Friday, March 25, 2022

A LETTER OF INTRODUCTION ABOUT THE BLUE REVOLUTION

I've been thinking about how to gain funding for the Blue Revolution since around 1990.  Blue Revolution Hawaii was organized around a dozen years ago.  My TEDx talk of December 2021 introduces the concept.  If asked, here is a letter of introduction:

Dear 

A pioneering group in Hawaii called Blue Revolution Hawaii has spent the past decade developing the foundation for a new concept to save Planet Earth and Humanity, while providing free enterprise profit and enhancement of the marine environment The monumental accomplishments of society have been for war (Manhattan Project) and world dominance (Apollo Project).  In the meantime, global warming has become a serious threat. 

In the ocean around us is the solution to remediating the Greenhouse Effect and preventing the formation of hurricanes. All geoengineering concepts currently seem focused on goading Mother Nature at astronomical cost. 

Around the world, at a depth of 1000 meters, the deep water temperature is around 4 C.  If brought to the surface, combined with the warmer temperature, electricity can be generated.  Further, this fluid is pathogen-free and rich in nutrients in the exact ratio needed to regenerate growth at the surface. 

Next generation fisheries and marine biomass plantations can be supported with this "free" fertilizer.  The macro/micro algae growth  can be converted into biofuels and other bio-products.  The total system for clean energy production provides baseload electricity and a sel-sustainable opportunity for a cornucopia of commodities, including freshwater.

This is the BLUE REVOLUTION awaiting imaginative leadership for someone seeking a legacy.  There are three phases:
  1. A grant of $75,000 to the University of Hawaii to host a summit for interested billionaires and their staff in Hawaii to produce a strategic plan for the Blue Revolution.
  2. $150 million to build  the Pacific International Ocean Station--a floating experimental facility--by 2030 in the Hawaiian EEZ, where the deep ocean and surface waters will be used to generate electricity and produce freshwater through ocean thermal energy development (OTEC).  
    1. This effluent will then be maintained in the photic zone where the marine growth cycle can be initiated to start next generation fisheries and marine biomass plantations.  
    2. On the platform, technology transfer activities will develop novel ways to produce hydrogen, biofuels, biopharmaceuticals and a range of potential products.  
    3. Techniques will be tested to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.  
    4. At this early stage, hurricanes actually pose a problem, but if enough of these ultimate plant ships are placed in sites where they form, ocean storms can be ameliorated.
  1. $150 billion to establish the first floating city and industrial park complement to host a million people.
    1. Port headquarters in Honolulu Harbor at the Aloha Tower.  
    2. The 2050 World Expo will be hosted on this marine city, 200 hundred years after the first held in London.  
    3. The floating structure will be towed near the equator, where early future metropolises will be located.  Hurricanes do not get close to the equator.  
    4. With control of hurricanes, many of these ocean cities can be located at more desirable sites.
    5. In time, there could well be a 1000 floating countries, each with its own governance and lifestyle.  Hope the United Nations can mature to handle this crowd.

The following references provide details:

About a decade ago I endowed my penthouse to the University of Hawaii to start the Blue Revolution program on the Manoa Campus.  It has been awaiting cost-matching so we can begin to operate.


The key to the Blue Revolution is this imaginative billionaire, or, hopefully an armada of them.  Here is a blog site on this subject
  • The number of billionaires in the world varies according to what is considered in their worth.  Here is a realistic list which shows:
    • 2863 billionaires
    • Top ten countries
      • USA  724
      • China  698
      • India  140
      • Germany 136
      • Russia 117
    • Hong Kong has the most billionaires/million people, with almost 9.  The U.S., for example only as 2/million.  The world average is 0.35.
  • CEOWorld Magazine updated the above and listed Elon Musk at $220 billion as the richest person, with Jeff Bezos #2 with $177 billion.  #100 is Donald Bren of the U.S. has a worth of $19 billion.
Many of the adventurous rich dream of conquering outer space.  I've had this dilemma because I think, at this stage of development for society, we need to focus on what we need on this globe first.  So why can't we do both, for there remains some concern that we might be the only intelligent life in the Universe, and we need to assure for our continued existence by expanding our presence

There is that global warming inconvenience, of course.  But what if there is a higher order opportunity that incorporates reducing the Greenhouse Effect?

The ocean is that vast unknown and potential site for the cornucopia of benefits:  sustainable products and energy, next generation fisheries, reversing global warming, preventing hurricanes, establishing marine cities and the like.  The would be the Blue Revolution.

So at this initiation stage, Blue Revolution Hawaii seeks $75,000 to host that first billionaire's summit to justify $500,000 to begin serious planning for the Pacific International Ocean Station (PIOS), which is currently estimated to cost $150 million when commissioned in 2030.  For additional information:
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BILLIONAIRES

How does anything magnificently monumental happen?  More recently, wars inspired the USA to change the world with two incredible accomplishments:  The Manhattan Project and the Apollo Project.  The former was to beat Hitler build an atomic bomb, leading to victory in World War II, and latter to bankrupt the Soviet Union to end the Cold War.

