H2Orbit - Its About Sustainability

Many, if not all, of the environmental issues, by their nature are systemic. That is there are long chains of circumstances that create the condition. Political pundants supporting entrenched positions will simply try to get people to focus on part of that chain that is unaffected. Remember - it's a chain - break a link and the chain pulls apart. Even that might be an over simplification, but it serves to illustrate the complexities involved. Especially the complexities humanity creates for itself with the current production of energy.

As you look over the situation, issues (this page), challenges and solutions; we encourage you to avoid focusing on single issues at the expense of all the other points being made. Back up and make sure you try to create the 'big picture' image of the situation. Look at the preponderance of evidence not the single item. Try to see the entire length of that chain of thought and then link it to all the other thought chains to weave the tapestry that is our biosphere. It will help guide you in your decisions and actions. We hope the remainder of this site helps your endeavors.

Resources are being depleted. Hydrocarbon based fuel production and consumption (regardless of where or how it is processed or used) pollutes the planet and generates greenhouse gases that are impacting the atmosphere of the entire planet. Other issues are impacting our oceans as well, acidification, as an example.

Should the temperatures of the ocean warm enough to release gas hydrates like methane clathrates it will only make a bad situation worse. The oceans are dying and the connection to greenhouse gases is becoming ever more clear. There are other issues to be sure. Somewhere between eight and fifteen percent of all the coral reefs around the world are already dead. Best estimates are that eighty (80) to ninety (90) percent will be dead in the next forty to fifty years.

The reports linked above shows that a) crucial knowledge is being gained in the causes impacting reefs around the world, b) positive things are happening within limited but controlled santuaries; however, c) the vast majority of reef systems are outside protected areas and continue to decline. Sadly the knoweledge being gained is not being applied globally. Climate change issues continue impact reefs, even in sanctuaries.

The following is a quote from "Implementation of the National Coral Reef Action Strategy REPORT TO CONGRESS", July 2005:

"The Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) estimates 20 percent of the world's coral reefs have been destroyed and predicts 24 percent are under pending destruction from adverse human impacts (Wilkinson 2004). In addition, GCRMN estimates another 26 percent of reefs are under a long-term decline (Wilkinson 2004).   Compounding this problem is the lack of of public awareness regarding the value and condition of U.S. coral reefs and the impact people upstream have on reef health."

Click the image of that report's cover page above to see the entire report.

The observations of this latest report are worse than earlier estimations and does nothing but ramp up the urgency associated with the premise H2Orbit presents.   We need your help now to increase public awareness. Please support us either directly or indirectly. Visit our boutique and purchase bumper stickers, buttons, mugs, etc. All of it will help us and increase awareness.

H2Orbit believes a tighter and more overt connection between CO2 in the biosphere, and the ocean acidification problems to the issues represented in these reports to congress. The report uses phrases like "anthropogenic causes". Deciphering the techno babble, that means "caused by humans". Even that though doesn't say 'how' it's being caused by humans. You really have to dig to figure out the big culprit and this report is 125 pages. The other report is over 200 pages.

The short answer is carbon dioxide. The urgency is real.   The looming situation is real.   People everywhere need to understand these circumstances and the implications from them. We hope you will help us drive traffic to this web site. Help people learn.

Bluntly Earth's coral reef systems will be dead by 2070, certainly before the next century, if we do not take global action now. Do you know where coral reefs are in the food chain? At the bottom. At the beginning. Destroy those and the life above them in the chain are destroyed. Humanity has no clue as to these implications. Without a doubt it will be dire. Certainly it will change the biodiversity of life in our oceans. Hundreds of millions of peoples around the world depend on proteins from the sea for sustenance. That's why it is referred to as "a chain". Cut a link and everything after that link fails. At a very minimum the biology of the oceans, if it survives at all, will be radically different.

Permafrost is another temperature bomb waiting in the wings. Scientist have been monitoring the permafrost temperatures for some time. As the Earth warms, greenhouse gases once stuck in the long-frozen soil are bubbling into the atmosphere in much larger amounts than previously anticipated, according to a study in the journal Nature. Lakes of melted water make matters worse because the water, although cold, helps warm and thaw the permafrost. Scientists are fretting about a global warming vicious cycle that had not been part of their already gloomy climate forecasts: Warming already under way thaws permafrost, soil that had been continuously frozen for thousands of years. Thawed permafrost releases methane and carbon dioxide. Those gases reach the atmosphere and help trap heat on Earth in the greenhouse effect. The trapped heat thaws more permafrost, and so on.

As if that wasn't enough there is an explosion of primitive organisms, one scientists calls 'rise of slime'. Their official name is "Lyngbya majuscula". Millions of tons of nitrogen and carbon dioxide, produced by burning fossil fuels, enter the ocean every day. These, and other pollutants feed excessive growth of harmful algae and bacteria. Fishing practices often cause imbalance in local ecosystems that once held microbes and weeds in check. The consequences are evident worldwide.

