet.

At the same time, others in business in the developed world, as well as much of the developing countries, view economic growth as the driving tool that can continue humanity on a progressive path despite some adverse environmental consequences as a byproduct. Clearly, this creates conflicting viewpoints that must be addressed if we are to avoid a stalemate.

In addition, environmental issues are now heavily politicized and have become overtly simplified and in some cases distorted depending on specific points of view. Science at both extremes has become in many instances charlatanism. Clearly, we need common sense and an approach that brings people together rather than keeping them freezing in poles apart.

This article and a few to follow are based on my book with Dr. Tapan Munroe titled “Planet in Conflict”. While in the book as well as in this article we did not intend to provide a conclusive treatise on the solution of environmental issues connected with the use of resources such as water and energy. However, in researching and writing about these subjects it is clear that some simple adjustments to environmental protection can pay huge dividends.

The key is first to recognize that environmental protection is inextricably linked to solving the world’s poverty and social inequity problems. Without addressing these, we will not achieve the needed level of environmental care in our planet.

Secondly, we must agree that ultimately to protect our environment we must aim to achieve sustainable development which requires “meeting the economic needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.

Thirdly, we must recognize that to protect our planet we must deal with a complex web of environmental issues such as climate change, resource depletion, depletion of fish stocks, desertification, demographic stress, water pollution, safe management of toxic wastes, soil losses, atmospheric pollution, protection of biodiversity and many more. All of these issues affect the direction and speed of economic development. All of these issues must be addressed in a balanced, timely, and cost-efficient way avoiding adverse unintended consequences. We need to take these steps boldly yet gradually in a manner that we save the planet without destroying the economy of the nations in the planet.

Fourth, we must accept that by taking immutable positions such as “Say No to Development”, “Stop Coal Power”, “Not in my Backyard”, etc., we wind up forcing others to take positions that are actually more detrimental to the environment. For example, for many years siting a coal-fired power plant inside California has been essentially impossible. Such a situation in turn has created the development of a plethora of coal-fired plants in adjacent or nearby states for the purpose of selling a great deal of power to California. While that looks attractive, it fosters a great deal of inefficiency given that a vast amount of the energy produced is then lost in transmission requiring the plants to produce much more energy than it would be necessary if the plants were closer to the energy consumers in California. A much better approach would be to recognize that economic development needs to be tied to environmental protection in a sustainable way. Therefore, we need energy production and industrialization that gradually but continually aim to improve the environment through many small changes that in an aggregate form can lead to the needed protection of our planet.

We must recognize that humanity is in conflict and polarization of points of views will lead nowhere. If the naysayers succeed, economic progress stops causing further poverty. If growth is uncontrolled, we will leave an unacceptable environmental and resource depletion legacy to our children and for generations to come.

 I prefer to be an optimist recognizing the goodness of the human heart. I believe that by solving through innovative, gradual, and continuous ways the environmental concerns of our planet we can create economic prosperity and environmental well-being. The two extremes can meet at the center and the planet does not need to house the conflicts of opposing poles but instead can benefit from enlightened progress. This is the heart of what I call “Decisional Gradualism” or simply put an approach that involves taking lots of smaller steps and balancing the provision of a good quality of life to humanity while preserving the environment.

For more on our book “Planet in Conflict” by Drs. Raul A. Deju and Tapan Munroe purchase the book in Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other booksellers. Here is what a best-selling author is saying about the book

“Transformative breakthroughs are typically interdisciplinary in nature. Deju and Munroe build on this principle beautifully on their book Planet in Conflict”. 

-Bill Wiersma author of the acclaimed books “The Power of Professionalism” and “The Power of Identity”.

and yes let’s stick with the Paris Accord but just modify it a bit!

A rational approach to US Energy Policy (excluding the Nuclear Weapons Sector) should be to focus our energy policy toward three major goals: (A) energy self-sufficiency, (B) energy security and (C) addressing global warming’s heavy connection to energy production in the emerging nations. As you will see in this paper, these three goals are totally interconnected and the solutions proposed in this paper should be attractive across party lines. Further, these solutions help “Make America Great Again” while at the same time benefitting our exports and showing that we are a true global leader.

            Between Canada, the US and Mexico we can ensure energy self-sufficiency for North America for a very long time. We should continue to explore and enhance our shale reserves and oil reserves promoting the buildout of an infrastructure that can safely and efficiently ensure the transportation of raw products, processing of fuels, and transportation of the resulting fuels to all users.

