Know any 5th graders?  Hard to believe but they’ll celebrate high school graduation in 2025!  Now, imagine Prof. Tony Seba* world-renowned author, educator and Stanford University instructor giving the commencement address.  It might go something like this.

            “Graduates – congratulations for having been born into a singularly unique 18-year period in the history of humankind.  What’s so unusual about these 18 years?  When you were born, a widely-viewed climate change documentary film had just been released.  Suddenly, the potentially devastating climatic effects of burning fossil fuels become a reality to millions of Earth’s inhabitants.  It was a concept so overwhelming that addressing it seemed nearly impossible.  Fossil fuels powered practically everything.  How would we possibly prosper without them?

             But as you know, we’re well on our way to doing so.  And you’ve had a front row seat as the solution unfolded.  Just as you developed from early childhood through your pre-teens and now into early adulthood, so too, a new clean energy system matured.

            Your parents experienced a similar bold transformation. Theirs was in communication and information.  Imagine, when they were children they were taught “computer skills” with humongous “desktop” computers that required manual input on a keyboard.  When they were about your age the smart phone era began permitting instant communication and information anytime anywhere.  Landline phones and printed encyclopedia sets became obsolete.  And now, how primitive they seem compared to the technology we’re blessed with in 2025. 

            The same type of “market disruption” happened with clean energy during your lifetime.  As a young child, you may remember the novelty of seeing a neighbor install solar panels or of riding in a hybrid car that was partially battery powered.  But like the computer, solar energy generation and battery storage technology grew exponentially.  As you began high school in 2021 we reached an energy “tipping point.”  That’s when local solar-plus-battery-storage energy systems world-wide became less expensive than ANY centrally generated and transmitted energy source.  Industrial scale energy generation and transmission became obsolete.  Like smart phones, this clean energy paradigm is sweeping the globe powering homes and vehicles.   As you celebrate your graduation, the last internal combustion engine factory is shuttering its doors.

            Over the course of your lifetime a frightening, seemingly insurmountable energy challenge is being met with clean energy right here, on the only home you’ll ever know where you’re forever…Earthbound.”

   *Learn more -  www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kxryv2XrnqM

            Dewey Droppe was having the time of his life as stormy winds hurled him across the Midwest.  With trillions of his buddies Dewey wreaked havoc on Louisville in a deluge that caused extensive flooding during the wettest February ever recorded. Then it was down the storm drain and out into the raging Ohio River.  Dewey washed down the Mississippi and spilled into the Gulf of Mexico. What a ride! 
 
            Lounging there for a few days, Dewey waited to get picked up by the Gulf Stream when the excitement would begin again.  Sure enough, a few days later he felt that tentative tug and was drawn toward the current.  “Oh boy! Now for a speedy ride around Florida, up the Eastern Seaboard, and into the icy climes of the Arctic Ocean,” he mused.
 
            But after a day or so, Dewey knew something was wrong; he was barely moving at all.  The anticipated rush of droplets all jostling ahead of one another was more like a molasses slick languidly lolling toward the Florida coast.  
 
            “What’s going on?” Dewey wondered when suddenly… SWOOSH!  Without warning, Dewey was scooped aboard a passing ship, ogled under a microscope, and shelved inside a beaker.  Even more strange, as chance would have it, the crew members were asking themselves that very same question – why was this normally swift current moving so slowly?
 
           The oceanographers aboard this research vessel were investigating the mysteriously slowing North Atlantic Current and wondering if it had anything to do with extreme weather events like the recent Louisville storms.  Dewey learned that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is the “conveyor belt” of the ocean that exchanges warm equatorial water with cold water from the Arctic.  But today this temperature exchange is happening at a lower rate than any time in the past few thousand years most likely because of the torrent of fresh water melting off the Greenland ice sheet.  If the slowing continues and reaches a tipping point, the AMOC could simply shut down with potentially dramatic and unwelcome changes in the climate.
 
           “So this lazy current and the increase of extreme weather events ARE connected!  A warming atmosphere accelerates both of them,” Dewey realized. “Seems like these humans could save themselves a lot of grief by taking action to slow that warming.  After all, this is their only home where they’re forever…Earthbound.”

