• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • Nancy Reading
  • Carla Burke
  • r ranson
  • John F Dean
  • paul wheaton
  • Pearl Sutton
stewards:
  • Jay Angler
  • Liv Smith
  • Leigh Tate
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
  • Timothy Norton
gardeners:
  • thomas rubino
  • Jeremy VanGelder
  • Maieshe Ljin

Can we convince Geoff Lawton to compete in Elon's X prize?

 
pollinator
Posts: 259
Location: Eastern Ontario
94
cattle dog trees tiny house composting toilet food preservation wood heat greening the desert composting
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I watched this last night https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BN88HPUm6j0&t=3215s .  Warning its over an hour long and while I admire Elon Musk and think he is one of the most important people working to save the planet alive today he is a bit eccentric and his personality may not be to everyone's tastes.  TLDR: Elon has set up a $100M prize to find solutions to pull carbon out of the atmosphere and oceans. 1st place : $50M 2nd:$30M and $20M in seed capital. I think he is leaning towards technological solutions but is open to biological ones.

I am enormously impressed with Geoff Lawton's Greening the Desert project in Jordan and I think it would fit the Elon's bill to a T.  Not only would Mr. Lawton winning be an incredible shot in the arm to the permaculture movement but more importantly can you imagine how much better and peaceful the world would be if Jordan, Egypt, Libya, Israel, Syria, and Iraq were transformed back into the 'lands of milk and honey' that they were in Biblical times before we humans ruined the landscapes. How many megatons of carbon would also be extracted from the air and stored into newly fertile soil?  I dont know of anyone with more credibility and actual experience in dry land permaculture than Mr. Lawton.

Any suggestions on how we can ask Mr. Lawton to compete? Im just a permie nobody.

Cheers
 
Posts: 7
Location: California, USA
1
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Frankly, I believe that Elon is looking for a startup technology that he can sell. I don't think a permaculture project is a "product" in the way that would win. However, it would be cool if Geoff Lawton entered because it might get some recognition from Elon about permaculture and inform Elon's huge audience. No idea on how to convince Geoff Lawton to do that though.
 
gardener
Posts: 653
Location: Poland
332
forest garden tiny house books cooking fiber arts ungarbage
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
A permaculture solution would be too simple and down to earth for Elon...

As someone in "ethical omnivore" groups said: send the guy some cows... they convert atmospheric carbon to meat, milk, fertilizer, etc etc.
 
pollinator
Posts: 397
Location: Central Texas
102
5
wheelbarrows and trailers foraging rocket stoves homestead ungarbage
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
You could just email Geoff; his contact info is easy to find. I know he has done Ted talks in the past but things like that take a lot of time to organize and he has a lot going on.
 
pollinator
Posts: 553
Location: Mid-Atlantic, USDA zone 7
427
forest garden trees books building
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Jeff wrote:Any suggestions on how we can ask Mr. Lawton to compete? Im just a permie nobody.



Point of order: You aren't a "permie nobody."  You have the sum of your experience, ideas, skills, knowledge, plans, friends, dreams, hopes, spirit, and potential that is completely and totally unique to you. Nobody else in the world has exactly what you have, where and when you have it.  Don't sell yourself short.  As long as there is breath in your lungs, the possibilities remain endless.

The Xprize.org website wrote:
To win the grand prize, teams must demonstrate a working solution at a scale of at least 1000 tonnes removed per year; model their costs at a scale of 1 million tonnes per year; and show a pathway to achieving a scale of gigatonnes per year in future.

Any carbon negative solution is eligible: nature-based, direct air capture, oceans, mineralization, or anything else that achieves net negative emissions, sequesters CO2 durably, and show a sustainable path to achieving low cost at gigatonne scale"



But hypothetically, say Geoff was put in charge of an X-Team, what do you think he would do first?  

In other words, if you called him up right now, and he said "sure, mate, where do we start on this problem?" How would you reply?
 
Slime does not pay. Always keep your tiny ad dry.
turnkey permaculture paradise for zero monies
https://permies.com/t/267198/turnkey-permaculture-paradise-monies
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic