Raw Vegan Forever - Storm's Blog

Storm's Web Log - Raw Vegan Forever

12/10/09 - Thoughts on our energy needs, our place in the Universe, and Positive Media...

I'm totally of the opinion that we cannot save the planet earth. I feel that we can only save ourselves. The earth is a young violent planet that goes through catastrophic changes. Species are destroyed and others are created to take their place. Other species evolve and ones that can't adapt to cataclysmic changes go extinct. We might be the first species that is on the way to earning the dubious distinction of actually doing it to ourselves. I once heard a saying that I find so defines the times we are now living in.

"We did not inherit this planet from our parents. It is on loan to us from our children." Which is another way of saying that it is like a trust fund of which we are the custodians.

galaxy

Look at this picture above that was taken with the Hubble Telescope. The amazing thing about this picture is that it was taken in what if we looked up into the night sky would appear to be empty blank sky. Each one of the pinpoints of light actually represents millions of galaxies like this one which is in the Milky-Way called the Pinwheel Galaxy. Each such galaxy has millions of suns that have planets in orbit around them many of which may have the possibility of life. This is just one of the galaxies in our own Milky-Way.

black space

Or check out this above picture that actually represents the deepest look into space yet; over 78 billion light years away. It is called the Ultra Deep Field. Each pinpoint of light represent millions of galaxies with millions of suns that also in turn have planets in orbit around them like our sun which is really a mediocre sun in comparison with other suns.

This gives us some idea of how big the universe is and our relationship to it. Our whole solar system could vanish and it would not make any difference in the final scheme of things. Suns with solar systems die every day. They explode and their planets no longer held in orbit fly through space until they either come under the influence of another sun and go into orbit or they crash into other planets and break up and fly through space as astroids. Or the sun implodes and collapses in upon itself and becomes a black hole sucking everything into it.

So in this pivotal point in the history of our planet we actually have a chance to make a difference. And I feel that the difference that we can make is in the quality of life not only for ourselves but also for the future generations. I don't think that these changes are going to come from our current government nor are they going to come from the major corporations which in many ways through corporate greed are actually creating many of our challenges.

Planet Earth now uses 15 terrawatts of energy a year; by 2050, scientists estimate, we'll need 30. How are we going to get there?

Daniel Nocera, a professor at MIT, says, we could cut down all the plants in the world (except those needed for food) to make biofuel and that would only yield seven terrawatts of energy a year. We could build a new billion-watt nuclear plant every 1.6 days until 2050: eight terrawatts of energy a year. We could cover every inch of land on earth with wind turbines: two terrawatts of energy a year. Or, he says, we could just use the sun, which beams 800 terrawatts onto the earth's surface—as much every hour as the entire planet uses in a year.

If we convert to solar hydrogen by extracting or splitting water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen then we could solve all of the earth's energy needs forever.

Breaking down water into hydrogen and oxygen is nothing new. I once did it with a 12 volt battery and two bowls when I was thirteen years old. I wasn't sure if it had worked so I stuck a lit match under the bowl and the whole thing blew up in my parents' basement. The only problem is that it requires huge amounts of electricity which in the past has made it cost prohibitive. But now thanks to the work of Matthew Kanan, a post graduate student at MIT and professor Nocera, it has been discovered that by adding cobalt and potassium phosphate to plain water it is possible to effect the split with just a fraction of the former energy that was required to separate hydrogen and oxygen.

This is a huge discovery that totally makes oil (gasoline), coal burning plants, nuclear power plants, wind, biofuels, etc... totally obsolete. It means that we don't have to go to war and have troops stationed in Afghanistan to guard the 270 billion barrels of oil that represent one of the largest untapped oil fields in the world. It also means that there is enough energy for the whole world to share in a higher quality of life instead of just a few percent of us. Right now the population of the United States represents about 4% of the world's population. In order for us to maintain our current lifestyle we are using over 40% of the world's resources. Given those numbers less than 12% of the world's population could even have the possibility of enjoying the high standard of living that we are currently experiencing.

