TOMORROWLAND AT-SEA

Someone asked me, if the POI Expo floating city begins its life in the Hawaiian EEZ, why will it be moved to the equator.  Very simple:  hurricanes.  No hurricane has been known to pass through the equator.  Also, the OTEC system is most efficient at the equator.

Picture, then:

• A floating city of a million people, with an annual tourist flow of 10 million.
• Both Disney-at-Sea and Marine World.
• Homes and hotel rooms with views of the ocean, above sea level and below, where whales, sharks and other sea life will pass by.

• Air conditioning will be provided naturally by the OTEC effluent, similar to Honolulu, which is close to having many of its office, condo and hotel buildings cooled by deep ocean water.

• The real estate on which the city floats is free.
• Deep ocean water is very high in nutrients, which will be fed to the adjacent marine biomass plantations, providing free fertilizer, for the composition is at the ideal Redfield ratio.
• Clearly, too, irrigation will be free.

Further, and the Seasteading Institute will appreciate this, POI Expo eventually will need to be out of the Hawaiian Exclusive Economic Zone, to become the first floating city to seek membership in the United Nations.  Theoretically, any population base with a government, schools and independence can qualify. The enormity of this first acceptance can be appreciated when you consider that someday there could be a thousand and more floating cities.  What better way to engender world peace if floating cities will be neighbors from China, the Middle East, Africa, Europe.....

Why would anyone want to join the UN?  Now that's, a good question.

In time, there will be a critical mass of these ocean platforms that these cyclonic storms like Dorian will be eliminated.  Mind you, this is a controversial issue because many countries depend on hurricanes to provide water.  But there are other safer ways.

Here is how the POI Expo floating city will function.  A population of a million is sufficient to support a thriving economy, especially if the exports have value.  This concentration can justify a major symphony, sponsor professional sport teams and have a major university, especially one focusing on the ocean and sustainable development.

Industries:

• Marine biomass plantations will provide biofuels, food, nutraceuticals and more.
• Ultimate Ocean Ranches will be energy neutral (as compared to land-based farms which are energy consumers) and someday supply the world with whale shark steaks and a wide range of seafoods.

• Hydrogen can be produced, and by 2050, Rinaldo's hydrogen clipper should be fully operational to serve as the air transport service, while transporting hydrogen to other airports.  Read my HuffPo on this prospect.  The hydrogen economy by then will be booming.

• As Honolulu is less than 1500 miles from the equator, a hydrogen liner traveling at 300 MPH can reach POI Expo in five hours.  From the West Coast to POI Expo, 10 hours.  No reason why this lighter-than-air-ship can't go faster when the technology improves.

• With the addition of some nitrogen, the site using OTEC should be able to suck up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to earn tax credits for remediating global warming.
• We thus will have a marine metropolis that will also be powered by renewable energy, while preventing the formation of hurricanes, thus enhancing the environment.

The ocean around us could well be the simple solution for the future of Planet Earth and Humanity.  On with the Blue Revolution.

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Hurricane Dorian increased to Category 3 last night, but returned to Category 2 status this morning.  The Carolinas will be tormented by rain, flood, storm surge and winds over the next couple of days.  Looks like Dorian will make landfall over North Carolina tomorrow, with eye over Beaufort.

This storm crawled through the Bahamas at from 1 to 2 MPH.  Now up to 8 to 10 MPH, Dorian should move quickly through North Carolina into the Atlantic still as a Category 2, and head in the general direction of Nova Scotia.

The Atlantic remains fertile for hurricane formation:

The next storm of consequence will be Gabrielle, except that she will not reach hurricane strength and will also steer towards Nova Scotia.

In the West Pacific, Typhoon Lingling at 138 MPH hammered Miyakojima (Japan's solar center) and will next affect Kumejima (where there is an OTEC facility).

Lingling will then head for North Korea.  

However, Tropical Storm Faxai just formed, will attain typhoon status, with the current projected track showing the eye over Tokyo on Monday.

If you're flying into Narita or Haneda on Sunday, be watchful.

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THE DUBAI WORLD EXPO OPENED TODAY

A few items of the day:

• While South Korea and Japan were far behind the U.S. in vaccinations at the beginning, they have both now passed us in shots/person.
• Only 36% of parents support vaccinating their children.  It was 26% in July.
• 
  Daniel Craig has been James Bond longer than anyone else.  His final appearance as 007 will be No Time to Die, (Rotten Tomatoes:82/), the 25th movie of the series, to be released next week.
• At 2 hours 43 minutes, the longest Bond film ever.
• Cary Joji Fukunaga is the first American director.

