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Why do the best, brightest and wealthiest among us (Musk and Bezos for example) choose space exploration over the crucial need to totally reinvent our civilization here on Earth?
Why don't we all dream more and think bigger? Here's a recent example of two men who chose to think big, while never giving up on their dream.
Remember the solar-powered airplane that circled the globe three years ago? Named
Solar Impulse, NBC featured that amazing mission in this July 2016 story.
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Sudden Impulse flying over mosque in Abu Dhabi
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The two pilots, Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, who planned and executed the mission - were told by almost everyone that it could not be done. Yet they did it anyway.
Their 8-minute documentary video is provided below. It begins with these words:
There are so many people in life, they forget to dream - because they're afraid of going out of their comfort zones.
And it ends with this challenge to humanity:
Why are there so few "big picture" scientists, inventors and adventurers like Dr. James Lovelock, Dr. E.O. Wilson, Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg?
Why are there so few people who have the courage to think outside the box?
Take a listen to Bertrand and Andre in this 8-minute video and let your creative juices start flowing as you build the enthusiasm for actively promoting a spirited global conversation around a
big picture, what if
solution to the multi-dimensional problem that threatens our future as a species.
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Many told them that the mission was impossible, but they chose not to listen.
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The world needs more leaders with the vision and the courage to dream big. James Lovelock and E.O. Wilson are my heroes when it comes to our collective challenge of surviving climate change while planning and building a totally green civilization - one that will enable us to survive and thrive indefinitely on planet Earth.
Do I think that GRATOLA will ever happen as envisioned? The idea might, but the ultimate solution will probably be quite different - and much better.
As a matter of fact, Hurricane Dorian has triggered some second thoughts in my mind about my original vision.
Maybe
GRATOLA should NOT be located in the south. With rising temperatures, it might make more sense to position it in the northernmost portion of the lower 48, a region that could become more suitable for agriculture and human habitation as the planet continues to warm.
Running from Seattle to Boston, this envisioned corridor would traverse the northernmost states of Montana and North Dakota. At roughly 3,000 miles, it would be about 800 miles longer than the Atlanta to Los Angeles corridor.
And it might be a whole lot bigger. If we made it twenty-five miles wide, it could possibly house the entire USA population within a total area about the size of Oregon - and a population density 70% less than New York City is today.
With those kinds of numbers, it will need to have a BIG name. Maybe we could call it the:
Great Big Northern or GBN
AI is Key for making it happen. I am convinced that we will never get this mammoth project done without the incomparable power, speed and precision of artificial intelligence.
Not only will we benefit from the AI speed and efficiency, the more important contribution from our cyborg friends might be their unique ability to remove prejudice, bias and religious dogma from the creative process while planning the most efficient way of living in harmony with nature on this planet.
As for nature's needs when it comes to the way we live in the future, Dr. Wilson argues on her behalf in his 2017 book pictured below. Here are the first few words of the prologue, summing up our problem in the last two high-lighted phrases.
What is man? Storyteller, mythmaker, and destroyer of the living world. Thinking with a gabble of reason, emotion, and religion. Lucky accident of primate evolution during the late Pleistocene. Mind of the biosphere. Magnificent in imaginative power and exploratory drive, yet yearning to be more master than steward of a declining planet. Born with the capacity to survive and evolve forever, able to render the biosphere eternal also.
Yet arrogant, reckless, lethally predisposed to favor self, tribe, and short-term futures. Obsequious to imagined higher beings, contemptuous toward lower forms of life.
Conveniently, we have the perspective of two very seasoned, big picture thinkers on both the natural and the systems side of the discussion. Wilson turned ninety in June and Lovelock hit the century mark in July, and both are still going strong.
Dr. Wilson's assessment of the needs of nature are documented in his 2017 book pictured above,
Half-Earth, Our Planet's Fight for Life. In it, he makes the case for completely giving at least half of the Earth back to nature.
Dr. Lovelock's assessment of how AI (artificial intelligence) and humanity can work together to create and maintain a civilization for humans is covered in his new book,
NOVACENE - and was featured prominently in last week's
SOS Memo about cyborgs.
The Bottom Line.
Today's SOS Memo started out with a statement about Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos and their collective obsession with exploring outer space. Musk recently referred to Bezos as a "copy cat" regarding his fairly new interest in space exploration.
It is exasperating to think that the best-equipped leaders in the world - the ones who have the knowledge, the funds and the public recognition factor to peacefully transition humanity to a sustainable lifestyle - are the ones who're not even interested in talking about it.
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48 and 55 years old, respectively
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James Lovelock has also made similar remarks about the frustration of observing their lack of interest in the most crucial topic in the history of humanity.
So I will end today with a few questions:
- How do we attract the interest of Musk, Bezos and the other best-equipped leaders to get serious NOW about preventing the extinction of humanity?
- How do we promote the global "conversation" about the urgency to begin totally reinventing our civilization?
- How can I get more audiences who are interested in learning more about the "big picture" of our survival?
Since I started writing and speaking about an envisioned solution to the sustainability predicament in which we find ourselves, I have begun to feel more JOY as I talk about a future that that I sincerely believe to be possible.
But, even with a positive spin, I fear that not many people are truly interested in hearing the message and acting upon it.
They just want to go with the flow and see what happens. A few of them are feeling that something is wrong, but they just keep letting themselves be swept along with the crowd.
My first blog on the crucial topic of replacing our civilization heads the list below. Since then, I have posted more than forty additional pieces on that GRATOLA topic since 9-21-18 and you can find all of them at
this page on my website. Here are a few of them:
As always, I will continue to focus on this crucial topic - in my research, my writing and my speaking.
As for speaking, I continue to search for mainstream audiences who may have an interest in learning more about a realistically hopeful vision for our future - and their role in making that vision come true.
As such, I will travel anywhere for an opportunity to speak to one or more groups in each city that I visit. I only ask for travel expense reimbursement and a modest honorarium.
As for the specifics of my topic, I invite you to
contact me directly
about how I might tailor my presentation to best suit an audience you may have in mind:
Universities,
churches, think-tanks, legislative bodies, environmental
organizations, alumni associations, leadership clubs,
and/or civic groups who may appreciate a message of reality and hope for our future.
What else can you do to help?
Three things:
1. Live as greenly as possible while doing all that you can to raise the awareness of "big picture" solutions that are crucially necessary for saving our civilization.
2. Share this BSB and my
"Mama Ain't Happy" BSB with prominent journalists, thought leaders and/or elected officials whom you respect. They need to learn a lot more about the many reasons why
Mama ain't happy.
3. Here are a few more GRATOLA-related blogs that you can share with your most powerful friends, leaders, journalists and movie producers.
Until next time, just remember...
Humanity is on a collision course with Nature.
A damaged Nature will survive. We may not.
We must change course to avert an ecological disaster.
Be well,
J. Morris (Jim) Hicks
CEO, 4Leaf Global, LLC
In the past 12 months, I have spoken at a
VegFest in
Fort Myers, at
vsh.org
in Honolulu and Kahului, Maui, the
College of the Holy Cross
in Worcester, MA, a
Plant Powered Manhattan
event in New York, at a lakeside health conference in
South Haven, Michigan, in Buffalo, NY, at the
University of Scranton and at the Dr.
Joel Fuhrman
Golden Gate Health Getaway
in California near the Silicon Valley.
Promoting health, hope and harmony on planet Earth
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