1. Transocean – offshore drilling operator (owner of the oil rig)
2. Cameron –  manufacturing of oil/gas industry equipment – including the blowout preventer that failed to close the well head
3. Halliburton – oilfield services operator – including cementing the drill hole walls
4. Hyundai – builder of Deepwater Horizon rig in 2001

Source of this list

BP bears the brunt of the scrutiny because they are at the top of the product food chain. The dilemma they face is shared across the business world. That dilemma is counting on the consortium of third party entities to provide products and services, which are integral to the production of the resource they bring to market. How do you, as the company that provides a product that relies on myriad of third parties, hold those parties accountable? This is a question at the forefront of my mind. Blame this question on my mindset. How one goes about obtaining the objective trumps obtaining the objective itself,  (see my earlier post about The Ends JUSTIFIABLE by the Means at http://bit.ly/chzxAD2).

Now, this question assumes, as an executive in a multinational corporation, or any company for that matter, you believe the buck stops with you.  The buck being the results or performance of the third party product or service needed for you to bring your product to market.  This question doesn’t compute in mainstream modern day capitalism. When the oil hits the water, finger pointing emerges. Safety, including backup systems cost money. Is safety, which includes redundant backup systems to cut off oil at the well head during an emergency, a design specification of the Leasee of the oil rig? Apparently not.

If you only do what you have to be told to do to protect the biosphere from unintended consequences, you are not doing the right thing, you are doing the expedient thing. Backup systems are insurance.  99.9% of the time, insurance is not relevant. BUT, one can’t claim on an insurance policy that is NOT in place. At the end of the day, it is a gamble. This calamity proves the point that the mindset running mainstream enterprise today is fatally flawed and not in tune with the realities we find ourselves going into the second decade of the 21st century.

Capitalism is an economic system, plain and simple. It  lacks morality, and any sense of focus on the bigger picture of the greater good.  So, it is by design we are experiencing a massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, in day 67 as I write this. In the event of an emergency, it only takes one time for the single threaded safety shutoff system to fail to wreak significant havoc. The gamble was taken, and everyone is losing.

Conscious Capitalism, as it is called, brings deeper purpose along with a sense of expanded stakeholders lead by conscious leaders. It is a new way forward. It is evolution of the human spirit and the spirit of creation. Creation and commerce with purpose.

If not your company, who- if not now, when?

“When we experience Massive Solar Energy Spills- we call it a Nice Day”

The same could be true for Massive Wind Energy Spills, or Massive Tides, or Massive Water Flows (staying within the banks of the river, of course).

The play on words here points out the significant amount of energy that our planet has in the form of clean renewable sources of sunshine, wind, and flowing water- be it tidal flows or flowing rivers. When this type of energy  ”spills”, it is nature being nature.

The amount of untapped energy our planet receives each day is incredible. That energy, in the form of sunlight drives our weather system which drives the water cycle and movement of heat around the globe

Everything is powered by the Sun. Everything. The ancient stores of carbon (fossil fuels) are stored solar energy. Fossil fuels are ancient stores of carbon that at one time was plant life that got trapped and decayed over countless millions of years under significant pressure in geological forms that kept the material from escaping.

I read somewhere that the amount of solar energy in 1 gallon of gasoline is something like 200 years. Question then is, how far does your vehicle take you to consume 200 years worth of solar energy that is packed in to that gallon of gasoline?

We can and do live with massive solar energy spills. In fact, most people prefer to experience a day that is nothing but a massive solar energy spill. We love sunny, cloudless days. We expect them when on vacation.  The cleanup of this type of spill is capturing the sunlight and converting it to energy (electricity or heated water). It is kind of ironic that renewable energy is energy spilling all around us. Our harnessing of it is fleeting at this point. Capturing solar energy by using solar panels on a roof is a bit anemic in regards to the total amount of energy that spills over the entire neighborhood, town, state, country and hemisphere.

