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.

3. $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:

• A powerpoint presentation by Patrick Takahashi, who wrote the original OTEC bill when he worked for Senator Spark Matsunaga.
• Chapter 4 of SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Planet Earth.
• From the Huffington Post:

• Blue Revolution
• The Ultimate Ocean Ranch

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:

• Contact Patrick Takahashi at PatKenTak@hotmail.com.
• Details can be found at 2020 Blue Revolution Hawaii

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JEFF BEZOS

One of the difficulties of securing mega-sums for the Blue Revolution is that billionaires seem enamored of outer space...like many of us were.  You've heard about their dreams:

• South-African-Canadian-American billionaire Elon Musk,^[3] behind SpaceX and a project to colonize Mars.^[4][1]
• American billionaire Jeff Bezos, behind Blue Origin and establishing a true industrial base in space.^[4][2][1]

• British billionaire Richard Branson,^[3] behind Virgin Galactic/Virgin Orbit and space tourism, low-cost small orbital launchers, and intercontinental suborbital transit.^[4][2][1]

• Russian billionaire Yuri Milner, backing the Breakthrough Starshot project for an interstellar probe.^[5]

But there are 2816 billionaires out there, with a wealth of $11.2 trillion.  Some of them surely must have the imagination to accomplish something especially magnificent for Humanity on Planet Earth.

A few years ago one of us compared himself with Elon Musk, perhaps with a tinge of sarcasm.  How stupid.  If he had any possible interest in the Blue Revolution, that went with that posting, for there was deprecation of space as a viable field of current investment.  The wonder of space is the vastness and uncertainty.  There is something about childhood romance and imagination that deserves pursuit.

One of us worked for NASA on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, but subsequently felt that space exploration involving real people and billions of bucks was both dangerous and not a smart way to spend your money.  There are too many other more important priorities.  The Apollo Project was an almost necessary policy decision that helped end the Cold War.

We avoided nuclear holocaust through  this space adventure, but there was a compelling political reason.  Here we went again, but some of us don't see space being profitable for at least a century, and perhaps millennium.  Fine if you are rich and seek this seeming ultimate adventure, but not ideal for saving Planet Earth and Humanity.  Yes, someday possibly necessary, but not today, nor for the next century.  Well, perhaps we haven't yet learned our lesson.

Of course, many billionaires will live out their dreams, for they deserve and can afford it.  We, too, are captivated by their imagination and efforts.  Perhaps, though, one or more might want to also look into the Blue Revolution, for the potential benefits are more immediate and, maybe even necessary, for the survival of Planet Earth and Humanity now.  Here is where they can truly mold their legacy:  floating cities, remediation of global warming, sustainable products, hydrogen, prevention of hurricanes...all while actually making a financial profit!

The Atlantic had an article on Jeff Bezos  About the magazine, did you know:

• It was founded in 1857?
• Has around half a million subscribers.
• Almost expired, but recovered, in 2101 posting its first profit in a decade, and in 2016 being named Magazine of the Year by the American Society of Magazine Editors.

Today, Jeff Bezos runs nearly 40% of all e-commerce in the U.S.  Amazon controls half of the cloud-computing industry.  They sell 42% of all books and a third of the market for streaming video.  Add selling food and getting into real estate.  Then there is The Washington Post, with The New York Times, the conscience and nemeses of Donald Trump.

But you know all that.  From that article written by Franklin Foer:

• Bezos is relentless, but thinks there is a virtue to wandering.
• Was made by his mother, in almost all ways.
• Flirted with becoming a theoretical physicist at Princeton.
• Is elitist, and fosters a meritocracy of hard-working intelligence.  A lot of PhD economists.  Few women at the top.  Top six are white men.  In history, one black female on the board.  But not much different from Google and Facebook.
• If you're going in for a Bezos meeting, you're like preparing as if the world is going to end.
• Hire smart people who are tasked to find smarter people.
• Invent and Simplify...Bias for Action...Have Backbone...Disagree and Commit.  Some of 14 principles.
• Fanatic about Star Trek and wants to get into outer space.
• Has a profit-making company called Blue Origin, dealing with space.  At least that's blue.

• Admires Gerard O'Neill and his Space Cylinder, which somewhat looks like a first image of the Blue Revolution platform. 

O'Neill imagined colonies housed in miles-long cylindrical tubes floating between Earth and the moon. The tubes would sustain a simulacrum of life back on the mother planet, with soil, oxygenated air, free-flying birds, and “beaches lapped by waves.” When Bezos describes these colonies—and presents artists’ renderings of them—he sounds almost rapturous.

• Entrepreneurs will decide how space will be governed.  Looks like an opportunity for The Seasteading Institute.

