Where the Road Ends, the Adventure Begins
Contributed by Robert Shields
The Trans-Alaskan Pipeline was the catalyst that excelled Alaska into the future. For good and bad it transformed the state, the people, and the world. As we are looking at the end of the road for the extraction economy, this may be where the adventure begins. On April 26 and 27th in Fairbanks, the Alliance for Reason and Knowledge (ARK) will be hosting the 6th annual Regenerative Planet Summit where we will be presenting options on, upgrades to our state’s energy infrastructure, funding our schools by investing in aerospace, addressing food sovereignty with what comes after the Polaris Hotel, how AI and Permaculture help us thrive, and the conception, design, and development of a pipeline that can carry oil, gas, cargo, and people all across the state, and by 2100, the planet. A phase we have affectionately named TAPS 2.0 as the Alaska portion of the Ouroboros Project.
Extracting resources is the past and nurturing innovation is our vision for what comes next for Alaska’s environmental security and economic prosperity. The evacuated tube transportation technology is a scientific fact that has the potential to become an economic reality in Alaska. A bright future where we are able to make good money, create good jobs, while doing good for the planet by replacing one of the most destructive and wasteful industries with one of beauty, efficiency, and climate resilience. We have a couple of video interviews with the inventor, Daryl Oster on our YouTube channel and there are terabytes of information on the company’s website, www. et3.com. Hailed as a form of space travel on Earth the reality is its simply how we make the best of what comes next. Thanks to the local plumbers and pipefitters union 375, on the 26th you can learn about it in person.
Isn’t that what life really is? Using the best knowledge, we have at any given moment to address the issues of the day and hope those who come after can live with the results. For too long our planning has been the next fiscal cycle, the next payday, the next meal. We have all but lost the generational perspective that makes long-term planning the most impactful. That “7- generations” concept we keep hearing about from our first nations cousins regarding how the things we do today make ripples forward in time. It’s both a lesson about the long-term consequences of short-term decisions and an opportunity to predict the future by writing the script. ARK’s goal of mainstreaming the regenerative economy in the US by 2030 is possible because of the investments being made today into projects that not only have financial impacts but provide often generous social and environmental returns. It’s this long-term triple-bottom-line financial planning that helps us invest in the next version of our best selves.
On the 27th Olivia Freeman will give a presentation on how Artificial Intelligence, along with the natural wisdom of permaculture principles can put us on a path towards generational prosperity. A key element of upgrading our energy infrastructure for the state as we leap forward to keep pace with the rising tides of change. This along with our plans to fund the schools by turning them into STEAM campuses, and an update on our hopes and plans for what goes up after the Polaris hotel comes down will round out the afternoons agenda. A number of private equity investors will also be on hand to discuss the funding of the feasibility, economic, and environmental impact studies, the procurement, engineering, and construction documents, as well as the Billions all this is going to cost and why now is the time to invest in the future and stop trying to piecemeal life together day by day.
Since 2011, ARK has been advancing the concepts of permaculture, sustainability, and aerospace as environmentally friendly industries that create good jobs and have market growth potential into the trillions by the end of the decade. The Regenerative Planet Summit in the spring and the Solar Tours (now Tour of Future Cities) in the fall have been our hallmark events for raising awareness about what’s possible and funneling people into the career path with the support systems for them to thrive. Advancing our mission of providing educational opportunities that empower individuals and enrich the communities where they live is only possible by training the next generation of permaculture professionals to carry out the strategic projects that drive social impact investing into capacity building of local living economies.
Learn more at www.a-r-k.us/rps24