For the longest time, politicians have been using rhetoric to win votes. Dealing with fossil fuel has been no different. If the threats and attacks are to continue, politicians would break up the country without achieving anything.

I am writing to make Albertans aware of many creative proposals which can help the environment without destroying any industries or killing any jobs.

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One approach would be to assemble huge floating tents aimed at partially blocking the sun. Unlike all other proposals, this one is realistic and achievable. Moreover, these tents could be designed to be fitted with power generating devices. An important fringe benefit of having such shields.

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Eventually, the technology would be upgraded to add some sort of a suspended heat sink. This alone would make a huge difference in lowering down the temperatures.

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I am not against reducing our dependency on fossil fuel. In fact, our plans propose eliminating personal vehicles in the future. I am against empty promises and useless rhetoric. We must be realistic about our views and expectations. The transition from fossil fuel to clean energy is going to take another century and perhaps longer. Look at what happened recently. Coal is back with vengeance. The dirtiest form of energy happened to be cheaper than oil. Supply and demand, it is as simple as that.

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We need to remind politicians and activists that there are more than 8 billion people in the world. Even if all of Europe and North America succeed in reducing their carbon footprint to zero, there will be over 7 billion terrestrials who may not comply.

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Logging sustainability must be observed by all nations. Yet, there are dozens of countries that do not comply with any rules, and Brazil is not the only one. Planting trees is a great idea, however, until all involved comply, we need that protective shield.

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Humans have been changing the surrounding environment ever since they surfaced on this planet. We can only correct the negative changes by implementing positive ones. Having floating tents is only one of the many proposals aimed at achieving this goal.

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With these floating tents we could also prevent all sorts of extreme storms from forming above our oceans. Floods such as the ones that descended on the U.S. and B.C. are a warning of more to come. Ironically, initially there would be need for more oil. The floating tents we are proposing would be made of rubber for the most part. Rubber is made from oil.

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Albertans should not be resistant to new ideas. The future belongs to those who create new innovative industries. This is a golden opportunity for Albertans. They can do more than becoming part of the solution, they can certainly lead the world by supporting this new industry.

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Eventually, fossil fuel will be phased out. Now is the time for Albertans to invest and promote these new creative proposals. Oil should not be wasted. In fact, it should be designated as a strategic commodity for our survival. Indeed, if the globe continues to heat up, humanity will need every drop of oil to assemble the protective shield we are talking about.

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Not long ago I have proposed building huge airships to fight wildfire to Mr. Kenny and other politicians, including the Prime Minister. A creative approach that requires rubber. My suggestion envisages a huge airship with a huge cap which would be lowered to suffocate the fire. No government showed any interest in my idea. Again, my point is to let Albertans know that we do not have to fight. We do not have to listen to divisive politicians who create friction among regions. They must listen to us.

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No politician would listen to me. However, with the voice of millions of you, politicians will be compelled to respond to us. Global warming is much more complicated than politicians are telling us. Here are some of the activities that cause global warming:

• Tilling the soil releases CO2, we cannot stop growing food.

• Breathing generates CO2, 8 billions of us need this function to live.

• We all heard about cattle and methane. We still have a long way to go before dealing with this problem.

• The earth has been on a warming trajectory since the mini-ice-age that occurred in the 12th and 13th century. Our remedy is the only proposal to deal with this threat.

• The transition from fossil fuel to clean energy will take much longer than what politicians are anticipating. We do need enough electricity to replace 100 million barrels of oil daily. Add to that coal and other form of fuel such as natural gas and propane makes staggering numbers. Replacing this energy with electricity will take at least another hundred years.

 

Alberta's Way recognizes that politicians are putting the cart before the horse, or they are not sincere. Logic tells us that we should have enough clean energy before we jack the price of fossil fuel. As the price of oil rose, Biden released millions of barrels from the reserve. If he is concerned about inflation, he should have allowed more pipelines that carry supplies from Canada instead of cancelling them. The saving realized by purchasing Canadian oil (referred to as WCS) could be as high as 20%.

 

In our country, the Liberals want to fight inflation, yet they impose punitive tax on fossil fuel.

Only politicians can be so contradictory.

• Prescription drugs account for at least 5% of gas, we cannot ask any patient to give up on puffers.

• Wild forest fires cause an enormous amount of greenhouse gases, yet no one discussed during the cop 26 meeting.

• Humidity in the air has been on the rise for many years. It accounts for half of the increase in temperatures.

 

All the above and there are more, must convince us that reducing CO2 emission is important, however, is not going to be enough. This is the reason why our proposals must be implemented. This is how every Albertan can be part of the solution.

1. Share these ideas among all your friends.

2. Join and support this movement.

3. Make a financial contribution. We need funds to reach out to as many Canadians as possible.

 

We need to evolve into a super-intelligent species to secure our long-term survival. This is only the first step towards achieving that goal. In future correspondence we will be introducing more proposals aimed at securing the long-term survival of humanity. We must think in terms of millions of years not just a few decades or even centuries. For instance, in the future, we should be designing our cities in such a way where there will be no need for personal vehicles.

 

A super-intelligent species would be planning ahead for millions of years. The upcoming generations would hopefully realize that the sun is by far more unpredictable than we have ever thought. For this reason, in the future humanity will have no choice but to adapt to this reality.

 

There is no doubt that our activities over one century have caused drastic changes to the atmosphere, imagine what could happen should the sun exhibit the slightest deviation in its activities. The changes we caused to the environment would hardly compare to the changing behavior of a star.

 

If anything, our experience has taught us to take nothing for granted. Our oceans, our atmosphere, our arable land, and many other resources cannot be spoiled or wasted. In my view, the sun has caused our temperatures to drastically change in the past, and it will cause them to change again in the future. Mars is a good example of how such a calamity could wipe out oceans and atmospheres and consequently life.

 

For this reason, we should prepare to protect life on earth against these changes. For the first time in our history, we have the technology, the manpower and the resources to embark on a worldwide project to shield the earth against an unpredictable sun.

 

For thousands of years if not millions, we have survived by partially controlling nature. Out of billions of species, ours is the only one that thought of fire as a way to control nature. We are also the only ones who deployed agriculture to survive. Domesticating animals is also a form of manipulating nature, and there are more.   This control of nature has allowed us to flourish and prosper and it is our only assurance of staying on top of the food chain and secure our long-term survival.

 

If we plan to survive for millions of years, we will have no choice but to learn how to control the sun. This conclusion should compel us to at least experiment with the concept of having a protective shield around our planet. Taming the sun is a must regardless of all the measures we take to deal with our carbon footprint.

For a few decades, we may have no choice but to waste great amounts of fossil fuel. However, the super-intelligent generations of the future would declare fossil fuel a strategic commodity not to be squandered. In the face of a raging sun, future super-intelligent generations may even reintroduce a safer asbestos to shield the earth from a superheated star.

 

Robert SKAF                                              November 13, 2021   

 

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