• From the author:  In contrast to the dysfunction and cynicism that define the times, Amazon is the embodiment of competence, the rare institution that routinely works.  600 million items for sale from 3 million vendors. Has set aside $700 to retrain a third of its 600,000 employees.  No unions.  The company is deeply trusted by the public...unlike politicians and just about everyone else, these days.
• Whoops, Forbes indicated that Bezos is no longer the richest person in the world.  He only has $115.6 billion.  Bernard Arnault of LVMH is worth 117 billion.  Bill Gates is #3, but would have been #1 had he not donated $35.8 billion to charity.

Bezos worries that in the coming generations the planet’s growing energy demands will outstrip its limited supply. “We have to go to space to save Earth,” he says.

Makes sense.  But what about timing and global warming and the rest of this century?  

While Bezos is developing the technology for space, perhaps he might also want to consider in parallel the NEXT GREATEST CHALLENGE FOR PLANET EARTH AND HUMANITY, which, of course, is the Blue Revolution.  This posting is way too long already, so I leave with a few references for your perusal:

• From The Huffington Post:  Blue Revolution
• Blue Revolution Hawaii 2020
• Progress on the Blue Revolution

Someone out there, please send this posting to Jeff Bezos, or one of his associates, or a friend of them, or...  Here is a central e-mail site:

PatKenTak@hotmail.com

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THE BLUE REVOLUTION: Wanted...Imaginative Mega-Billionaire!

All of our efforts to Save Planet Earth and Humanity could well be validated with this posting today.  We all wonder if there is a purpose to our life, and one simple answer is no.  So read on.

The Big Bang, if there was one, created our Universe, and for nearly 14 billion years, stars, planets and life were created, while in sequence, pretty much at random.  It is said there might be a septillion stars out there, which is 1 followed by 24 zeroes, or a trillion trillion.  Yet, we might well be the only life form anywhere.  Until we get obviously alien signals (flying saucers are pure fantasy) confirmed to be real, we are the only intelligence.  Next, maybe robots and artificial intelligence, but those won't be developed unless humans perfect them.

Life is tough, for forming only a little more than 300 million years after Planet Earth appeared 4.6 billion years ago, of the more than five billion species, 99% are now extinct.  Evolution and extinctions resulted in hominins (our earliest ancestors) perhaps 6.5 million years ago.  Mammoths only appeared 4.8 million years ago.  The first Homo genus came as long as 2 million years ago, with us, Homo sapiens, possibly 200,000 years ago, but these dates keep changing.

BBC has an excellent video of the 25 biggest turning points in our history, ending with the advent of Man, so let me move ahead to 2000 years ago with Jesus Christ, while new technology like light begun to come two centuries in the past.  We now have 7.6 billion people and 19 billion chickens, but we are exceeded by maybe 100 billion rodents.  These numbers pale to the 200 trillion 3-inch bristlemouth fish living at the bottom of the ocean.

Many of us have problems with ants, and now you know why.  There are a septillion of them.  Again 1 followed by 24 zeroes. There are more bacteria in a gram of dental plaque than all the people who have ever lived.  We can go on and on, but let us end by saying that there are 1 followed by 31 zeroes worth of viruses, and placed end to end (and you can imagine how small they are) you wouldn't be able to guess how far they would stretch.  We'll tell you anyway, 100 million light years, just about the diameter of the Milky Way Galaxy.  But viruses aren't alive, are they?

By now you should be impressed about life on Planet Earth anyway.  So what has all this to do with the Blue Revolution?  Well, Humanity is at the threshold of ruining our world with global warming and not particularly liking each other to boot.

The solution?  The Blue Revolution.  Here is a future that will only happen if the world gets together and proceeds to develop OTEC, using this technology to power floating cities and industrial parks, while producing sustainable energy and resources, plus remediating climate change and minimizing tropical storms.

What is standing in the way of progress?  Money. And motivation.  An iPhone 10 sells for less than $1000.  The Pacific Ocean International Station, the first proposed step towards the Blue Revolution, could easily run beyond $1.5 billion.  There is no financing mechanism for anything so risky and bold.

The Apollo Project was indeed a giant leap for mankind, and came in with an initial budget of $25.4 billion 55 years ago.  Today, the value is $200 billion.  But the USA chose to go to the Moon by 1969 mainly for political reasons.  We were concerned about the Soviet Union, and this decision helped to bankrupt our adversary, ending the Cold War two decades later.

The Blue Revolution does not have the glamour of the Mars Project.  There is a range of cost estimates, but $1.5 trillion sounds about right to get to that enigmatic globe.  Elon Musk says he can do it cheaper and earlier.

In any case, how many can afford Musk's $200,000 flight ticket for tourists to get there?  Maybe this was only a one way price.  So, we reach Mars, what is the point?   Walking on the Moon ended the Cold War, and this was worth $200 billion. But Mars?  Billionaires missed the memo that said outer space has become obsolete for now.