• 
  Rami Malek (of Bohemian Rhapsody fame) is the villain
• Craig will reprise his role in the sequel to Knives Out.
• The next Bond?  Idris Elba, Lashana Lynch (black and female, who is in NTtD) and Tom Hardy.

I remember well my very first Bond flick, the 1963 Dr. No.  Can you believe that was almost 60 years ago?  The reviewers hated it.  I wondered why, because I thought it was fabulous. Much later came Rotten Tomatoes, and their reviewers gave it 95/82 scores.  Here is one rating that lists this film as the fifth best of the franchise.  This was the Sean Connery version.  Jack Lord was in it as a CIA partner.  Ursula Andress was Honey Rider, but both her acting and singing voices were dubbed by others.

Finally, a year late, the Dubai World Expo opened today:

• Eight years of planning and $8 billion of spending.

• 
  First World's Fair in the Middle East.
• Will run until March 31, 2022.
• 1083 acres.  New York's Central park is 843 acres.
• To enter, you will need to show a negative PCR test or proof of COVID-19 vaccination.
• One day ticket costs $27.43.

• 
  Getting to Dubai Expo 2021 is easy, convenient and mostly free.  Find a hotel close to the RTA Metro and hop on the Expo Rider on the Red Line.
• Also buses, trams, rent-a-bike or rent-a-scooter.  The bike costs $5/day.
• You can also catch a cab or rent a Tesla.  If my conversion has any accuracy I think renting a Tesla might cost $5.  But for how long???  Something sounds wrong here.

• 
  There is something called the nol Card that can be used for everything.  A Gold Card, which gives you access to the gold class cabin on the metro and tram, costs around $6.
• Don't depend on what I said. Go to this site for details.

• 
  Hopes to attract 25 million.  Considering the pandemic and location, this had to be modest.  Shanghai in 2010 drew 73 million and Osaka in 1970 had 64 million.  Way back in 1900, Paris entertained 51 million visitors.  I've been to just about every one since my first, Seattle in 1962.

• 
  190 nations have pavilions:
• The U.S. had difficulty coming up with funding, so ours was paid for by the UAE, and will be replica of the Space X Falcon 9 rocket, plus multimedia informercials for American inventions.  Say this wasn't so.  So embarrassing.  Displayed will be the Quran owned by Thomas Jefferson as an example of religious freedom in the country.  
• 
  The U.S.'s first world's fair in 1876 introduced Alexander Graham Bell's telephone, a typewriter and Heinz Ketchup. 
• Our 1939 New York Expo showed the first television set.  That was a home movie of 19 minutes.  In color.   See what people wore in those days.
• Watch the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.  Remember Judy Garland in Meet Me in St. Louis?  Wow, Rotten Tomatoes scores of 100/87.

• 
  China's will probably be the second largest and will feature space and future inventions, including a transformer-like car by SAIC Motor to function as a submarine and helicopter.

• 
  Italy's will have a rope made from 2 million plastic bottles and a 3-D replica of 17-foot tall David by Michelangelo.  Nudity is forbidden in the UAE, so David's member can only be seen if you lean into a portion of the exhibit where an alarm sounds.

• 
  Of course the largest will be UAE's falcon-shaped pavilion, which will be a two-hour-long immersive experience through the country's 50-year history.

• 
  The heart of EXPO Dubai will be Al Wasl Plaza, the largest 360-degree laser projection surface.  Uses 252 lasers, and show can be seen from the inside and outside.  800 engineers and technicians took 14 months to plan and build this Expo jewel.

• 
  The next World Expo is Osaka in 2025, although there will be the 2023 specialized expo in Buenos Aires.  New Orleans hosted the last U.S. expo in 1984.
• A decade ago, in one of my Huffington Post articles, I proposed the Sustainable Expo of 2020 for Hawaii.
• While that went nowhere, what about the World Ocean Expo for 2050 on a floating city off Oahu?

Just another World Expo scene:

Tomorrow, as our global cruise on the Island Princess was cancelled by the company, a new around the world fantasy to include the Dubai World Expo, this one featuring perhaps two Crystal and one Cunard cruises, plus use of a business class Star Alliance around the world fare.  Now, some of our more affluent friends might feel comfortable in this ultra-luxurious option.  Maybe because the length is only three, instead of four, months, this newest opportunity has a cost not much more than the first.