I feel that the major push for implementing these types of changes will come from ordinary people. We can vote with our dollars. We can actually bring about changes on a grassroots level.

Two of the ways that I envision my own contribution being a part of the positive changes are....

1.) The creation of prototype eco-villages. We are currently working on building The Raw Vegan Village in Ojai, California. We plan to contact different green think tanks like the one at MIT and invite them to test out their leading edge green technologies in a village format that involves people living and working in a day to day environment. A landmark project with similar goals is taking place in Saudi Arabia where they have built a City of the Sun that is entirely solar powered. I feel that there are a lot of things happening here in the US and that we are slowly moving in the right direction, and in the near future we may see a lot of green communities come into being.

One of the things that makes our green community so unique is that it is located in on the edge of the national forest while it is only an hour from Los Angeles, so we will be able to showcase it to a lot of people through our retreat center. The concept of the village is pretty simple in that it will be totally powered by solar energy. We are already in talks with different electric car companies so that by the time the village is completed our core group can be driving electric cars that we power from the sun. There are twenty families who are core group members of this first village, which will be located on over 100 acres of land; more than enough space to not only build all of the houses plus a retreat center, but also to put in orchards and gardens as well as a small school. Most of the core group will be working from the village via either Internet based businesses or in the retreat center.

A key concept of our eco-village is removing the three main sources of driving that most people are committed to: commuting to work, taking kids to school, and shopping for food. If the concepts of this prototype village work, then it may provide a model that can work over and over again, thereby reducing the carbon footprint and at the same time improving the quality of life of many people. (A second raw village in Ojai is being planned, as well as villages in Florida and Hawaii. These will have rental homes! For more info email Jinjee)

2.) The other concept that we have for funding this village and other organic lifestyle projects is creating short TV-style shows that play over the internet. We are going to re-do The Garden Diet website so that about once a week we will be putting up a new show on that site. These shows will strive for broadcast quality and they will be in a downloadable format. Some will be documentaries and interviews, others will be in the form of green sitcoms and dramatic episodics. But all of the shows will be focused on the green organic lifestyle. The shows will be free but we are suggesting that a small donation be paid per download to help us pay for the production of these shows. With your help we will also create a line of children's programs that help to enrich our youth as an alternative to the current level of negative junk food marketing and violence oriented content out there.

---
This is a picture of the Amazon Rainforest. When biofuel became a paradigm a few years back many farmers in the Amazon Basin started clear-cutting the jungle so that they could grow corn to sell to the United States. The main problem is that the soil is so poor for the growing of grains that it is only good for a season or two and then they have to clear more. Of course this is an Eco disaster.

rainforest

Storm

December 2009

Comments to Storm’s blog can be emailed to storm

My Previous Blog Entries

Blogdate 4/24/08 - Thoughts on Future Cities and Green Materials, The Downside of the Raw Vegan Diet

Blogdate 11-3-06 - Anti-Aging Workout

Blogdate 7-21-06 - An epiphany about the raw diet and anti aging

Blogdate 7-12-06 - Supplements and why I don't do them....

Blogdate 6-23-06 - Quantum Physics, Aging and the Art of War....Solar Energy.....

Blogdate 4-3-06 - Who Am I ...Aging....Energy on Demand....Most Memorable Retreat....

Blogdate 12-10-05 - The future is bright...

My Links

Natural Paradigms Channel - online TV alternative

TheGardenDiet.com - Our family website, featuring our 16 eBooks

TakeAFruitBreak.com - Our Nonprofit campaign to beat junk food advertising!

TheGardenDiet.com/gallery - My Art

BreakthroughTheDocumentary.com - Documentary about our family

PearMagazine.com - The Online Magazine of Fresh Organic Lifestyles exploring the issues of raw vegan, eco-friendly, alternative, simple, organic, innovative living!