The first one listed above, the Transcontinental Railroad, was built by three private companies over public lands provided by government grants and financed by state and federal subsidy bonds.  The leader of the organization was Leland Stanford, who went on to found Stanford University.  Hoover Dam was financed by a $140 million mortgage loan from the U.S. Treasury, and was finally paid off in 1987.  President Herbert Hoover pushed the bill in Congress during the great depression.  He was in the Pioneer Class of 1891 at Stanford, and that tower is named for him.  

However, he makes all the lists for worst presidents of U.S.  Here he is #9 and Donald Trump is #2.  With Trump at the bottom are usually Andrew Johnson and James Buchanan. Incidentally, by far, Trump has been the richest president, and only billionaire, with Washington #2, Jefferson #3 and Hoover #8.

In this 21st century we are now threatened by global warming, and it will take the combined efforts of the entire world to overcome this problem.  While there has been some progress, the danger is perhaps too subtle that we will probably need something fearsome like tens of millions one hot summer dying to catalyze any real solution.  I have suggested The Venus Syndrome to throw a two-by-four clout into the fray.

Billionaires seem to be romantically spurred by outer space, in particular the colonization of Mars.  It's their money, and as my posting on THE ULTIMATE EVOLUTION OF LIFE indicated, perhaps they are rightfully being foresightful.

Personally, I think it is premature to spend so much money today to do what we might need to do some time in the future, like a millennium from now.  We have urgent current needs on Planet Earth today, and the Blue Revolution offers an opportunity to accomplish so many things for the benefit of both our economy and environment, while creating commodities for profit.  Watch my TEDx talk of a few months ago.

Simply:

  • A thousand meters deep in the ocean is a FREE cold water resource capable of providing electricity, freshwater, hydrogen, range of sustainable bioproducts, exciting living habitats and the potential for both remediating climate warming and preventing the formation of hurricanes.
  • Envisioned is a simple two-step process leading to perhaps a thousand nations at sea someday:
    • $150 million to build and operate the Pacific International Ocean Station to develop the science, technology and pre-commercialization of enterprises for next generation fisheries, marine biomass plantations and assortment of sustainable options.
    • By 2050, $150 billion to build the first ocean city to host the 2050 World Ocean Expo.
But the big question is how to get to even step one.  Governments and companies are just not capable of investing such sums.  The one answer is a billionaire or two or more.

Since Blue Revolution Hawaii formed a dozen years ago, we determined that the optimal, and maybe only, pathway was through an inspired billionaire.  The individual who suggested this strategy was Guy Toyama, who unfortunately passed away a decade ago at the age of 42.  From my remembrance:

Guy's legacy might well be Blue Revolution Hawaii and the Pacific International Ocean Station.  A couple of years ago, we were having lunch in Kona when he mentioned how billionaire Gordon Moore had provided funds to initiate the Thirty Meter Telescope Project.  As Guy had an office at Keahole Point at the entrance of the NELHA, why not the Blue Revolution with support from a billionaire?  Thus was born Blue Revolution Hawaii, which proposed the Pacific International Ocean Station.  Guy created the presentation for PIOS, which I presented at the Seasteading Institute's conference in San Francisco.  

  • China and the U.S. together have 55% of the world's known billionaires.
  • China as 1133 to the U.S.'s 716, with a growth rate three times that of America.
  • China has three cities with the most billionaires.  New York City is #4.
  • 60-70% of all female billionaires in the World are from China.
  • However, the American billionaires control 32% of all combine wealth, compared to China's 27%.
  • The total market cap of Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet are equivalent to the top 500 most valuable non-state controlled companies in China.

Forbes annually ranks billionaires.  Curently:

  • #1    Elon Musk  $266 B  U.S.
  • #2    Jeff Bezos  $191 B  U.S.
  • #3    Bernard Arnault  $172 B  France
  • #4    Bill Gates  $135 B  U.S.
  • #5    Warren Buffett  $126 B  U.S.
  • #6 - #9 from the U.S.
  • #10  Mukesh Ambani  $96 B  India
  • #16  Zhong Shanshan  $71 B  China
  • #27  Zhang Yiming  $50 B  China
  • #100  Li Xiting  $17 B  Singapore
  • #200  Stefano Pessina  $10 B  Monaco
  • #300  Stewart and Lynda Resnick  $8 B  U.S.
  • #400  Philippe Laffont  $7 B  U.S.
  • #500  Huang Yi  $6 B  Hong Kong
  • #600  Marc Rowan  $5 B  U.S.
Donald Trump was still a billionaire last year at $2.5 billionaire, but missed making the Forbes Top 400 billionaires list for the first time in 25 years.  He has apparently lost $600 million since the pandemic started.  Forbes also indicated that his debt total now is $1.3 billion.  However, various sources, all saying that it is essentially impossible to accurately determine how much he is really worth, nevertheless seem to also say that as of this month he is a billionaire.

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