Moving ON

While we are glued to our flat screens watching 800,000 of our American Brethren being held hostage to a contrived emergency, there is a real emergency out there and it is climate change. We are wasting a lot of money and time when we could be concentrating on climate solutions.

On a positive note, let’s not forget that we live in a dynamic world with dedicated, and inspired engineers, scientists, and businessmen. And, for now, we can be proud the United States has most of them.

Did you see the Sixty Minutes program about the 81-year-old nature inspired inventor from Wakefield? Ok, that is Wakefield, MA not MI.  Marshall Medoff’s Waldon Pond experience and concern about climate change inspired his bio-fuel invention that may just save the world and could have implications for our UP economy. In short, he has found a way to release the natural sugars of plants from their cellulose enclosure. Those sugars can then be manipulated into fuels. He achieved this by hyper-focusing his mind for 15 years in near monastical dedication. If his invention proves itself feasible, and our government puts a price on dirty energy, our forests and agriculture may contribute to up to 30% of our energy needs now covered by petroleum.   Our UP forests may be a valuable source of fuel as well as lumber.

I would like to note that Marshall now has a large team of similarly driven scientists focused on scaling this industry up as fast as possible.  One of the missing elements to move on with clean energy was how to find a sustainable fuel for aviation. This may be it.  

Ground based transport, on the other hand, is more likely to be electricity driven.  At least that is where nearly all the automotive companies are going.  A challenge for electric vehicles is developing efficient batteries. Down at the University of Texas, John Goodenough, at a spirited age of 94, with his young team, is patenting a safe solid-state battery that is 3 times more energy dense than lithium-ion batteries and much more earth friendly.

 These inventions, and their improvements, are made possible by people, young and old, committed to saving our future

 One of John’s team is a young female scientist, Maria Helena Braga from the University of Porto, Portugal. I bring her name up because if we have a country of opportunity, we will attract dedicated men and women of character. These multi-national teams will make us wealthier and will save our climate. But this will only happen if we create the culture for them to thrive.

We, as a nation, are turning inward, rejecting people who do not look, or sound like us.  Businesses compete, worldwide, for the brightest minds. Businesses can either employ them here or businesses can expand overseas and capture and employ talented people there.

Companies also need to insulate their business from political and trade turbulence. We have low grade trade wars right now threatening to escalate. Companies may need to protect their overseas markets by starting more businesses in other countries.

 Sustainable energy businesses are booming overseas. To give you an idea of where things are going Germany is the world’s most solarized country. The Danes have the greatest concentration of wind turbines. China produces more wind turbines and solar panels than any other country.  China is also sinking 60 billion dollars into the electrical vehicle market.

 If you are a forward-looking entrepreneur trying to ramp up production and save the world where do you place your money?  Do you invest in the United States where the Republican Party is vehemently opposed to futuristic decentralized clean energy?  Do you continue to invest where you may be a victim of trade wars? Do you want your company located where talent is intimidated by a government that appears to be tolerant of racists?

Where will the world’s most famous engineer, entrepreneur, and climate activist make his next enormous investment.  Elon Musk just announced he is opening Gigafactory 3, in China. Can you blame him? By doing this he protects his share of the Asian market whose leadership is focused on the future. If trade wars intensify, he lowers his risk. He will also be able to tap into the Chinese talent pool. And, most important to him, he is moving forward with his goal of saving the world’s climate.

These decisions have impacts here. While the market for copper is international, it still means a factory that will use a lot of copper is further away from us.   

Will the next CEO of Tesla, when he retires, be from the United States or China? That is the challenge Mr. Musk laid down to the Chinese at the groundbreaking ceremony of Gigafactory 3.  

While we are alienating people, and even allies, the Chinese are attempting to promote a culture of progress for futuristic businesses and science. * 

We had better think long term, right now, or we will not only lose our scientific and entrepreneurial edge, but we will lose, more importantly, our planet.

 As citizens, we can be driven too. We can call our congressmen and senators and tell them we want a country that promotes clean power and attracts the best and the brightest from around the world. We can support and improve our educational meccas like Michigan Tech, so they remain top notch incubators of progress where students from around the world compete to attend.

 Look beyond the flat screen of contrived headlines. It is a world full of opportunity full of people with beautiful visions for our future.  It is an exciting future just waiting for us to embrace.

* For the record, I reject the repressive, totalitarian government of China even if it is business progressive. Freedom is an essential element for the creative mind as well as in the pursuit of happiness.