           Joe ambled to the trash can, deposited his lunch sack, and ceremoniously tossed in the banana he decided not to eat.  That simple act precipitated a teachable moment that, I dare say, imprinted an indelible lesson on a classroom full of students.
            Joe was a 4th grader in tiny Chiniak School, 41 miles down the gravel road from the city of Kodiak, Alaska where Karen and I taught.  Infuriated by that wasteful act, Karen applied her ire to the white board where she sketched out the journey that lowly banana had taken.  From a tree somewhere in Central America to a shipping facility then trucked to some seaport.  Up the west coast to Seattle then shipped to Anchorage for a barge ride to the Kodiak dock.  By truck to the Safeway grocer, tastefully displayed, purchased by Joe’s dad, driven to Chiniak, and packed into Joe’s lunch only to have this precious commodity cavalierly tossed aside without a second thought.
            We can excuse a 10-year old’s unwitting use of a resource, but (spoiler alert – this is about you and me!) our “adult” resource-use slate isn’t all that clean either.  Get this.  Almost 2/3s of the energy used in the U.S. to generate electricity vanishes before a single watt reaches our homes, businesses, and factories.  All because of “conversion loss.”  That is, the transmission and then the conversion of electricity to the proper voltage and such so it’s accessible for our use. 
           More than half of U.S. electrical generation still comes from burning greenhouse gas producing coal and natural gas.  So we’re expelling all those fumes, and only about 1/3 of that energy reaches our homes as electricity.  It’s an environmentally expensive commodity similar to Joe’s banana.  Yet it’s so easy for all of us (and I’m not excluding myself here) to frivolously expend that remaining precious 1/3.  We may not be so different than that ill-informed 10 yr. old after all.
            What to do?  Look around.  If we all treated that electricity as the precious commodity it is, we’d find simple ways to lower our homes’ electrical usage.  (Check out - www.bchydro.com/21tips)
          Beyond that, imagine clean, renewable energy locally generated and distributed using cost-competitive technology that’s already available.  We’d cut the 60% energy loss down to single digits.   After all, our resources are too precious to waste, here where we’re forever…Earthbound.

              Stu ambled down the drive on a balmy Sunday morn.  “What a beautiful time of year,” he smiled to himself.  “The song birds are returning and green shoots are just beginning to show their faces.”  He retrieved the Sunday paper and settled in with a cup of joe.

            But his peaceful reverie was shaken by an article on the front page.  A landmark study, “Food, Land and Water: Moving Forward”, painted a disturbing picture of the decline of water quality in Wisconsin.  Manure and fertilizer runoff is making drinking water a health hazard for nearly 100,000 families, and it’s polluting parts of more than 1,000 Wisconsin lakes and streams.  The excessive weed and algae growth and the bacteria can close beaches and kill fish.  Perhaps most disturbing is the fact that gains made more than a decade ago are being erased because of lack of funding and cuts in human resources. 

             “What are we doing to ourselves?” Stu wondered aloud.  “Destroying one of our most precious resources for the short-term gain of saving a few bucks!”  Stu stewed all week.  The following Sunday, he approached the mailbox with just the slightest bit of hesitation as he remembered the unsettling article that dampened his spirits last time.
 
              But as Stu settled in with his steaming cup he was delighted to find an article about a homegrown hero.  Gary Zimmer, local farmer and founder of Midwestern BioAg, was featured in an article about his pioneering work in soil regeneration and large-scale organic farming.  The article detailed his current project to convert nearly 53 square miles of marginal South Dakota soil into water-conserving, nutrient-rich, organic fields.

              “Zimmer’s methods seem like a kind of antidote to the practices that are causing the increasing water problems plaguing Wisconsin,” Stu murmured.
                                               
               That evening, while tucking his daughter into bed he noticed her calendar. “Huh,” he said to himself.  “Next Sunday is Earth Day, a day to reflect on our relationship with this planet.  What is it we truly value – a few dollars today or a thriving environment on into the future?” he questioned while watching his daughter snuggle in.  “We’ve been given this simple gift – clean water, healthy soil and fresh air, making us all stewards of the Earth.  It’s ours to both enjoy and to safeguard because our only home is right here where we’re forever…Earthbound.”

     
            Art Tick shuffled slowly into the clinic.  This past winter had been a miserable flop.  His ice was far less expansive and much thinner than even a few short years ago.  Arty hadn’t felt this out of sync for 10,000 years when he was just wrapping up the ice age.  But at that time the unusual sensation was invigorating; he was a super cold, powerful, dominating presence.  Now it’s just the opposite.  Feverish and weak, Arty has lost much of his vitality. 

            Doc Cy Entist escorted him into the examination room, and Arty poured out his symptoms: lack of ice, excessive cloud cover, occasional fog and rain instead of snow, an erratic jet stream that swings wildly in huge dips south then back north causing wacko weather in the mid-latitudes below the polar region.  “Doc, instead of reliable sub-zero temps all winter, some days my temperature actually climbed above freezing – IN WINTER!” Art cried.  “Ya gotta be straight with me Doc.  I’m not going to lose all my ice this summer, am I?”

            “Cool down,” Cy Entist cautioned, “or in a few decades you might.  Here’s the reality Art Tick.  We’ve got to get you stabilized, or we’ll all be in trouble.  Your frozen ice pack is a major factor in the relatively reliable weather patterns we’ve had since the ice age.   If you lose too much more ice, it’s a crap-shoot as to where we’ll end up.

            “Arty,” Doc continued, “you’ve got a classic case of carbon overload.  You’re carrying way too much CO2 in your water and air.  That carbon needs to be put back into the soil where it will do some good.  Wise farmers can help with proper soil management.  Meanwhile, I’m putting you on a low CO2 diet and prescribing a strong dose of CF&D.*  It’ll make you feel better, and the CF&D will help those poor blokes in the mid-latitudes of the U.S. whose weather you’re messing with.  Besides slowing the accumulation of atmospheric carbon, it’ll give most of them a little extra cash to ‘weather the storm’, shall we say?

