project 2030

All of the major issues we’re dealing with are strongly intertwined: housing, climate, energy, and the overall cost of living. I look at what we’re doing to solve the climate crisis and make life better here in America and on Earth and I don’t see us doing nearly enough and moving with any real sense of urgency. Like so many others I’m frustrated by it and often feel powerless but I know I’m not. I do believe that I have the capacity to help affect change, my circumstances, and our collective circumstances too.

Will it be easy to affect change? No.

Is it possible? Yes!

In search of hope, in search of a better future The Earthworkers Sustainable Infrastructure Collective is announcing PROJECT 2030!

PROJECT 2030 is about getting the United States to a fully renewable energy grid by 2030 (and on a path to a fully sustainable future). I’m talking about building renewable energy infrastructure in every community across the country. PROJECT 2030 is about an economic revolution and revitalization of every Main Street across America. I’m talking about decentralizing our power grids. I’m talking about energy manufacturing and deployment jobs. I’m talking about making every community across the country more economically sustainable by building the renewable energy infrastructure right in their community, with the people who live there being the ones to build and maintain it (and thus more of the money stays within that community). PROJECT 2030 is about economic and energy security.

Goals for this project:

• Conduct some sort of study to see what the renewable energy transition would like if we were to move at an accelerated (war-footing) pace in development and deployment of renewable energy infrastructure in every community (even communities of 100 people or less)

• Costs to bring back renewable energy infrastructure manufacturing to the US (building wind turbines, solar panels, different types of batteries, e-bikes, etc.)

• Build out of an interconnected rail system to reduce the number of cars on the roads and make our communities more people centric, lessen the number of cars on the road, and lessen the amount of tire pollution amongst other negative attributes of cars (and also make driving more enjoyable for people who still own cars because of the decreased volume of cars on our roads)

• This is not about the highest cost efficiency but building this infrastructure the right way that is designed for true long-term success and paying for itself over a 15-30 year period, if not potentially shorter

• This is not about quarterly reports and continuing to improve shareholder value, all that does is leech good money away to sit on a balance sheet for someone who doesn’t need it and doesn’t care about our country; this is about sustainable growth

• This is about job opportunities and training for a more sustainable future

• I’d like to explore how we can build a higher number of greenhouses and vertical gardens and make it a lot easier for family farms to exist and reduce the number of Big Agriculture farms that are doing so much destruction to our land and food and water sources through all the different chemicals they use

• Living more sustainably can improve our health in a myriad of ways (walking, cycling, better air quality, less unnecessary consumption)

• In addition to sustainability, look at an economy centered around care in multiple levels: childcare, elder care, and health care to name some major sectors

• Show that we can have a thriving economy with many different tiers of wealth but provide everyone with at least a modest yet dignified living

• I want to explore how can UBI be a contributing factor to a better future? Scott Santons is a great follow on Twitter about UBI and is someone who shares a lot of great resources about the benefits of UBI that from what I’ve read seem very sensible and economically viable short and long-term

• I want this project to be a catalyst for an economic revival of every community across the country (in addition to my desire to build more sustainable housing)

I want to conduct this study so people can see how a renewable energy transition will actually benefit them. Create a real plan that includes everyone who wants to be included in this new direction. I think one of the challenges when people talk about the renewable or sustainable energy transition is they feel it’s something that’s happening to them that they have no say over and see no benefit. I want to create a way for everyone to benefit, regardless of how you may personally feel about climate change. I want this to be about an economic transformation and renewed investment in all of America.

I want this project to show that material value is created in preserving as much of our land, lakes, rivers, oceans, mountains, forests, deserts, and (this part will be a little cheesy) people and all animal life on our planet. I want people to be excited about preserving life on earth and being more conscious about how we interact with the natural world.

I’m talking about good jobs close to home so people don’t always feel compelled to move away to larger metropolitan areas for opportunities if they don’t want to. I don’t want this to be political either. I don’t care if you’re a democrat or republican or libertarian or whatever term you do or don’t want to use to describe your politics. I just want to build a bunch of homes, wind turbines, solar arrays, geothermal facilities, and hydroelectric where it makes sense and won’t screw up our environment further. I want to make our country the blueprint for what sustainability can look like in every other country across the world.

PROJECT 2030 is my absurdly naive and idealistic Moonshot to make America THE LEADER in the global effort to secure a more sustainable future for the whole world. In spite of all my skepticism and cynicism I still naively, foolishly, optimistically believe that America can be the leader in our sustainable energy transition. My naïveté and belief in America are probably some of my most toxic traits. I fucking love this insane, maddening, eclectic, diverse country and firmly believe it is actually capable of figuring this out.

But to do that we have to stop being assholes to each other.

We have to stop falling into the culture war traps. We have to stop letting corporate interests buy the influence of our elected leaders.