            Further, we must (1) focus our efforts on the right technologies with the most-success potential; (2) use oil exports and energy technology exports (including nuclear power plants) to enhance our total exports improving our trade balance as well as helping to address global warming; (3) refocus our participation in the Paris Accord but stay within the Accord to address true ways to reduce Global Warming by specifically working with China, India, and other emerging nations to more rapidly transition their dirty power grids to a clean power generating sector; (4) improve the security and effectiveness of our national electric grid; and (5) implement a national plan that rebuilds the future of a viable nuclear power industry by supporting new build, closing the loop on a solution to the nuclear waste disposal issue and facilitating within the coming generation completion of corrective actions to deal with all past contamination issues at the National Laboratories (Hanford, Savannah River, Oak Ridge, etc.).

            Each of these points is further discussed below. Fortunately, there is a remarkable synergy between the need for US energy self-sufficiency, security and the issue of global warming. If we address energy security and availability we also address climate change. The key is a recommended number of approaches, all of which should be attractive across party lines.

1. Technologies that appear to have the most success potential in order to ensure energy self-sufficiency and energy security

            From an energy technology standpoint the United States should focus on six specific areas of technology: (a) Energy productivity including both conservation and efficiency. Energy conservation is profitable and clean; it is a win-win. We need to have organized programs that make it possible to invest in energy conservation; (b) Hybrid auto technology and continuous electric car battery improvements to bring battery prices down; (c) Shale gas (for automobile use, coal replacement, and in synfuels); (d) Synfuel development (gas to liquid and coal to liquid); (e) Shale oil development; and (f) development of more compact nuclear energy plants including bringing closure on the nuclear waste long term storage issues.

            An additional number of technologies with breakout potential should also receive some consideration including photovoltaics, wind, and the development of an improved grid to deliver wind power.

2. Facilitate Oil and Gas Exports and Nuclear Plant Buildout to in Parallel Increase a Positive Energy Trade Balance and Address Global Warming

            Oil and gas abundance in the US coupled with our long term reserves can represent an ever increasing export opportunity for us domestically. Equally, there are enormous reserves of natural gas from shale in many of the emerging nations, and these can replace future growth of dirtier alternatives. Natural gas has ½ the greenhouse emissions of coal, and 1/400^th of the resulting air pollution. In shale oil, the private US sector and the current US administration are already setting a great example for the developing world. We need to magnify our thrust by creating opportunities for the developing world to use our technology and know-how. Our private sector facilitated by the government can create boundless opportunities in this area. In addition to our oil and gas sector, our nuclear plant design/construct technology can also serve as a major export opportunity.

            These exports can help the developing world principally India and China to curb their current and future carbon dioxide emissions while helping vast regions of these countries to address endemic poverty concerns. In the next ten years, the global warming problem can only be solved by reducing ever-increasing coal consumption in the emerging nations. Large scale conversion to natural gas and nuclear in the emerging nations both help our exports and truly addresses global warming. Already, China alone emits twice the greenhouse gases emitted by the United States and its emissions are expected to grow along with its economy.

3. Refocus but Stay within the Paris Accord

            The Paris Accord needs some significant refocusing. We need to accept that Global Warming is indeed the case. A majority of weather stations across the world show increases in temperature over the past many decades. So far the temperature increase is very small (about 1 degree F), yet it is real and there is no denying it. Now let’s move on. The tie between global warming and other weather related events such as an increase in the number and frequency of hurricanes is indeed quite tenuous and most scientists will agree that the correlations are not supportable as yet. Further research and analyses are warranted and we need to be patient. Nonetheless, continuing to emit carbon dioxide uncontrollably into the atmosphere is in no one’s interest. The US and Europe in fact have in the past 40 years made enormous reductions in carbon dioxide emissions reducing them by over 50%. This experience can be transferred to the emerging world.

            By 2020, US emissions of carbon dioxide will total about 4-5 billion tons while all emerging economies will represent about 30 billion tons. Clearly, any decrease in carbon dioxide emissions in the US going forward has an important yet miniscule impact. The real decreases must happen in the emerging world. Further, the projections are that between 2020 and 2030 the emerging economies will increase their carbon dioxide emissions by an additional 25 billion tons or about five to six times current US emissions. Clearly, unless we now address the emerging world’s rapid increase in consumption of dirty fuels and instead help create a private sector driven opportunity supported by governments in the developed world to move the emerging world to shale oil, gas and nuclear power we have no hope of taming carbon dioxide emissions any time soon. The global developed nations can help facilitate this transition and indeed turn it into an export opportunity for both the US and Europe. The scare effect and the fear mongering currently connected with global warming needs to be turned into a positive major global opportunity to finance and build the power of the future in the emerging world. And, by the way, this will also do more than anything else to eliminate the current endemic poverty in many emerging nations.