It is a paradigm shift to move forward away from oil and gas – the bounty of stored solar and towards renewables – harnessing the bounty of present solar.  If the planet can drive weather and current and water systems with the sun, we can use it to drive our lives.

1- The inability of BP to effectively stop the leak one mile under water. I trusted the oil industry to take great care in exploiting the bounty of resources the Earth has available for human consumption.

2- Our  government’s inability (or disinterest?) to hold BP accountable and force BP to perform real, effective and immediate action to stop the leak. I too trusted our government to have the public’s best interest at heart in permitting oil companies to pull oil from ever more remote areas of this country.

3- The loss of so many families livelihoods in the fishing industry and in a growing number of communities-  the tourism/vacation industry. These livelihoods are in congruence with the values of protecting the ecosystems and environment.

4- The unknown and long term consequences of millions of gallons of oil and gas being released into the marine ecosystem. Make no mistake, BP nor our government is going to clean up the millions of gallons of oil and gas escaping into the marine environment.

5- The probable inability to do anything about the millions of gallons of gas and oil that have and will reportedly continue to escape into the marine ecosystem that DON’T make it to shore OR don’t make it to the surface of the ocean.

What seems obvious to me from absorbing the media attention to the leak is as BP has been incompetent in stopping the leak, there technical ability or interest at this point is to capture a small percentage of water free oil from the leaking wellhead and pump it to a tanker.  The last 7 weeks has shown us they are clearly unable to cap the wellhead. This proves to me there has been no engineering effort THAT HAS BEEN REQUIRED TO BE TAKEN to protect our ocean and shorelines from failures of deployed technology 1 mile beneath the ocean surface. This is morally apprehensible. It indicates a blatant disrespect for me as a consumer and citizen as well as for everyone else that shares a worldview expecting industries that exploit our natural resources to do so with the utmost care and respect for the ecosystems from which they operate in.

I have thought of many ways to capture all the oil that is escaping. My focus on capturing the oil and gas is focused on encapsulating all the oil and gas and surrounding water using a mylar type synthetic wrapper to guide the oil and contain it as it rises to the surface. The assumption I have is it is not possible to fully cap the crippled wellhead. If oil is going to escape, contain it so it doesn’t make it’s way into the marine environment and guide its movement to the surface inside a pliable and very strong material probably reinforced by metal wire that is secured to the sea floor and rises the full mile to the surface. All the contained material can then be REMOVED from the ocean by pumping into tankers. The unintended consequences of this are probably many- and not being an expert I am sure this idea has many flaws. The cost is probably exorbitant to do this. Charge me more money for gasoline if you have  to because it is the right thing to do.

What is different between my point of view and that of the oil industry and their supporters is how they view the world and what is acceptable and not acceptable in taking resources we should be using more wisely than we are for the sake of our children’s children. For them it is a business and therefore it is just about the money. Their PR firms can attempt to tell me otherwise, but I and many others can’t be fooled.  For me, it is about HOW they go about exploited our planet for the benefit of all- not just for the dividends and returns for their shareholders. In situations like this, the true colors, motivations and values of a company come to light. My move has been to never give BP  a dime because of how they disregard valuing HOW they do what they do. Your move BP (Bellowing Petroleum).

“The Ends Justify The Means”

How you get to the end result is immaterial, irrelevant and not important to the fact the result was obtained.

That paradigm is corrupt. It lacks morality, integrity, and respect.

The paradigm I resonate with is:

“The Ends are Justifiable BY the means”

This worldview turns it all on its head. HOW we get to where we want to go, the actions taken, the resources used, the process undertaken IS of paramount importance and justifies the ends obtained. I find this approach to be moral, respectful and holding integrity.

As consumers, we can take this paradigm into the marketplace. We can vote with our dollars. Tens of millions of us are doing this every day. What we choose to consume and who we choose to consume it from, speaks to the values we hold.

