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Future of Water, Energy and Transportation

Mfall — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 17:42:41 CDT

These are all engineering issues that are treated like political issues.

It can take a very long time to form a political consensus.

If this group can form a solid consensus it may be able to enrich the world by its leadership.

WATER

Water projects generally remove water from wilderness areas reducing habitat and soil biomass.

New large sources of water need to be found to maintain human and bio habitats.

The only significant source of water is rain.

It is usually a given that weather modification is unproductive but recent measurements
of ocean surface conditions point to a mechanism for increasing ocean evaporation.

ENERGY

The most economically viable source of energy today is coal.

To quickly displace this source on a global scale a requires a cheaper source.

Kite based wind energy has the potential to undercut the coal industry globally.

TRANSPORTATION

Movement of people and goods is a major element of any economy.

Huge amounts of energy go into production of vehicles, pavement and fuel.

Evacuated tube transportation can reduce these 3 costs by an order of magnitude.
www.et3.com

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CatherineMitchell — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:16:06 CDT

Pandemic and Preparedness

My question to both candidates would be...

Due to the overwhelming lack of information reaching the general public and the length of time needed to educate and inform people of the very serious nature of pandemic influenza the American citizens will not be prepared to deal with the fallout of this infectious disease. Many factors such as "just-in-time" delivery of goods, current economic realities, and lack of general preparedness will cause deaths beyond what the pandemic itself will cause. Increasingly it is becoming apparent that there exists in this country a serious digital divide. People with computers and knowledge of how to use technology have access to this information literally at their fingertips while those not utilizing technology are being left behind.

The federal government has left such decisions up to the states, the state have left such decisions up to the counties of local jurisdictions. Local jurisdictions do not have professional manning the posts in their boards of health and in rural areas they are largely not preparing due to lack of funding and the overwhelming burden of preparedness.

This is the first time that we have been able to prepare for a pandemic and I am concerned that we are losing valuable time. Pandemic Influenza typically hits hardest those with robust immune systems like children and young adults. I fear the anger of the US Citizens when they realize that they have not been given sufficient heads up in order for them to protect their children and the youth of this nation.

How will you ensure that ALL citizens of the United States, regardless of disability or other inability such as lack of access to online information, receive lifesaving preparedness information while there is still time to prepare - and not after a state of emergency has already been declared as is the current plan for many of our state and local governments?

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Sophia_Ginis — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 12:53:24 CDT

Welcome to the Innovation 2008 Conference Wiki

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