4. Improve the security and effectiveness of our national electric grid

            A crucial infrastructure project involves creating a national effort at the federal level to improve the effectiveness and security of the national electric grid. We should approach this as a national infrastructure project to be completed within the next decade or two with the target to secure the system from malicious attacks, make the system more accessible to ties with major solar and wind production centers as well as to reduce the very large energy losses that the current system suffers from.

5. Implement a national plan that revitalizes the American nuclear industry by letting the private sector focus on technology improvements and by closing the loop on a solution to the nuclear waste issue. As part of this process the US government must facilitate within the coming generation to fully close the loop on all past contamination issues at the National Laboratories (Hanford, Savannah River, Oak Ridge, etc.)

            The long term security of nuclear waste is not an insurmountable problem, yet it is fear by the populace that has created an intractable problem. In about 1,500 years, the radioactivity of all existing nuclear waste when compared to the radioactivity when the uranium was mined and taken from the ground is only about 2 times the original level and not hundreds of thousands fold as some claim. We know how to build safe nuclear storage for 1,000 to 2,000 years. Effectively, this eliminates most of the hazard from the waste. We need to move from the concept of nuclear waste disposal to safe long-term nuclear waste storage. Other countries are doing so today. Further, the capacity of a facility to do the storage for the US is not so large as to be infeasible.

            We need to show our citizens that the nuclear waste problem can be handled to allow a nuclear economy to be viable. This will go a long way to bringing back the nuclear power option in America. The federal government needs to tap the innovative power of industry by allowing support for private sector involvement in addressing both the solution of the nuclear waste problem and the expansion of advanced nuclear power technology.

             Further, we need to streamline the national plan to clean up the national laboratories from past contamination. This needs to be done in a rational timetable and should not take 100 plus years to complete. It is utter fear not facts that has completely put the brakes on an industry that can be a major contributor to both energy security and clean energy in the US.

 

Concluding Comment

            I believe that a national energy policy driven by these principles and with continuing support of research and development of promising opportunities will provide great dividends to the US. It can certainly insure our continuing lowest cost of energy, guaranteeing energy independence for our nation and turning a negative trade balance in energy trading into a positive energy trade balance.

            Further, it guarantees the needed improvements for the security and effectiveness of our national electric grid and addresses national security regarding availability of needed fuel supply. Finally, it refocuses the global warming solution where it needs to be, that is, in the emerging world. The US and Europe can change the negative narrative by turning it into a positive world effort to help deploy cleaner power options in the emerging world. All of these solutions require a cohesive and credible communications effort bringing together government, industry, and the scientific community. These recommendations “Make America Great Again” while showing our commitment to share in the process of solving “Intractable Global Issues”.

When you read today’s news you get mired down in a sea of negativity and  and that is why today if you ask someone if our future is bright they are likely to say “no”. Well let’s look at some facts:

1. In the early 1800’s 95% of the world population was below the poverty line while today that number is 25% and by the way as recently as 50 years ago it was 60%;
2. In 1950 nearly 45% of the world’s population was undernourished and by 2015 that number has dropped to 10%;
3. In 1700 the life expectancy in the world was 29 years. When Social Security was created in the mid 1930’s the average life expectancy in the world was mid 40’s, and now it is in the 70’s;
4. The percent of the world’s population with access to good water 35 years ago was merely 50% and thanks to new infrastructure projects that number today surpasses 90%;
5. 100 years ago women’s right to vote was infant, today over 186 nations give women citizens the right to vote. Not yet 100% of the world but a major step forward; and
6. If we use 1970 as a benchmark year ( the year EPA was created) for pollutant emissions in the world, western nations have reduced total emissions as a percent of 1970 to 80% and by 2015 the number is down to 35%.

These are just some statistics that clearly show that the world is a better place today than it was in the past despite negative news. Yes humanity has made more progress in the past 50 years than in the rest of recorded history (about 10,000 years). Don’t lose hope but let’s continue to forge ahead. My expectation is that the next 20 years will make the progress in the past 50 seem puny. Go Millennials! Let’s continue to make the world a better place for all- despite what we may read.

Tim Cook, truly one that fits the mold of “He has Mojo” truly gave great advice to the class of 2017 at MIT. In his address he said “The Internet has enabled so much and empowered so many. But it can be a place where the basic rules of decency are suspended and pettiness and negativity thrive… Don’t listen to the trolls, and for God’s sake don’t be one, … measure your impact on humanity not in likes, but in the lives you touch. Not in popularity, but in the people you serve.”

I could not have said it better. Values do matter. Spread the word.