Take this mindset and apply it to the devastation taking place in the Gulf of Mexico and the habitats within and around the Gulf.  Our consumption of fossil fuels has consequences. How every drop of oil is obtained is of paramount importance. The means matter. While BP has the responsibility to stop the leak and clean up the ecological devastation that is unfolding- I too have a responsibility as a consumer to the fact I consume this substance. I question the longterm consequences to continuing to grasp onto this paradigm.

The less I use, the more our grandchildren will have available to them. The less I use, the less demand there is to pump the oil from areas that pose risk to the natural systems that deserve to remain unspoiled. This is not leaving the world a better place. Turning the page to start a post fossil fuel chapter of human existence is an end that is in need of means that can justify it.

I wonder a great deal. I wonder why are things the way they are? What forces at play make things the way they are? Why can’t they be different, why can’t things be better?

We stand on the shoulders of all those that came before us. The way we live, the lifestyle we have, what is possible and what is not possible is a construct of what we believe. What we believe to be true, not true and what we think is possible and not possible is the reality we forge.

The world I live in today, in Upstate New York, United States of America, in the beginning of the second decade of the 21^st Century is chock full of man made systems. Systems of roads and bridges to transport me, my family and all the stuff I consume. Systems of power plants and electric transmission wires to produce and deliver the electricity I use to take for granted. These are man made systems that allow for our material success in the material world. There are also grander, more powerful natural systems that generate and sustain the life support systems for all life on this magnificent planet.

I read Einstein’s words in many places now-a-days that “we can’t solve a problem with the same level of consciousness that created it.” Consciousness in this regard is thought. To move forward, we must transcend. The same is true with the saying “if you keep doing what you have done, you will keep getting what you got.” Not sure who said that one but it is in the same vein as Einstein’s words. There is also, “continuing to do the same things expecting different results is the definition of insanity.”

So many of us want so much to live in greater harmony with natural systems. By learning from natural systems and working to mimic them, we move forward on the path to sustainability.

The world I live in is rooted in man made systems. These systems were devised decades and even a century or more ago. When these systems were devised, the level of consciousness was not where it is today. Everything has unintended consequences. That is the basis of what Einstein was talking about for what you can’t perceive, doesn’t exist – it is not comprehendible. It is only when you change your thinking that you may begin to perceive it. That change in perception ushers in the ability, or context, to perceive and then comprehend. It is by transcending the current level of thought that you expand into a new, higher level of thought. One in which solutions to problems can be had.

It is in this vein that I bring to you, REThink. REThink is a duel purpose word. REThink is to re-think- or take another look at a topic, issue, problem or solution in a new context, within a new paradigm, or through a new lens or different worldview. RE is an acronym for Renewable Energy. So the second meaning is Renewable Energy Thinking – comprehending renewable energy under new constructs, different paradigms or with a worldview that values all life, believes in human ingenuity to solve complex problems that moves the human experience forward and upward.

Our existence is by design, but our continued success it is not a foregone conclusion. Our ability to survive and prosper is not guaranteed. Our past actions create our current results which affect our current situation that place before us a set of choices we believe are within our ability to take. This is true individually and collectively.

I believe we are stuck. Our paradigms have gotten us so far in this experiment of life on Earth. To many, nothing is wrong. To others what is wrong is the desire of people like myself who are passionate about the need for change, for expansion, for renewal and considerable rethinking of the man made systems that have been created for they have reached limits. They don’t comprehend the limits that I see all too readily. They are staring me straight in the face encouraging me to act.

Here are a few areas ripe for REThinking:

REThink Energy

REThink Fossil Fuels

REThink Efficiency

REThink Nature

REThink Wetlands

REThink Water

REThink Transportation

REThink Housing

REThink Consumption

REThink Agriculture

REThink Consciousness

REThink Spirituality

REThink Community

REThink Business

REThink Hot Water

REThink Refrigeration

REThink Heating, Cooling and Ventilation

REThink Cooking

REThink Cleaning

REThink Electricity

REThink Building

REThink Everything

I will dive into each one and more, putting the topic through a lens of REThinking the topic. What underlying assumptions may not be valid any longer? The lens will be a different worldview than the one that originally perceived the topic or is at the mainstream today about the topic. What topics are you interested in REThinking?