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IS IT TOO EARLY TO ENVISION A TRIP TO MARS OR ADVOCATE A BLUE REVOLUTION?

This is the first of a series on the Blue Revolution.  Visionaries have of course dreamed of something similar, as for example,  Homer's Odyssey from the 8th century BC describes the floating island of Aeolus.  Jules Verne advanced his Self-Propelled Island in 1895, inhabited entirely by millionaires.  Today, they would be billionaires.  He mentioned submarines, and global adventures (like Around the World in 80 Days), even suggesting the use of hydrogen.  But these were elemental topics, a few linking to our ultimate concept of a real Blue Revolution.

Nicolaus Copernicus in the early 1500's formulated a model of the Universe that placed the Sun, rather than Earth, at the center.  He had connections and was careful not to seriously offend the Church.  He lived to a ripe old age of 69.  Scholars like Fillipo Bruno of the Dominican order had a belief in other worlds.  That was around 1600, and he was convicted of heresy by the Inquisition and burned at the stake in Rome.   He got to the age of 52.   

It is safer today to think so boldly, for Elon Musk similarly challenges society by beginning his quest for Mars. He will be 50 in June.  He envisions a self-sustaining city could take shape on the Red Planet as early as 2050.  He safely covers himself, estimating the effort to cost somewhere between $100 billion and $10 trillion.  He is worth around $200 billion, so theoretically could pay the whole check at the lower end.

Alas, I too have a dream.  Mine is focused on Planet Earth on the open ocean.  I have written about a floating city hosting the 2050 World Expo at a cost of $150 billion.  Unfortunately, I don't have that kind of money, and need to find an imaginative billionaire, or team of them, to proceed with my inspiration.

It was just about a dozen years ago that The Huffington Post published my article on the Blue Revolution.  A few quotes:

• A few months ago, my Huffington Post article on “The Dawn of the Blue Revolution” reported on the potential the ocean provided for humanity. The world has been wrestling with the economic collapse and worried about the dual hammer of Peak Oil and Global Warming. Almost never is the ocean recognized as part of the solution. The surface of our globe has two and a half times more water than land. Surely, then, greater consideration should be given to this largely ignored and mostly protected portion of our planet.
• 
  In my 2003 Bruun Memorial Lecture to UNESCO in Paris, I proposed that the United Nations take a leading role in galvanizing Project Blue Revolution. There are important Law of the Sea and international political issues to be considered. There are today only 192 countries forming the UN. Someday, perhaps, a thousand OTEC-powered Blue Revolution platforms, each a nation in itself, could well be plying our oceans, providing clean and sustainable resources for Humanity in harmony with the ocean environment.
• Well, the thought of a thousand new nations is disarming at best, but noteworthy because of the potential immensity of the promise.
• Not too long ago we had the romance of space with Star Wars and the Apollo Project. But each NASA shuttle shot costs about a billion dollars, the same amount as the U.S. Department of Energy has annually spent over the past decade to develop renewable energy. We can keep contemplating the sky, but the reality is on Earth, and, more specifically, our seas.
• 
  Where else can we turn to for next generation clean energy technologies, green materials, exciting new habitats and more seafood? The ocean, of course, and three recent developments have particularly caught my attention.
• Formation of the Seasteading Institute.
• Legal trademarking of the Blue Revolution.
• Japanese Ocean Sunrise Project.

Add to the above the potential for preventing hurricanes and remediating global warming, and you have the ideal concept for the entire world to work together to create a self-sustaining society in harmony with the natural environment.  Over the next couple of days I will provide details on what exactly is the Blue Revolution, how much work has gone into establishing the fundamental principles and how you might yourself want to be a contributor.

To answer the question at the top, the combined answer is NO!  Humanity can support both Musk's vision and mine.  I wish him well on his Mars enterprise, and also hope that the 2050 World Expo will be hosted on a floating city.   He will see his dream come true, while I would be 110-years old if mine happens, so, almost surely not.

PLANNING BLUEPRINT FOR THE BLUE REVOLUTION

A week ago I brought you up to date on the Blue Revolution.  In it I referred you to The Ultimate Blue Revolution, where:

The Ultimate Blue Revolution will in time number a thousand or more mega-facilities for a billion or more people total.