Storm's Page - My body building photos

Storm's Before and After Page - More on my anti-aging philosophy, with photos


Storm's Web Log - Raw Vegan Forever 12/10/09 - Thoughts on our energy needs, our place in the Universe, and Positive Media... I'm totally of the opinion that we cannot save the planet earth. I feel that we can only save ourselves. The earth is a young violent planet that goes through catastrophic changes. Species are destroyed and others are created to take their place. Other species evolve and ones that can't adapt to cataclysmic changes go extinct. We might be the first species that is on the way to earning the dubious distinction of actually doing it to ourselves. I once heard a saying that I find so defines the times we are now living in. "We did not inherit this planet from our parents. It is on loan to us from our children." Which is another way of saying that it is like a trust fund of which we are the custodians. Look at this picture above that was taken with the Hubble Telescope. The amazing thing about this picture is that it was taken in what if we looked up into the night sky would appear to be empty blank sky. Each one of the pinpoints of light actually represents millions of galaxies like this one which is in the Milky-Way called the Pinwheel Galaxy. Each such galaxy has millions of suns that have planets in orbit around them many of which may have the possibility of life. This is just one of the galaxies in our own Milky-Way. Or check out this above picture that actually represents the deepest look into space yet; over 78 billion light years away. It is called the Ultra Deep Field. Each pinpoint of light represent millions of galaxies with millions of suns that also in turn have planets in orbit around them like our sun which is really a mediocre sun in comparison with other suns. This gives us some idea of how big the universe is and our relationship to it. Our whole solar system could vanish and it would not make any difference in the final scheme of things. Suns with solar systems die every day. They explode and their planets no longer held in orbit fly through space until they either come under the influence of another sun and go into orbit or they crash into other planets and break up and fly through space as astroids. Or the sun implodes and collapses in upon itself and becomes a black hole sucking everything into it. So in this pivotal point in the history of our planet we actually have a chance to make a difference. And I feel that the difference that we can make is in the quality of life not only for ourselves but also for the future generations. I don't think that these changes are going to come from our current government nor are they going to come from the major corporations which in many ways through corporate greed are actually creating many of our challenges. Planet Earth now uses 15 terrawatts of energy a year; by 2050, scientists estimate, we'll need 30. How are we going to get there? Daniel Nocera, a professor at MIT, says, we could cut down all the plants in the world (except those needed for food) to make biofuel and that would only yield seven terrawatts of energy a year. We could build a new billion-watt nuclear plant every 1.6 days until 2050: eight terrawatts of energy a year. We could cover every inch of land on earth with wind turbines: two terrawatts of energy a year. Or, he says, we could just use the sun, which beams 800 terrawatts onto the earth's surface—as much every hour as the entire planet uses in a year. If we convert to solar hydrogen by extracting or splitting water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen then we could solve all of the earth's energy needs forever. Breaking down water into hydrogen and oxygen is nothing new. I once did it with a 12 volt battery and two bowls when I was thirteen years old. I wasn't sure if it had worked so I stuck a lit match under the bowl and the whole thing blew up in my parents' basement. The only problem is that it requires huge amounts of electricity which in the past has made it cost prohibitive. But now thanks to the work of Matthew Kanan, a post graduate student at MIT and professor Nocera, it has been discovered that by adding cobalt and potassium phosphate to plain water it is possible to effect the split with just a fraction of the former energy that was required to separate hydrogen and oxygen. This is a huge discovery that totally makes oil (gasoline), coal burning plants, nuclear power plants, wind, biofuels, etc... totally obsolete. It means that we don't have to go to war and have troops stationed in Afghanistan to guard the 270 billion barrels of oil that represent one of the largest untapped oil fields in the world. It also means that there is enough energy for the whole world to share in a higher quality of life instead of just a few percent of us. Right now the population of the United States represents about 4% of the world's population. In order for us to maintain our current lifestyle we are using over 40% of the