HEY- Dave’s singing about global warming!!!  Ah… Duh. No kidding you say.

Sometimes I am slow (really slow) on the uptake.

Dave Matthews Band – Dive In (Lyrics)

I saw a man on the side of the road

with a sign that read ‘will work for food’

Tried to look busy, ’til the light turned green

I saw a bear on TV and his friends were all drowning

cause their homes were turning to water

A strange, kinda sad, big old bear

surely would happily eat me

he’d tear me to pieces that bear

Wake up sleepy head

I think the suns a little brighter today

Smile and watch the icicles melt away and see the water rising…

Summers here to stay, and all those summer games will last forever

Go down to the shore, kick off your shoes, dive in the empty ocean.

Tell me everything will be OK if I just stay on my knees and keep praying

Believing in something

Tell me everything is all taken care of by those qualified to take care of it all.

Wake up sleepy head

I think the suns a little brighter today

Smile and watch the icicles melt away and see the waters rising

Summers here to stay, and that sweet summer breeze will blow forever

Go down to the shore, kick off your shoes, dive in the empty ocean

One day, do you think we’ll wake up in a world on it’s way to getting better?

and if so can you tell me

how?

I have been thinking that lately the blood is increasing

the tourniquets not keeping hold in spite of our twisting

though we would like to believe we are

we are not in control

though we would love to believe

Wake up sleepy head

I think the suns a little brighter today

Smile and watch the icicles melt away and see the water rising…

Summers here to stay, and those sweet summer girls will dance forever

Go down to the shore, kick off your shoes, dive in the empty ocean.

Both have impacts. Both are resource intensive to produce. There are arguments on both sides claiming that each is better than the other from a resource impact standpoint.

Instead of making a claim of which is better, I instead will point out what is rarely pointed out in the great debate of e-readers vs. paper books – a list of what is involved in the manufacturing of a book and putting it in the hands of the reader and what is involved in manufacturing an e-reader and the e-reader infrastructure needed to supply its user with content.

A lot is involved to produce everything we consume today- including books and e-book readers. Consider this a technologist/green-loving guys’ public service announcement…

It is from the pragmatic realization that no one will be swayed from reading paper books to becoming an avid e-book consumer if they value everything about a paper book. My goal is to have you make new choices in how you consume paper-based content. For the techie folks who love electronic gadgets and wholeheartedly embrace electronic content, my goal is to offer you a new paradigm on what to consider in consuming an e- reader and its content. Whichever one you choose it should be done with an eye toward doing so with the least impact.

A look behind the cover on the steps to print a book

Book production

• Materials for ink production
• Wood extraction from forests for paper production
• Transportation of raw materials to manufacturing facility
• Paper production
• Ink production
• Book manufacturing – printing and binding process
• Transportation to warehouse/distribution/shipping facility
• Buyer transportation to the bookstore or delivery – processing and resource usage to receive shipped book

A look inside the e-reader – what it takes to make an electronic reader and provide access to digital content

E-book production

• Materials extraction and mining
• Transportation of raw materials to processing facilities
• Manufacturing of components and parts (case, electronics, storage, battery, screen)
• Transportation of components and parts to factory for assembly, testing, packaging
• Transportation to warehouse/distribution facility
• Sale processing and shipment to retailer
• Buyer transportation to purchase device or delivery resource usage
• Electricity consumption from use (direct and battery charging)
• Electricity and resource use of e-book store infrastructure
  • Electricity to run and cool the Data Center
  • Usage of  and impact of using WIFI and Internet network or cellular carrier network used to send Econtent
  • Server resource usage to store electronic copy of book and run ebookstore
    • Don’t forget the resource impact on the manufacturing of storage and computer systems used in the overall system delivery chain of reader and electronic content

Okay, so it’s pretty obvious that both platforms have an impact and use significant resources as part of the production and transportation of the product. Like I thought, I convinced no one to switch allegiances. Let’s then focus on the mindset best geared to reducing the impact of your preference.

