A recent poll says that 69 percent of usually cynical, stressed-out, can't-be-bothered New Yorkers have finally come to the same conclusion: Coal, petroleum and other burning stuff is going to literally choke us and drown us in our own stupidity.
And, as we all know, that many New Yorkers can't be wrong.
The tiny, black carbon molecules changing weather patterns and the quality of our air have demonstrated their ability to whip up waves powerful enough to make a hurricane in the boroughs look like an action movie.
So, what better time and place to discuss the coming deluge than the desert city of Doha, Qatar, one the world's largest producers of the little black carbon dots linked to climate change?
Certain world leaders have buried their heads in the sand for years on this issue, seeking to stay competitive with emerging manufacturing markets. But history will not be kind to those who think they can watch and wait. One day they may call this period the second "Black Death."
Dan Morrell is in Doha for the final days of the conference to stir things up a bit. His antidote to the "black death" is the concept of "enchantment."
"We all deserve to live in a more enchanted world," says Dan, and he has a vision of how that might come about.
But, when you're in a hole and you keep digging you want someone to throw you a rope, not a sprinkle of fairy dust. The cynical New Yorker in me says, "Get real." But I can't, because my wife believes both in fairies and in Dan. Born and raised in the South, it's in her DNA to be hopeful. Working on this project, she has become personally and professionally "enchanted."
Dan has had some big ideas before -- that's why he's worth listening to.
He's the guy who traded the first ton of carbon in 1988. Dan's also the man who created (and even trademarked) the term "carbon neutral." It was the New Oxford American Dictionary's "word of the year" in 2006.
The Rolling Stones, Joe Strummer, film director Roland Emmerich (The Day After Tomorrow) all listened to Dan when he told them they could offset their carbon footprint by planting forests. They became pioneers in carbon neutrality.
But Dan doesn't think "neutral" goes far enough. He's looking to push the needle towards "positive" change. He's teamed up with a hot music producer in London known as Youth (Sir Paul McCartney, U2) and Craig Sams, founder of Green & Black's chocolate, the first fair trade product, to come up with the idea of "enchanting" the world through individual and group chants that are uploaded to their website -- www.globalchant.com.
Dan expects to get a billion people chanting into their cell phones and webcams saying things like "I'm Serene, I'm from Indonesia and I chant for the atmosphere." That's followed by Serene holding the note that represents "Atmosphere" in the 7-note CHANT lexicon.
The CHANT Foundation will fund projects and programs in the seven cause areas.
So much hot air in Doha these days. Dan's fresh idea is a cool and gentle breeze, which, we can only hope, will help us all breathe easier in the future.
Follow Don Ringe on Twitter: www.twitter.com/dringe
Rooftop/parking lot solar and offshore wind can supply some 90% of our electricity, including eletric cars,.
Hydro and waste bio char fuels running in existing peak generators serve as the backup wind and solar need. These peak generators can start cold in 15 minutes are not damaged by doing so like large coal and nukes plants. These gas turbines are also the cheaper capital cost generators. 500$ per KW.
The modern grid faces rapid unexpected changes in load and must already adapt to those. This was a problem even before solar and wind.
There is a wonderful solution. Use parked electric cars to supply the 15 minutes of instant power needed till the peak generators can kick in. This is worth 4000$ per year to the utilities, and could end up paying for eletric cars. They only take what you allow, and few percent of the total if they need it. and you get paid.
solar wind electric cars and waste bio char is massively carbon negative is you use the char for the good soil enhancer it is. There is more than enough arable land that would benefit from biochar than is needed to soak up all the carbon humans have put into the air, several times over.
Lovelock believed biochar was our only hope of saving the climate.
http://www.amazon.com/Forest-Journey-Story-Wood-Civilization/dp/0881506761
That perspective, I believe, predicts a troubling future for humankind in this century. Because our ability to rationalize why "we" deserve "the good life" of the availability of cheap energy more than "other" people, including those who will come after us on this planet. And attempting to "chant" people away from the impulse of their human nature is as fruitful as attempting to dig a hole deeper than the water table without a pump. Because one can only hold back the "water" of human want for so long with such efforts. And the less self-restrained among us will eventually undermine such efforts by marshaling enough people to rationalize their human desire to sate themselves with cheaper sources of energy at the expense of others on the planet and in the future.
TTG
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/11/20/1200-coal-are-plants-being-planned-worldwide-what-happens-if-they-all-get-built/