The reason the climate crisis has gotten as bad as it has is because of corruption and greed. The busier we are arguing about issues like gay and trans rights (which these human beings absolutely should have), allows the current power centers to keep the American people divided and extracting our labor and money. It allows the people who are in power to stay in power.

PROJECT 2030 is about a new path, a new future for us where more Americans have ownership over our energy infrastructure. One of the big purposes of this project is to show how it is possible to improve our lives if the current billionaire and corporate class would stop being a bunch of selfish assholes. They’ve been ruining the environment and climate for many, many decades and its time for them invest back into this country that has personally and professionally given them so much.

This is a pathway forward for companies like Shell, Exxon, Chevron, Mobil, and any other fossil fuel company to invest into our country and peoples’ collective future after the decades of disasters, oil spills, lies and cover-ups that have devastated so many different communities and environments, not just in the US but across the world.

Their bill is due.

They can choose to be a partner and investor into our future or they can choose to be an adversary and keep on pretending they haven’t done anything wrong despite knowing for decades the impact that using fossil fuels would have on our planet.

And that’s only one level of assholeness.

We need better billionaires.

We need better elites.

The wealthy elites in our country are mediocre (af). They have access to all these resources and they don’t do anything cool with them. Some of the more terminally online elites like Bill Ackman and David Sacks do a great job talking about how terrible our country is but they’re not doing anything serious to solve these issues because to do that would mean spending their own money and not receiving a direct financial return on their investment. That seems to be the only thing that they and the other wealthy elite care about.

These two, in addition to so many other billionaires and wealthy elites, constantly talk about how bad our country has gotten and how terrible cities like New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and others are. Well, I want to use this study to find a better way for them to make direct investments that will improve these cities and allow them to be investors or co-founders (maybe even colloquially call them Founding Fathers) of this new iteration of America.

We need to figure out a way to create value out of preserving our natural resources and life on this planet. We need to figure out how to better preserve nature and make every undeveloped space that much more valuable in its preservation. We have been rapidly expanding as a country and species for the last two centuries and now we need to start contracting. I’m not talking about depopulating the planet but instead talking about choosing to not consume so much unnecessary junk that eventually ends up in a landfill. Choosing to live in a slightly smaller house that requires less resources and energy to maintain a comfortable living space.

We’re creating so much unnecessary waste because of unregulated capitalism. We’re destroying so much land and nature in the process. We’re destroying so much food on an annual basis that we could use to help solve hunger issues. We need more than carbon markets. We need to figure out how to create more value for things like restoring the Amazon’s rainforests since it’s one of the largest carbon sinks on the planet. Find value in preserving and reviving coral reefs across the planet. The ocean is another massive carbon sink that we still know so little about.

Our economy is in service of the elites. American aristocracy isn’t dukes and lords and barons but instead hedge fund managers and corporate executives. Don’t get me wrong, we need their resources. We need their money to build all this energy and sustainable infrastructure. The American people are the best investment they can make. They have the potential to be founders of a new chapter of American life and life across the whole planet.

Yes, this is a populist message.

For too long I think most Americans have not felt a sense of ownership over our future and that the American Dream is dead. It’s not dead but it’s on life-support.

We continue to allow for more wealth and power to be concentrated into smaller and smaller groups of people and I think the vast majority of Americans are tired of seeing that. We are routinely told we need to work in service of the economy (that was a big issue during the early days of the pandemic) and we rise to the moment and do that. How did we benefit from our sacrifices? Were the families of the healthcare workers or grocery store workers or any essential worker who died because of contracting Covid compensated extra for their loss? Did the wealthy elites whose fortunes grew during the pandemic send money to the families of those essential workers who died while keeping our country running?

Did they?

Nature is always trying to balance itself. The planet is an ecosystem and so is the economy. And these ecosystems are out of balance and trying to correct to a more balanced position. We are a part of the ecosystem, not masters of it like so many believe we are.

We are told time and time again that we need to die for the betterment of the economy and no one is buying that bullshit anymore. The billionaires and elite do not meet us where we are. For some reason they need to keep acquiring and hoarding more capital instead of investing in our country. They say they care about our country but I think they only care about it in so much as how it caters and benefits them. When you own the politicians and power structures I can understand how you would think you’re above the rest of us but I think we all see through their bullshit and see them for the mediocre people that they are (or at least I hope we do).

Look at the Walton siblings. All they’ve really done is maintained the company that was passed down to them. They haven’t done anything big or bold with their wealth. Only maintained a big box store company that undercuts local businesses and pays the store employees next to nothing. And I understand why people shop at Walmart and that many people really need to make their dollar stretch and Walmart gives them more options, but it can turn into a doom loop of sorts the more we have to rely on places like Walmart and Dollar General stores.

