Embrace Change

I just used a neat new tool on the We Campaign website to send a Letter to the Editor of several newspapers. Here is what I wrote:
Subject: Embracing Change
Message:
Dear Friends,

Today we are at a crossroads. The path we choose, as a society, will determine if we continue down the path of scarcity or choose the path of abundance. People can't afford to remain in denial. Just because gasoline prices have dropped below $4.00 a gallon doesn't mean it is now cheap. Energy independence does not necessarily mean we drill for more oil off the coastlines of the United States or in protected areas. Oil is running out. That is scarcity, and continuing to destroy our environment. It will just put off the inevitable. Why expand drilling (destroying our environment), when we can expand safe and cheap renewable alternatives?
Let's embrace abundance! Let's work with Mother Nature and utilize the abundant energy sources all around us. We Can do this! Al Gore's challenge is not a pipe dream. America can generate 100% of our electricity from clean sources. The technology is here NOW! Many new innovations are sitting in filing cabinets of inventors who made these breakthroughs in the 1930's, '40's & 50's. They may not have been economically feasible then, but with today's technology they are viable now. We CAN do this in 10 years, if "we the people" demand this of our political leaders, and we Demand they take action NOW!

Sincerely,
Ed Kerollis

The Economist Debate on the Global Energy Crisis

There is an interesting debate going on over at The Economist.com. What is interesting about the current debate which began on August 19th is that, basically, both sides are essentially saying the same thing. The only apparent difference seems to be that the PRO side wants to ignore funding for innovation right now and concentrate on utilizing current technologies, while the CON side believes we should fully fund both, putting current technologies into production NOW, and fully funding promising innovations.

The Pro side is represented by Joseph J. Romm, Senior Fellow at the Centre for American Progress, and the Con side is represented by Peter Meisen, President, Global Energy Network Institute (GENI). The debate statement being discussed is: "We can solve our energy problems with existing technologies today, without the need for breakthrough innovations."

The opening statements and rebuttals both present interesting viewpoints, but the real gem for me, so far, has been the wealth of information in the comments section. I highly recommend giving this a look.

Dr David Sinclair take on Resveratrol

Check out this video! It is about 15 minutes long, but it is interesting to hear about the real science behind the study of anti-aging. Resveratrol (pronounced: Res - - Vera - - Trol) is the ingredient found in Red Wine, that scientists believe is responsible for cellular regeneration. It cleans up your cells. There is more information on this at the link on the left "Get Younger Here!". The link is under "Get Started Here".

Challenge in the Face of Complacency

Now that oil prices have dipped a little, many are eager to feed their denial. They will justify continuing the status quo, and ignore that the developing world will need much more energy in the coming years. They will be tempted to put the development of alternative energies on the (pun intended) back burner.

Now is when we need to demand a change. To create a challenge, no matter how unrealistic it sounds. After all, at the time, going to the moon in 10 years was totally unrealistic.

Today We Can Solve It .org announced a new Ad Campaign that will air during the political conventions. Here is their quote:

Together, We Can Repower America

More than 1,484,921 have joined

We must rebuild our economy, lower fuel costs, free ourselves from our addiction to oil, and save ourselves from the climate crisis. To do this, we need to demand that we Repower America with 100% clean electricity within 10 years. Meeting this ambitious goal would create millions of new jobs, lead to lower energy costs for families and help America lead the fight against global warming.

How do you spell relief? HB2200

PennFuture (Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future) has been working for several years to advocate effective solutions for the problems of pollution, sprawl and global warming. They enforce environmental laws and work to transform public policy, public opinion and the marketplace to restore and protect the environment. They also want to assure that Pennsylvania becomes a state at the forefront of the new clean energy economy, where companies want to locate bringing great paying green jobs.

Right now, they urgently are working for the quick passage of HB 2200 during the next session of the Pennsylvania Senate. This bill assure that Pennsylvania families and businesses will have powerful tools to save on their electric bills, especially since electricity rate caps come off state wide in January 2011.

Jan Jarrett, vice president of PennFuture recently said in a press release:
“Pennsylvania’s families and businesses are facing high energy costs now, and by January 2011, when the remaining electricity rate caps come off statewide, electricity rates will rise, which is not surprising after 14 years of capped rates,” said Jan Jarrett, vice president of PennFuture. “Electricity prices in Pennsylvania have been capped since 1996, and electricity has not increased in constant or inflation adjusted dollars unlike gasoline, home heating oil, natural gas and other energy products.

“Reducing demand for energy and for electricity through conservation is the surest, quickest way to reduce energy prices and electricity bills,” continued Jarrett. “Reduced demand for oil – not drilling – is the major reason why the price for oil has fallen from $147 to $113 per barrel in the last month. HB 2200, the energy savings bill, must pass right away if the electricity conservation programs will be in place when the remaining electricity rate caps are removed in the next 16 to 28 months.”

