Elon Musk and the XPRIZE Foundation are offering $100 million to people who can remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in an evironmentally friendly way.
My suggestion to them is that tack on another $100 million and extend the offer to reduce CO2 to ordinary people throughout the world.
How to do this?
They can start by considering the proposal in Obelisk Seven, a novel written by my wife and I to combat global warming. Here's the extract with suggestions for empowering ordinary people to reduce CO2:
Nick and Mike launched into the final segment, Bateman's Your Life one.
Shots of product labels and store displays appeared on the screen as Mick and Nick painted pictures of an imagined future.
"By law, you have to put local goods on the best shelves in all stores. You can do energy footprint comparisons when you shop, because you can read the energy footprint information on all the labels."
"The law you helped pass will force your state government and city government to consider the energy cost of all goods they buy."
The screens showed a computer with the name MinusCarbon in large red letters on it and a cluster of iPods in front of it.
"You can use your iPod to help you become a Cooler. Your iPod accesses a new computer, the MinusCarbon, which is operated by the United Nations and linked by satellite to all countries.
"Every time you buy something - vegetables, fruit, a meal, a plane ticket, clothing - you press your iPod against it and you find out its carbon intensity or footprint.
"You compare the footprints and make a wise choice. By law, you cannot buy anything without first checking its energy footprint on the MinusCarbon computer."
"You have your own personal MinusCarbon account, which tells you how much you contribute to global warming. If you reduce your own global warming, you get discounts on goods you buy, or a cash prize."
People Power, said the screens, accompanied by a drumbeat.
"You will be a PPM – a member of the People Power Movement throughout the world."
"You will demonstrate in front of your city hall, to persuade your city council to leave the club of the Warmers and join the club of the Coolers."
"You will demand that your city join the Cool Cities initiative of the Sierra Club."
"Your city will twin itself with a city in a developing country, so that funds can be raised to help the twin city reduce its carbon footprint. Your city will use one percent of its taxes to help its twin city reduce their greenhouse gases."
I love my hybrid scrolled up the screens.
"Your car burns fifteen percent of its gas when it’s not moving, but a hybrid like the Prius switches off when it is not moving, and uses battery power to start the car moving again."
"Your hybrid can park for free at any parking lot downtown.”
“Any car in the top ten percent of energy efficiency of all the cars in your city, also will have free parking downtown."
The next heading on the screen was I love my Cooler Home.
"You will have an energy audit of your home each year, with the costs subsidized by the gas guzzler tax on SUV's. Why? Because SUV's pump out forty percent more carbon dioxide than the average car does, so they should bear more of the burden to fix things."
"Your city council will have a fleet of EnergyChecker trucks, which will measure heat loss from homes with thermal imagery equipment. If your home is losing heat, you will have to undergo an energy audit."
You become a Player read the next sign on the screens.
"You will become a player in the worldwide emissions trading scheme," Nick announced.
"Every three months you are given a free allotment of Honor Units, just like every other citizen.
"Why? So that you can take part in the emissions trading schemes, just like the companies do in Europe."
"Each day, you can check the market price of your Honor Units, so that you can decide whether to sell them or wait for higher prices.
"You can sell your Honor Units only if you have met a personal target to reduce your own energy footprint. It works on the honor system, but there are spot checks to make sure it is not abused.
"If you are enrolled in a program which monitors your energy use, through independent monitors, then you get a much bigger allotment of the Honor Units.
“Your government may itself from time to time buy the Honor Units for prices it sets, to make a market for the units.
"The more a country as a whole reduces its emissions, the more Honor Units the citizens will get from their government."
"Your name will also go into a national eco-lottery, held every three months. If you win, and can prove you have reduced your personal energy footprint by some set amount, you will win a cash prize of between a thousand and a million dollars, paid by your government."
"Pay dirt!" Bateman exclaimed after the show, almost vibrating with excitement.
"The focus groups loved Your Life."
He beamed at them.
How about it, Elon and XPRIZE? Let's come up with a scheme that involved tens of millions of people, not just companies!
Here's the Elon Musk news report:
https://thehill.com/changing-america/sustainability/climate-change/537845-elon-musk-creates-100-million-prize-for
