The Living Earth Movement invites you to attend our first weekly program on Understanding China featuring Roy Morrison and his proposal for China – U.S. Cooperation: Connecting An Asia – North America Super-Grid.

TIME: Thu, Jan 26, 2022, 1:00 PM Pacific / 4:00 PM Eastern
URL: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86928723601?pwd=cHZ1Y3hOY21VTC9sRU1LTG9OWHFIQT09
ID: 869 2872 3601 PASSCODE: 394741
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Living Earth Movement Understanding China Papers and Dialogues

We are convinced that through cooperation the peoples of the world could still salvage much of value from the disasters we face. We are convinced that global cooperation depends first and foremost on cooperation between the United States and China.

We are convinced that the major obstacle to cooperation is American enmity toward China expressed in American policies and propaganda. The latter has succeeded in making most Americans think negatively of China and lack enthusiasm for cooperation. We hope that discussion with Roy Morrison will open the eyes of many to the wonderful possibilities that real cooperation could actualize.

We propose a three pronged response to increase the chances of cooperation.

1. A monthly meeting of young Chinese and Americans to build personal relations and mutual understanding. This is planned and implemented by young people as the Living Earth Youth Dialogues Sharing from the Heart.
2. A weekly meeting for all ages to discuss events in China, especially those which American propaganda has used to discourage interest in cooperation. We’ll call these “Dialogues about China”, recognizing that their purpose is to gain realistic understanding and build a community of people who care. Our initial program will be held on January 26th at 1:00 pm PST with Roy Morrison. His bio and one-page extract from his paper are provided below.
3. A growing collection of short statements, “Understanding China,” about what China is doing. The focus will be on explaining why China acts as it does. Our belief is that if Americans understand why China does what it does, whether they approve or not, they will see that cooperation with China is possible, as well as crucial for the survival of civilization. We would like for these papers to be widely available so as to provide a check against propaganda designed to increase suspicious and hostile feelings.

These three pathways will intersect extensively. The young people may write some of the “Understanding China” papers and make use of others. The weekly dialogues about China will often be about a draft of one of the papers. Through papers and discussion, we hope to build up a community of people who are genuinely committed to contributing to the goal of China/U.S. cooperation as a crucial step toward global international cooperation.

John B. Cobb, Jr.

Excerpt from Roy Morrison’s Paper on China – U.S. Cooperation: Connecting An Asia – North America Super-Grid

The world faces an existential threat of climate disaster that affects all nations, the rich and the poor. 2022 was a year of worsening climate disaster globally, from floods, drought, hurricanes and tropical cyclones, wildfires, mudslides, heat waves, and even record snows from the weakening of the Arctic polar vortex. Global greenhouse gas emissions still continue to increase.

If we do not take aggressive measures to curb greenhouse gas emissions, we increase the risk of releasing irreversible global geophysical forces. We cannot refreeze melting permafrost on land, and sea beds releasing gigatons of methane or refreeze the ice-free Arctic Ocean once it is absorbing and not reflecting sunlight.

However, the good news about accelerating our global response to climate change comes from three scientists. In January 2022, in Nature, the preeminent scientific journal, Cong Wu, Xiao Ping Zhang, and Michael Sterling found that solar energy alone can “lead to full power availability all year round” by linking continental-scale renewable energy systems with a 13-hour or more time differential. This means that a link between Asia and North America, using solar alone, could meet all our energy needs.

As the sun sets at 6 PM in California, it’s 10 AM the next morning in Beijing. An undersea cable connection between an Asia super-grid across the Bering Strait, 52 miles wide with an average depth of only 160 feet, to Alaska and the North American super-grid will do the trans-continental job.

Continental grids will be built piece by piece, step by step, nation by nation. It’s an effective way to take advantage of the rotation of the earth to provide energy from the sun as well as from the wind. The larger the scale, the more efficient the use of renewable energy and the more cost-effective. Cooperative and continental-scale renewable energy development led by China and the United States is the basis for effective and timely global greenhouse gas displacement and climate change mitigation.

1. Solar is a readily available technology that can be installed as single panels or solar farms, or above parking lots, or on rooftops, or as dual-use agriculture above pastures and crops. Each panel contributes to global greenhouse displacement.

2. Solar can be installed quickly. It has lead times of weeks to months and not the many years for large-scale wind farms.

3. Solar costs continue to decrease, and solar’s efficiency in turning sunlight into electricity continues to increase. Fossil fuels cannot compete with zero-fuel-cost renewables. Taking advantage of continental-scale renewable energy systems reduces the preindustrial carbon dioxide levels below 300 parts per million.

Roy Morrison is a solar energy developer, Managing Partner of SunPartnersSolar, author, social theorist, and activist. His latest e-book, “The New Green Republic“, is now available on Amazon, in kindle format or paperback.