To read more about this, and the pledge being asked to be made by all members of the Pennsylvania Senate, go to: PennFuture launches campaign to give Pennsylvania's families and businesses powerful tools to save on electricity bills

What is Success?

The True Meaning of Success

by Alexander Green, Chairman, Investment U
Investment Director, The Oxford Club

"What is success?" asked Ralph Waldo Emerson, "To laugh often and much. To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children. To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends. To appreciate beauty. To find the best in others. To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition. To know even one life breathed easier because you have lived; this is to have succeeded."

Which Solar Technology will Survive?

Here is a good discussion on the future of solar as a business venture.

Which solar technology will survive?

Tech execs discuss photovoltaic ideas

At the Cleantech Forum in San Francisco, Todd Glass of Heller Ehrman moderates a discussion on the various solar technologies making a difference in the green movement. From thin film PVs to concentrating solar, which technology is best-suited for deployment on a utility scale? Attempting to answer this question are panelists Peter Duprey, CEO at Acciona; Ricardo Angel, senior vice president at GE Energy Financial Services; and Fong Wan, vice president of energy procurement at PG&E.

http://news.zdnet.com/2422-13748_22-191925.html

How to change the World

Going Green does not necessarily mean giving up something. But, it does mean changing how we are used to doing things. Right now it can be an opportunity to create your own Green Business. To plug into a world of sustainability and renewal. Plug into the natural world of abundance. Create opportunities for others by showing them how to be self-sufficient.

Here is an article from a daily paper in New Orleans covering the Annual Shaklee convention.

To learn more about Shaklee Corp. check out the "Getting Started" links at the top left of the page.
Small-scale entrepreneurialism can breed self-sufficiency, expert says

by Stephanie Bruno, The Times-Picayune

Friday August 08, 2008, 7:11 PM

Small-scale entrepreneurialism can lead to self-sufficiency and boost local economies, according to Vidar Jorgensen, adviser to the Bangladesh bank that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.

Jorgensen sat on a panel Thursday night in New Orleans about green and small-scale business opportunities, where he explained how his Bangladesh bank's mirofinancing practices led to its receipt of the Nobel prize.

Jorgensen is chairman of the World Health Care Congress and serves on the advisory committee of the Grameen Bank. According to Jorgensen, Grameen makes small loans of less than $200 to low-income borrowers but doesn't demand collateral. Loans are aimed at financing self-employment projects that will lead to financial self-reliance. One of the bank's initiatives enabled tens of thousands of women, "the poorest of the poor," to become economically self-sustaining.

"Most beggars are women who are divorced or widowed or abandoned. There are no jobs for them if they lose a provider, so they go door to door begging for money," Jorgensen explained. "Then someone thought, well, since they're already going door to door, what if they took something with them they could sell? Fruit or a toy or something? The bank loaned the money for them to acquire the goods to sell, and now 100,000 former beggars are self-sufficient."

If the approach can work in Bangladesh, Jorgensen suggested, it can work anywhere that populations are struggling and financially dependent. The key is to provide small but targeted assistance and to help them discover the entrepreneurial potential within themselves.

David Bach, a personal finance expert and best-selling author, also sat on the panel and spoke of the new business opportunities opening up in green industries, or industries that focus on sustainability and preserving the environment.

Bach said he was inspired to write his latest book, "Go Green, Live Rich," after he and his family moved into a green building in Manhattan and began to notice improvements in their personal health.

"I honestly believe it's going to be the economic opportunity of a lifetime," Bach said of the emerging green industry. "The green industry is going to make the tech industry of the '90s look small."

The panel was held in conjunction with the annual conference of Shaklee Corp., a company that sells a range of environmentally friendly products.

Change Your Thinking

To illustrate the idea of changing our thinking from one of scarcity to one of Abundance, I will present a few quotes from the 1997 book Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature by Janine M. Benyus. She discusses a subject long understood by many Indigenous People, that of learning from Nature instead of working to conquer Nature.

“We must draw our standards from the natural world. We must honor with the humility of the wise the bounds of that natural world and the mystery which lies beyond them, admitting that there is something in the order of being which evidently exceeds all our competence. -Valclav Havel, president of the Czech Republic” (Chapter 1, page 1)

"In a society accustomed to dominating or "improving" nature, this respectful imitation is a radically new approach, a revolution really. Unlike the Industrial Revolution, the Biomimicry Revolution introduces an era based not on what we can extract from nature, but on what we can learn from her." (Chapter 1, page 2)

“They know that nature, imaginative by necessity, has already solved the problems we are struggling to solve. Our challenge is to take these time-tested ideas and echo them in our own lives.” (Chapter 1, page 4)

Benyus, Janine M. Biomimicry: Innovation inspired by nature. New York: HarperCollins, 1997.