For decades we have been told that modern man would overcome his/her problems through technology. There is a certain comfort in believing that the man in the lab coat really has our best interest at heart, he knows what he is doing, and he has a solution to our problem that we don’t understand or need to think about. Some of us believed the mantra but some of us did not. The irony is that we have invested heavily in the “technology solution” only to find that it has caused as many problems or more than it has solved – particularly in the environment. There are others of us that prefer a simple solution to a big problem because simple solutions have fewer “moving parts” that can mess up the intended results.
Recently, a friend sent me a link to a website where two “good ole” southern boys were demonstrating a simple solution for cleaning up the Gulf oil spill. In the opening seconds of the video, one of the guys explains how he had been thinking about a solution to the problem when he was struck with the idea. The video goes on to demonstrate, within the limited scope of their laboratory, a seemingly simple answer for what a few thousand scientists have worked feverishly and unsuccessfully for months to find. I can’t comment on whether their solution will actually work or not, but the cynic in me screamed at the top its lungs – “It doesn’t matter!” Even if these “outsiders” had a cure for cancer, or world hunger, they are not going to get anywhere. The powerful companies that advise and influence government and the media are not about to let a simple inexpensive answer to the problem put them on the side-lines. I can speculate that these forerunner-problem-solvers are not going to even get a hearing. If they do, every “hired gun” scientist is going to swear on his mother’s honour that these guys don’t know what they are doing and that their misguided idea of a solution will only make things worse.
I do believe there are solutions available for almost every problem. Forerunners all over the world are laying awake at nights thinking about solutions to problems we have never even heard of. Forerunners have proven over and over again that they can overcome problems of monumental proportion. Some of them are insiders, but most of them are outsiders. Like the guys in the video, they don’t have a bank of hired “experts” and lobbyists to sell their ideas to the people that matter. If they aren’t insiders or experts or have a qua-zillion dollars they won’t even get serious consideration. Where an idea comes from is more important to most people than the idea itself and that is a dangerous place to be because that eliminates many of our best people and ideas.
Problems persist not because there aren’t solutions, but because viable solutions often are disenfranchised by vested interests. It is a mystery to me why lobbyists of any sort are permitted since they obviously exist to get governments to do something they wouldn’t normally do without the lobbyist’s “influence”. Since most lobbyists represent private interests, they are in conflict with the fundamental concept of democracy. It is the special and private interest groups who have high-jacked democracy and pushed simple solutions to the outer fringes. Insiders don’t let outsiders anywhere near their gravy-train, and as long as they have the King’s ear, simple solutions will never get anywhere. The guys in the video deserve a “listen” by Obama and BP. They may have a simple solution to a very big problem.
Here is the link to the website. Let us know what you think: Will it work or is it just a couple of guys dreaming in technicolor?
http://www.wimp.com/solutionoil/