Some mention space mining.  But for what mineral?  Others point to Stephen Hawking's prediction that we only have a century left before something terrible happens on Planet Earth.  Business Insider reports on five reasons why we need to colonize Mars now:

• Ensure survival of our species.  (Asteroids?  Far-fetched.  The last serious impact was 66 million years ago when the dinosaurs died off.  We are supposedly now in a serious sixth extinction event, but I can't get too excited about the lethality.)

• Discover life on Mars. (We have failed so far with remote instrumentation, but if life is found, so what?)
• Improve quality of life on Earth (I miss this point).
• Growing as a species.  (Huh?  Going to Mars is an awfully expensive way to grow-up, in fact, sounds irresponsible to me.)
• Demonstrating political and economic leadership. 

On that fifth reason above, yes, it would be a fine achievement for the world to partner for the good of Humanity and Planet Earth.  But any Mars project will not result in anything all that useful, save for some dubious ego satisfaction.  What about the Blue Revolution?  The former would be an amazing feat if life is found and a few end up surviving on the Red Planet.  But that's about all.  The latter:

• Sustainable energy and resource pathways:
• hydrogen
• freshwater
• biofuels
• methanol
• rare earths
• much more

• New economic development.
• Attractive habitats for an alternative life style.
• Replenishment of fisheries.
• Prevention of hurricanes.
• Remediation of global warming.

I can add to the above cornucopia of benefits, but this comparison is almost pointless.

Mind you, one of us once worked for NASA's Ames Research Center on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, and we all are fans of space.  We should continue much of the scientific activity, and more, really.  Someday, of course, we almost surely might need to send pioneers to other worlds.  But the timing is not now.  In a millennium, maybe, but more probably closer to a million years when we have mastered travel through wormholes, if that is ever achieved.

The 2017 Forbes billionaires list numbered 2043.  Their total net worth was $7.67 trillion.  Bill Gates has been #1 for 18 of the past 23 years and Jeff Bezos, who is now #3, added $27.6 billion in one year.  Mainland China had 76 newly recognized billionaires.  Click on iBlue Revolution to review a history of analyses regarding billionaires and the Blue Revolution.  To quote one posting:

In any case, you don't just go up to a billionaire and ask for money.  You need that key connection, compelling vision and fundamental link to a special passion.  Most desire to help the downtrodden, prevent diseases and reverse poverty.  Surely, among the 2000 psyches there just has to be a particular enlightened individual dedicated to Planet Earth, wishing for something extraordinary to provide some key commodities in harmony with the natural environment.  For only $1.5 billion--one percent the cost of the International Space Station, a $150 billion space adventure that meant well, but will crash into oblivion in the Year 2020--the Blue Revolution represents the next economic frontier for Humanity to generate a cornucopia of sustainable products while enhancing our environment.

We tried, even personally donated funds to  show commitment, and certainly haven't given up on finding a major benefactor.  But perhaps you're better suited to involve that special tycoon.  If so, you really don't need us.  Go ahead, take the leadership role.  Involve that billionaire to Save Humanity and Planet Earth with the Blue Revolution.  Glad to be of service should you need any advice.

Practicality will prevail, so the first Blue Revolution prototype will no doubt be placed in a reasonably ideal location where natural conditions will permit the utilization of OTEC.

Frankly something closer to the equator would be best, for no hurricane has ever crossed from one hemisphere to the other, plus this is where the surface temperatures are at a maximum, with 4 degrees Celsius still available at 1000 meter depths.

All things considered, then, Hawaii would be the perfect spot to build and test the Pacific Ocean International Station because we have succeeded in more workable OTEC experiments than anyone else, have a thriving Natural Energy Laboratory Laboratory Authority to provide expertise and have chaired more conferences and workshops  on related subjects.  As mentioned two days ago we already have billionaires with close association to this 50th State with ideal names:

• Pierre Omidyar International Station (POI Station)
• Larry Ellison International Station (LEI Station)

We can add a third:  Pacific Ocean Steve Case or POS Case, a stretch, but there no doubt are others.  We would welcome someone from Japan, China or anywhere else.  Most important is that sincere drive to consider the ocean as the solution for Humanity and Planet Earth. 

Anyone reading this posting linked to a potential mega-supporter, please contact Blue Revolution Hawaii.  Three coordinators are co-authoring a presentation on the Blue Revolution at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas next week:

• Leighton Chong (left, LKMChong@aol.com) directs the Hawaii effort, is a patent attorney and trademarked Blue Revolution for our organization,
• Benny Ron (right, TetsuzanBennyRon@gmail.com) originally from Israel with a special zen association in Japan, is marshaling the session, and
• Patrick Takahashi (PatKenTak@hotmail.com) will give the talk.

That billionaire would not be expected to personally come up with the full $1.5 billion.  He/She can serve as the illuminous catalyst to launch the effort...someone who convert Fantasy into REALITY.

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