Best practice – paper books

• Frequent your local libraries by bike or public transportation
• Reuse – buy a used book, sell it back when you are done
• Buy a book made from recycled paper
• Buy a book using paper from certified forests (specifically the Forest Stewardship Council)
• For every book you buy- go to ecolibris.net and balance your purchase by planting trees on your behalf

Best practice – e-book

• Only consume Ematerial exclusively – stop buying hardcopy whenever possible (continuing to consume hardcopy content when Eversions exist defeats the purpose of any impact advantage an e-book reader would have)
• Power the device off when you aren’t using it
• Use renewable energy to charge the e-reader
• Sell, gift or recycle the e-reader when you want to replace it
• Choose a future e-reader based on the least comparable impact it has from a materials, manufacturing and electricity use standpoint

There is even more detail to go into regarding HOW to do some of these things. Ask me how and I will help figure out the best way to do it with the least impact.

With the recent news that Apple is entering the ebook reader and ebookstore space, it makes this debate even more relevant. If the success of iPod’s and iPhone’s are any indication, millions upon millions of people will be putting iPad’s in their hands and consuming ebook content.

Happy reading.

In her article, she acknowledges the retreating sea-ice off Alaska’s coast, thawing permafrost and coastal erosion. “We recognize the occurrence of these natural, cyclical environmental trends . . . .”

With half the population and half of Congress agreeing with her thinking, short-term economics and short-term elections will continue to rule the day. And any shift at the national-policy level, for better or worse, will shift back with every election cycle. Washington is not likely to lead on this issue, will likely never get out ahead of us.  But they will follow the market forces that affect their local constituents.

Some things you can legislate, but can’t enforce adequately – like residential recycling, the speed limit, keeping your paint cans out of the town dump. There are many pressure points to create change, and regulations are one of them, though don’t always guarantee outcomes.

Some things regulate well from the top-down: exposing the public to radiation and no longer developing on wetlands. Some of these could be stronger, like limiting commercial carbon emissions, but nevertheless, these are natural top-down regulations.

Successful bottom-up movements leading to regulations include standards for drinking water and town-wide waste recycling, which is pretty much a norm for all garbage collecting, both things that didn’t really exist only 20 years ago.

Some studies claim that top-down costs more for industry and related markets than bottom-up movements. Partly because top-down happens rather quickly, bottom-up usually happens over a long, developing span of time. Incentives like taxes or fines play a role in outcomes and costs as well. Also, bottom-up grassroots movements that succeed also sustain themselves for the long term, since they come into their own with support already in place.

Human beings are in the unique position, for the first time in the history of the planet, to save or destroy the planet. No other species has had this position. It’s simply a choice we must make as a race. At the moment, it’s highly unlikely top-down regulation will mandate buying a Prius, installing solar power, or taking public transportation. It’s going to require leadership from the bottom, from those who care and understand about creating the infrastructure to make these changes

The more I watch Congress, or international politics, the more I see that little will change on a national or international level among industrial countries. We must lead the way from the bottom. The best things we can do, as individuals, is to do our thing, stay our course, talk it up, communicate together. No matter is too small during the holidays or any time. At home or at work or with family or wherever, every green act you do, everything you purchase, every comment you make sends a message. Send the right message.

For starters, hydrogen is not a source of energy — H2 is a carrier. Nor is it natural, like, say, the sun, or the wind, or the power of a waterfall. The beauty of hydrogen energy is that its byproduct is clean, drinkable water. Can’t beat that. But its inefficiency – current technology often uses more energy to create hydrogen-based energy systems than the system yields – still needs to be resolved.

An upstate New York hydrogen fuel cell company that seeks to penetrate the residential market – that is, equip homes with individual hydrogen fuel cell systems – relies on natural gas to unleash the hydrogen. That seems like two steps back for one step forward. It might be. In fact, if the market was to take off today, it the company’s wildest dreams were realized and they sold millions of hydrogen fuel cells to millions of residents and commercial buildings, well, then, we just might end up using more fossil-fueled natural gas than we do now. Maybe not, but it’s certainly not a road we should be going down given that it looks a lot like the road we’re trying to exit.