Some time after 2100, but perhaps 3000, half of our population will live at-sea in mostly self-sufficiency.  If the latter time frame, then everyone will have been genetically engineered to be smart, athletic and good looking.  The aging gene will have been checked, and births will only be allowed to keep the world population at an optimal level.

That's the easy part, for once the concept takes hold, the potential of enhancing our environment while providing exciting new marine habitats and a range of sustainable products in a free enterprise system will mushroom.  The difficult parts are those initial hurdles:

• Securing matching funds to the money I personally contributed to the University of Hawaii Foundation so that we can host The Summit of Billionaires for the Future of Planet Earth and Humanity.  This first funding step "only" seeks half a million dollars.

• That gathering will provide a blueprint and strategy for financially supporting the environmental impact study, design, construction and operation of the Pacific International Ocean Station.  It will take $150 million for the 10 MW OTEC open ocean plant ship as an industrial platform for pre-commercial development of next generation fisheries, marine biomass plantations, hydrogen systems, marine algae pathways for nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, and biofuels, plus a lot more.  The target year for full operation is 2030.

• By 2040 planning can proceed for the Pacific Ocean International Exposition (POI Expo), a floating city to cost $150 billion, for full habitability as the site of the 2050 World's Fair.  This ocean platform will be movable, and will in 2051 re-locate south to the equator.  Population?  A million?

It's pretty clear that the POI Expo will be located south of Hawaii at the equator, where  hurricanes will not be a problem.  Imagine the cost of having to buy land to build a colony for a million people, where freshwater,  farms, industries and complete infrastructure will be available.  Well, that ocean space is free, freshwater will be "free," and fertilizer (from upwelling) will be free.  Ocean transport is the lowest mode of shipping.  The energy will be renewable, meaning there will be carbon credits to gain by then, for the floating metropolis will enhance the environment.

While official world fairs are usually held on a five-year cycle, there have been flower-related and technology gatherings, too:

• World's Fair 2010:  Shanghai
• World's Fair 2015:  Milan
• Expo 2019:  a world horticultural exposition began in Beijing on April 29 and will close on October 7

• World's Fair 2020:  Dubai
• Expo 2023:  Science, Innovation, Art and Creativity for Human Development in Buenos Aires
• World Expo 2025:  Osaka

The world fair site for 2030 will be decided probably in 2023 or so.  Thus, if Hawaii wants to be host for 2030 linked to the Pacific International Ocean Station, the team to bid for this selection needs to be in place soon.  The reality is we are too insignificant, and, almost assuredly, just won't be able to get our act together.  Plus, Busan thinks it already has secured that year.  The more realistic date would be 2050.  That should be just perfect in terms of anniversaries, for the very first international gathering, The Great Exhibition, was held in London 1851 with a theme:  Industry of All Nations.

Thus, the task is pretty obvious.  Just find that initial half a million dollars to host the summit, build PIOS and plan for the POI Expo.  With funding, the public-private consortia (Pacific International Center for High Technology Research???) can move ahead:

• expand dock facilities by upgrading the University of Hawaii Pier 35 marine operations

• another possible site is where Hawaiian Electric had a downtown power plant:
• this location can be called the Blue Revolution Marina, for PIOS will need several ships 
• perhaps Hawaii Pacific University can become a partner, for they run the Oceanic Institute at Sea Life Park
• this would be the ideal shore staging ground to proceed with the POI Expo.
• erect a Blue Revolution building of blue glass so that the structure looks like a large wave when observed from off shore

It's also clear that the State Legislature will need to become involved early on, for what else does the state have to expand non-tourist economic activity?  Local Hawaiian groups would probably look forward to being at the initial stage of doing something that promotes their future, instead of holding back progress.  Good opportunity for the University of Hawaii and Hawaii Pacific University to combine their marine activities.  

The future of Hawaii's economy, the only growth potential, is in the sea around us.  What we can begin to do today with the Blue Revolution will determine the course of Planet Earth and Humanity.

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While the Hurricane Dorian death toll for the Bahamas is still listed at 7, I can't imagine this figure will hold, for the devastation was catastrophic:

Looks like the eye of Hurricane Dorian will not make landfall again, but the Carolinas will still suffer from the storm surge, rain and winds:

East of Hawaii, Hurricane Juliette has weakened to 100 MPH and will continue to diminish over the next few days:

In the Orient, Typhoon Lingling will batter Okinawa, and particularly Miyakojima, an island that has recently been prominent in my postings, then head for South Korea:

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