These are the situations as we know them today. We do not have the ability to fortell the future. What we can say is that we are optomistic in the character of humanity. Elsewhere on this site we discuss best and worst case scenarios for educational purposes and to help people think through choices that they need to make. We encourage you to read through the rest of this site and we encourage your feedback to help us make it better.

The Earth suffers regular and consistent catastrophic events, be they geologic or extinction-level events (ELE) in nature. These extinction events are diverse and numerous. Impact craters litter the Earth from previous events. Diversifying the endeavors of humanity across the solar system will help to assure our long term problematic survival and a best chance for venturing to the stars. Securing our presence in space will help to assure our survival here. Space offers long-term survival. Not going there is, quite literally, a dead end here. The longer the time horizon one looks to the more true this becomes. Sooner or later we must embrace space. We think it should be sooner rather than too late.

The largest inhibitor to seeking out proposed solutions is the hydrocarbon economy. The issues will revolve around revenues and current forms of taxation placed on fuels and energy.

Not to put too fine a point on it, the brick wall we see looms only about 100 years in the future. That means this issue will absolutely affect your grand-children. This is something that will almost certainly affect people you know. Don't fall into the shortsighted trap of 'I won't be here so what does it matter?'. It also means that we have to leverage these issue to motivate the beligerant amongst us. We need to get them to see the 'cost of failure'. We need them to ask "what happens if they are wrong" kinds of questoins.

Humanity probably has until around the year 2100 to have a strong foot-hold in space to work and resolve the problems we instigated. If we do nothing, we never will and in all probability, may not do much more than banish humanity. If we act, we can leverage space to resolve these issues. Action is now required.

There is a preponderance of issues driving us. The collection of these various issues warrant an over-arching strategy that can provide a real solutions. They are conspiring together to form a barrier that seems to be about 90 - 100 years out in the future. The biggest issue is getting people to understand why we need to start working on this now. That is 'why we can't wait'. It takes 7-10 years to build a conventional coal fired powerplant. It takes 24-30 years to build a nuclear power plant. The H2Orbit solution will also take time. Time we don't have to waste doing nothing or worse. Worse in this case is more of the samething we've been doing. Why? Because it increases atmospheric CO2.

The risk of doing nothing and continuing current course and speed, we contend, is larger than the costs of taking the necessary actions to resolve. The conclusion therefore is to take action. The longer a time-frame one uses the more sound the H2Orbit strategy becomes.

Humanity must act and do so today, but we must do so in a way that is sustainable. We must be methodical, determined and persistant.

Matt Lauer, of NBC's Today Show, did a great show called "Countdown to Doomsday" that sought to inform about various types of events and the science behind them, along with their probabilities. Good job Matt!

Critical resources for manufacturing and energy production that allows the current global economy cannot be reproduced if it is ever destroyed by any cause. The fundamental resources necessary for its initial creation have already been consumed. They're gone. Forever. That means we have a single chance to go forward as a species.

Many facets are conspiring to force a brick wall for humanity, if we do not take the necessary action. Beyond which the current economy and ecosystem of the planet cannot be sustained. If humanity begins to dwindle in about 100 years then nothing else matters. That means we need to focus our energy and time on things that will make a difference. A real difference. One that assures survival.

If we start this too late, we run the risk that the needed solution will take longer to put into place than we have time left. Now is the time to put down the petty differences and focus. We need to come together and solve this for us all.

The 'strategy du-jeur' is to get people to focus on a few, good, clean, technologies; like fuel cells or hydrogen, as if they are going to solve ALL
of our problems. Alone they will not. Those technologies are necessary, but insufficient. Many people only think about transportation when thinking about
this problem and it is a key sector. However, there are many areas of the economy powered by hydrocarbons well beyond your vehicle. Your home is one of them. Business and manufacturing facilities are other examples of places that would not be affected in time by a 'quick' shift to hydrogen. Current
hydrocarbon generating facilities are dumping tons and tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each operating period. The strategy we must execute is
broader and deeper than a phased shifting of automobiles to hydrogen and fuel cells or putting up a few more wind generators. A hydrogen economy is probably our best short term stepping stone toward the ultimate solution. We need to immediately divorce ourselves from hydrocarbon consumption. Immediately in this particular context means within the next 100 years.

We must have a sweeping, comprehensive strategy that leverages those technologies and as many others, as we can mutually muster to resolve the major issues. We must know, beyond a reasonable doubt, that our actions are going to make a difference that will matter. Anything short of that will only delay the inevitable. Delays, increase risks and hinder resolution. The short term issues, to be sure, are creating the urgency of action now. We can't afford to look back and say " I guess that was too little too late. " The consequence here is our biosphere.

H2Orbit - It's about sustainability. The organization believes that the situation warrants a new level of effort if we are to face the issues and challenges to achieve the vision by implementing the solution.

Presenting these issues, their supporting evidence, how space can help, and what you can do about all this, is the mission and purpose of this website. We hope you agree. Please support us.