However, it’s not a mission we should entirely abort. Particularly since there is science that might be able to resolve the most troubling part of the hydrogen equation. For example, we can build renewable systems to harness the energy to produce the hydrogen. Still sounds like we’re chasing our tail, and we kind of are, but this tail-chasing has a potentially promising outcome.

MIT researchers have worked out a way to use sunlight to pull hydrogen out of water.  They separate H2 from water using solar panels. So H2 gets created during the day and stored in a fuel cell. At night, the electricity is created from H2 running through a fuel cell, combined with the oxygen “waste” created during the day, which creates a byproduct of water. The water is now the feedstock that starts the process all over again when the sun rises. This closed loop – energy tail-wagging – is an exciting prospect.

What we need to keep in mind is that energy is neither created nor destroyed. It’s a constant. It changes states, or transforms, but it doesn’t disappear. Take oil and natural gas for example: when these fuels are burned during the combustion process to make electricity, it produces heat to turn a turbine. The energy byproduct, or the transformed material, is carbon dioxide plus a few other poisonous gasses. We only recently learned – last 30 years or so — that these carbon-based fuels have consequences. And now we find ourselves in a climate and energy crisis, with few people understanding the severity of the crises. And even if they did: we know smoking causes cancer, but that hasn’t stopped the western world from lighting up. It’s all too addicting to suddenly stop now.

Government is a collection of people — some elected, some appointed — who pay attention to where society is going. Government is not inherently bad. Though there is a common mindset that this is so.

Buzz words like “big government” and “socialism” sound the alarm. Yet we take the work for granted and miss the point: like our roads, police, public schools and universities, the public library, water and sewer, and on and on.

I liken government to parenthood and the society as a whole as the children. Some things need to be done for our own good. Unwieldy children don’t want rules, think they know everything and can do without the parent (government).

Hence, we have rules (i.e laws). If people could be entrusted to do what’s right for the greater good, then we’d need less laws. But that, unfortunately, is not the case.  Teenage children are invincible and feel immortal. There level of maturity is questionable at times. Should a 16 year old be able to
stay out with friends till midnight or later? Should we condone teenage drinking?

We can all do a lot as individuals to make a difference in this world. Those of us that take the responsibility each of us have for our consumption and the fallout from that consumption. Basing your purchase decisions and lifestyle on the value of minimizing our impact on the ecosystem that sustains our existence. It matters for our kids. How we live today, the decision we make in the here and now effects the future more profoundly than most of us can comprehend.

As individuals we can do a lot, but only so much. Leadership can steer us in the right direction and bring society economies of scale by encouraging behaviors that enhance society and our ability to increase the chances of a resource plentiful future.

Our current trajectory is not guaranteeing a resource plentiful future for our children and those that will follow. Those that work to discredit the messengers and confuse the public and frame the debate in favor of do nothing when it comes to climate change are the unruly teenagers who prefer to not be parented.

The free-market economy — more like economic anarchy — does not inherently move the economy and culture toward the best interest of the people or culture. It moves blindly, driven by profit, not the interest of people or the planet, usually seeking the lowest commom denominator to maximize profit. With the right nudge from government, the market can shift to a desired direction, while maintaining the spirit of the free market.

Government, then has the moral obligation to make hard choices. To see the bigger picture and long term benefits for a better tomorrow. Just as parents make the hard choices in raising their children. The child might not like the discipline the parent envokes on their child — but it is in their best interest they do.

We cannot change the past, but we can know the past. We cannot know the future but our actions today shape the future we will have.  Action to change how we move ourselves and the goods that make up our economy,  how we build the buildings we live, work and play in and the consumption of resources to heat and cool these buildings, not to mention the food production systems are all needed for our collective best interest. Not for today, but for your kids and their kids, and on
and on, down the line of future human existence.