Roy Morrison has more than 40 years of diverse energy experience. This includes energy efficiency work and technical assistance for businesses, institutions, and the government.

He was the Founding Director of the Office for Sustainability at SNHU and wrote the first law in the nation for municipal aggregation under retail electric competition. He founded the NH Consumers Utility Cooperative, the first seller of competitive electricity in NH, and was a founding staff member of the UNH Energy Office. He was a safe energy activist with the Clamshell Alliance in the 1970s and 1980s, co-founder of the American Peace Test, and staff for the Nuclear Freeze Campaign in the 1980s. He is the author of Sustainability Sutra, The New Green Republic, and several other books.

Roy Morrison helped edit the Hangzhou Declaration for a Global Ecological Civilization. His Chinese associates informed him that he was the first to use the term Ecological Civilization in his 1995 book, Ecological Democracy.

His latest work focuses on ways of making economic growth mean ecological improvement and developing means to value ecological sustainability and sustainability as the new gold through the use of a new regulatory asset, Sustainability Credits (SCs). SCs to be monetized on banks’ books as paid-in capital and as cash to be used for further renewable investments on a multi-trillion dollar scale.

Roy Morrison is working on building solar farms in MA and NY with a concentration on single-phase ground-mounted systems with 150 Kw Ac/216kw DC that his firm pioneered in Eversource East on both single and three-phase feeders to expand the viability of ground-mounted solar systems. He’s working on dual-use agricultural solar projects; solar is on raised racking above pasture and crops to allow farms to use solar while remaining productive farms. Farms have the potential to become a major source of solar farm installations nationally and internationally.

Large dual-use solar systems can shape the renewable energy future on working farms in megawatt-scale 7MW combined with on-site storage.

In NH, Roy Morrison is working with Town-based Community Solar groups to purchase wholesale power and take advantage of the tax benefits of the new Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that can permit up to 50% Investment Tax Credit for community power. The renewable systems would provide wholesale power, and when tax equity is exhausted in year six, the energy users can become energy owners of their renewable systems. Income from the money they pay to buy the power combined with low-interest Town revenue bonds can allow energy users to become energy owners on a large scale.

Sun Partners Solar can work with landowners, farmers, towns and cities on solar development, allowing energy users to become owners.

Sharing Comment on Roy Morrison’s 7-page paper by bestselling author John Perkins who serves on the Living Earth Movement Organizing Committee.

Excellent article, Roy. Thank you so much for all the thought and work that went into it and for sharing it. The idea of a super grid that will unite China and the United States in a cooperative effort to reduce the energy impact on climate change is revolutionary and important. Perhaps the greatest challenge will be in convincing the governments of both countries that the resulting interdependence is not a national security risk, particularly given the current situation between energy demands in Europe and energy supplies from Russia. At the same time, overcoming this challenge might be exactly what is needed to take us to a new level of understanding and promote a perception that creates a reality based on the fact that no one in either country or the rest of the world survives on a dead planet. Many thanks for your insights and leadership in this area.

John Perkins
New York Times Bestselling Author

P.S. Here’s a short trailer for my new book. If it interests you, I’d appreciate you preordering now — it helps the book get on the bestseller lists: www.economichitmanbook.com

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Living Earth Youth Dialogue

Friday, February 3rd from 5:00pm PST 8:00 pm EST

(More details will be provided in an issue of this newsletter, on the Living Earth website and social media accounts as soon as they are available)

This program is an initiative of the Living Earth Movement, Institute for Postmodern Development of China, and Cobb Institute in which youth from China and the United States share the “seeds of hope” they are planting in their local settings.

Once a month, young people ages 18-35 from China or the United States will briefly share seeds of hope they are planting and get feedback from friends near and far. They will talk about food, poetry, gardening, solutions for the climate crisis, or life itself. Along the way, they will converse with John B. Cobb, Jr., age 97, a pioneer in seed planting for an Ecological Civilization.

The recording of the January Youth Dialogues is now available at https://youtu.be/8NDCnDkL86E

Here is a link to an article about that program https://ctr4process.org/the-second-living-earth-youth-dialogue/

The Living Earth Movement is grateful for the increasing participation especially in our U.S. and China and youth dialogue programs. We are presently seeking volunteers in many areas including program development, research, membership development, publishing, design, social media, marketing, fundraising, grant writing, etc. Please contact us if you have any interest in becoming an active participant!

Living Earth Movement is a 501 (C)(3) nonprofit organization and donations are deductible in accordance with IRS guidelines. One time, monthly, and annual donations may easily be made using credit and debit cards through donorbox on the LEM website. If you would prefer to donate via check, stocks, etc. by mail or make other arrangements, please let us know.

Thank you for your support of the Living Earth Movement!