The executives and shareholders of these corporations, as well as those across all other sectors of our economy, only care about us as far as our capacity to work in the economy and prop up their own net worth. It’s become too parasitic of a relationship instead of symbiotic. It’s a correlation as well to humans and our relationship with the natural world. We just take, take, take and do very little to actually protect. Those that want to make substantial change have significantly less capital and political power right now but public attitudes are starting to shift.

All our problems are interconnected with each other and like so many other conflicts in human history they come down to concentrated wealth and power.

Having talked about my displeasure with the wealthy and elites I now want to do a hard 90 and say please invest in our future. You don’t need to invest in my company (although I would certainly like that and will build great things with your resources if you do).

I hope you invest in the American people. Please commit to helping build sustainable housing and renewable energy infrastructure across the whole country. Push different levels of government to make our communities better and we will be better workers and contributors to your business success. Humans are purpose driven creatures and we will excitedly work to build a new way of living and you will greatly benefit from being investors in this new America. Help us chart a bold new path and future with you as the co-founders of the next 250 years of the United States of America.

We can name the high-speed rail corridor from Boston to New York the “Bill Ackman Corridor” or something like that. We can name new high rises in the Bay Area that are multi-purpose buildings the “All-In” buildings or “Sacksville” or something along those lines. Please invest in our people and environment and help us preserve what we still can while we still can (and please get your wealthy friends to join you and we’ll name stuff after them too).

So I’ve talked a bit about PROJECT 2030 and what I want it to be at a high-level. What’s next? Talking about it more on platforms like YouTube and Instagram and Twitter (I’m probably too old for TikTok) and engaging potential partners and community members. I don’t want this to be about me.

I want this to be something that an overwhelming number of people get excited about. I want to create a path forward that the vast majority of people are excited about and feel a sense of ownership over, that they have some choice in their future.

I want to hear from you about your vision for our sustainable future. What are your ideas? I hope that the more we can engage with each other we can come up with a number of different small and large projects that move us towards this sustainable future and more economic security.

I know this is absurdly idealistic. I think I’m pretty aware of all of America’s systemic issues and very complicated history. We need to better understand those things. We need to be a more engaged populace. We need to be a better educated populace and strive to offer great public education. Freedom isn’t waking up and galavanting about town in your car and not thinking about anyone else. Freedom is a daily exercise. Freedom is understanding how governmental policies and laws and business decisions have an impact on our lives.

We can choose to ignore them and let things continue to happen we don’t agree with. Or we can come up with our own ideas, some maybe on the crazier side like this one, and share them with others and hopefully build coalitions (or collectives!) that want the same things. And find new politicians who will support this bottom up approach to revitalizing America.

We want things to be easy and right now they definitely are not. It’s our burden and our privilege to fix things. We finally have access to communicate ideas with every other human instantly across the world. We need to be less focused on centralizing and concentrating power and more so on helping preserve everything that we still can. We can be the generation that finally chooses a different path for all of us to take.

We need to make every billionaire and wealthy elite answer questions like what will be enough for them? Why should we continue to listen to them and allow them to control resources the way they do and corrupt power in their favor? How are they better than us and deserving of so much excess that they haven’t really earned? They can still be richer than all of us but they don’t get to be leeches and vampires on our planet and resources so they can feel superior when by all accounts they’re mediocre (and probably terrible) people (how many do you think are sociopaths?).

I envision an America where everyone is able to readily travel outside their hometown and state and get to see every other part of our country. It’s amazing! There are so many cool parts of our country and every little corner has something interesting and helps define and showcase the beauty of America. It seems like today so many people are scared of “Red States” or “Blue States” or “Blue Cities” or “Red Rural Areas” and it’s depressing how scared we have become of one another.

Thomas Jefferson once said “I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and Constitutions. But laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.”

I envision an America where at any given point in time we have tens of thousands of people biking across our country on different green belts and pathways that go through all sorts of unique and charming small towns and big cities where people can stop and recharge their e-bike battery overnight, or stop somewhere for a meal or snack and get a little extra juice to make it a few more miles to the next town before taking a break to sleep.

I envision an America where none of our elected officials are over the age of 65 when they’re sworn into office. An America where Ted Cruz only has a podcast and no real influence. An America that is thriving, a manufacturing and sustainability global leader. An America where everyone feels like they have a stronger sense of ownership over their own future. An America where people who have great ideas and work exceptionally hard can still be very wealthy but they see and acknowledge all the public support they received and reinvest in their communities to give back.

I envision an America that actually solves these problems. An America that is healthier, every city and community is vibrant and rebuilt from the ground up, not top down. An America with a strong small business community that is replacing big box stores and chains.

I am a naive optimist for this country. I believe we can have a future along the lines of what I envision where everyone is thriving. But first we need to stop being assholes to each other (and that definitely won’t be easy).