world's resources. Given those numbers less than 12% of the world's population could even have the possibility of enjoying the high standard of living that we are currently experiencing. I feel that the major push for implementing these types of changes will come from ordinary people. We can vote with our dollars. We can actually bring about changes on a grassroots level. Two of the ways that I envision my own contribution being a part of the positive changes are.... 1.) The creation of prototype eco-villages. We are currently working on building The Raw Vegan Village in Ojai, California. We plan to contact different green think tanks like the one at MIT and invite them to test out their leading edge green technologies in a village format that involves people living and working in a day to day environment. A landmark project with similar goals is taking place in Saudi Arabia where they have built a City of the Sun that is entirely solar powered. I feel that there are a lot of things happening here in the US and that we are slowly moving in the right direction, and in the near future we may see a lot of green communities come into being. One of the things that makes our green community so unique is that it is located in on the edge of the national forest while it is only an hour from Los Angeles, so we will be able to showcase it to a lot of people through our retreat center. The concept of the village is pretty simple in that it will be totally powered by solar energy. We are already in talks with different electric car companies so that by the time the village is completed our core group can be driving electric cars that we power from the sun. There are twenty families who are core group members of this first village, which will be located on over 100 acres of land; more than enough space to not only build all of the houses plus a retreat center, but also to put in orchards and gardens as well as a small school. Most of the core group will be working from the village via either Internet based businesses or in the retreat center. A key concept of our eco-village is removing the three main sources of driving that most people are committed to: commuting to work, taking kids to school, and shopping for food. If the concepts of this prototype village work, then it may provide a model that can work over and over again, thereby reducing the carbon footprint and at the same time improving the quality of life of many people. (A second raw village in Ojai is being planned, as well as villages in Florida and Hawaii. These will have rental homes! For more info email Jinjee) 2.) The other concept that we have for funding this village and other organic lifestyle projects is creating short TV-style shows that play over the internet. We are going to re-do The Garden Diet website so that about once a week we will be putting up a new show on that site. These shows will strive for broadcast quality and they will be in a downloadable format. Some will be documentaries and interviews, others will be in the form of green sitcoms and dramatic episodics. But all of the shows will be focused on the green organic lifestyle. The shows will be free but we are suggesting that a small donation be paid per download to help us pay for the production of these shows. With your help we will also create a line of children's programs that help to enrich our youth as an alternative to the current level of negative junk food marketing and violence oriented content out there. --- This is a picture of the Amazon Rainforest. When biofuel became a paradigm a few years back many farmers in the Amazon Basin started clear-cutting the jungle so that they could grow corn to sell to the United States. The main problem is that the soil is so poor for the growing of grains that it is only good for a season or two and then they have to clear more. Of course this is an Eco disaster. Storm December 2009 Comments to Storm’s blog can be emailed to storm My Previous Blog Entries Blogdate 4/24/08 - Thoughts on Future Cities and Green Materials, The Downside of the Raw Vegan Diet Blogdate 11-3-06 - Anti-Aging Workout Blogdate 7-21-06 - An epiphany about the raw diet and anti aging Blogdate 7-12-06 - Supplements and why I don't do them.... Blogdate 6-23-06 - Quantum Physics, Aging and the Art of War....Solar Energy..... Blogdate 4-3-06 - Who Am I ...Aging....Energy on Demand....Most Memorable Retreat.... Blogdate 12-10-05 - The future is bright... My Links Natural Paradigms Channel - online TV alternative TheGardenDiet.com - Our family website, featuring our 16 eBooks TakeAFruitBreak.com - Our Nonprofit campaign to beat junk food advertising! TheGardenDiet.com/gallery - My Art BreakthroughTheDocumentary.com - Documentary about our family PearMagazine.com - The Online Magazine of Fresh Organic Lifestyles exploring the issues of raw vegan, eco-friendly, alternative, simple, organic, innovative living! Storm's Page - My body building photos Storm's Before and After Page - More on my anti-aging philosophy, with photos