            “Because if you continue on this path, there’s no telling how wacko our weather might get.  After all, this is the only home we’ll ever know; we’re here forever…Earthbound.
 
*Carbon Fee & Dividend legislation would pay cash dividends to every American household.  Learn more at CtizensClimateLobby.org

           As the balmy spring sun warmed the garden soil, Elmer and Ethel Earthworm worked their way to the surface.  Ahh… the dawn of a new season!  “I’ll check to see what mail’s arrived over the winter,” Elmer called.  Along with the seed catalogs was a letter from Ethel’s cousin Louie from Alabama.  It read:

          “Dear Northern Cousin, How’s life in the beautiful Driftless Region?  I hope spring is beginning to show her face.  Down here human folks are already tilling up our tunnels; gardening season has begun.

        “I sure hope you can avoid the ruckus we had here last year!  Some new worms moved into the neighborhood.  Strange, kinda twitchy folks – jerking this way, hoppin’ that way.  Made me nervous!  And EAT!  They plowed through the leaf litter like there was no tomorrow.  Strange looking too!  Their clitellum* is milky white or light gray, and it’s smooth and completely encircles their bodies.  Weird!  Anyway, I was just wondering if you’d seen any of these folks up your way. Well, gotta go.  Happy tunnelin’, Loamy Louie.”

        Just as they finished reading, the county extension agent’s car pulled in.  The friendly agent handed Farmer Jones a pamphlet and told him about the very worm described in Louie’s letter.  What a coincidence!

          She said this invasive new worm species from Southeast Asia had inadvertently been transported to the southern U.S.   People call them “jumping worms” or “Alabama Jumpers” because they writhe violently or even jump when disturbed.  And like any invasive species, they can have a huge impact on the local ecology.

        Devouring the organic matter on the forest floor, they leave behind a very loose, nutrient-poor soil that inhibits the growth of new seedling, native plants, and fungi.  Any one worm can reproduce on its own without a mate, so they can spread fast wreaking environmental havoc as they go.

        She told Jones that jumping worms have been found in Wisconsin too. To prevent accidently spreading the tiny cocoons be careful not to move debris or dirty tools to another area.  When shopping, carefully inspect plants and gardening materials and only buy sterilized or properly heat-treated compost.

        “I sure hope Jones and the other humans follow her directions,” Ethel sighed.  “Heaven knows we need a stable eco-system here on the only home we’ll ever know, where we’re forever…Earthbound.”

*clitellum - the band around the worm’s body

         Davey Driftless has a giant to slay.  (Well, that’s a bit harsh; let’s say he has a giant to drive off.)  Like his namesake from thousands of years ago, his chances of prevailing seem slim. The David of ancient times was aided only by his sling and five smooth stones.  But these are not ancient times, and today’s Davey has a not-so-secret weapon…alphabet soup?!?

            Davey’s “Goliath” is a huge multimillion-dollar corporation.  This ATC / ITC giant plans to run over him with a 120 mile long industrial-scale transmission line benignly named – Cardinal-Hickory Creek.  This costly project would severely impact the culture and atmosphere that make him an exceptional place.  If this project were truly needed, that would be one thing.  But justifications for this monstrosity are crumbling as 21st century technology and efficiencies rapidly reinvent our energy generation and distribution systems.  Could it be that ATC / ITC’s main motivation is to rake in the guaranteed 10% profit on a half-billion-dollar project?

            When this corporate Goliath first reared its head, Davey was disorganized and vulnerable.  But with a virtual alphabet soup of allies, D. Driftless has transformed himself from a weak push-over into a strapping, organized entity able to take on this hulking adversary.  So what’s in this brawny alphabet broth?

         Davey’s brew began with a foundation of SOUL providing local experience and expertise.  Then he added a dollop of DD for energy and commitment.  ELPC and DALC were carefully whisked in for expertise and endurance.  A generous helping of IMEPC adds diversity, while healthy portions of WDPC and GCSC spice up the increasingly powerful concoction.

         Amply fortified, Davey has given Goliath pause.  No longer a weak push-over, Davey challenges this giant to prove to the public his proposal’s worth.  But as the fallacies justifying ATC / ITC’s scheme become increasingly clear, the behemoth is scrambling to push his plan forward before the Driftless Area public grows too wary.

        Our precious Driftless Area is not the place for a huge, outmoded infrastructure.  More efficient, less expensive alternatives would provide a brighter future, here where we’re forever…Earthbound.

Glossary:
ATC / ITC – American Transmission Co. & ITC Midwest
DALC – Driftless Area Land Conservancy
DD – Driftless Defenders
ELPC – Environmental Law & Policy Center
GCSC – Grant County Steering Committee
IMEPC – Inter-Municipal Energy Planning Committee
SOUL – Save Our Unique Land
WDPC – Western Dane Preservation Campaign

            Far, far away in some imaginary, parallel universe Ebenezer Scrooge has not yet been visited by the three Christmas spirits, so he was still a selfish weasel when he bumped into Laurence Fink.  Mr. Fink is the (real life, 2018) CEO of BlackRock, the world’s largest investor firm with over $6 trillion in investments.

            “Mr. Fink, so nice to meet you at last,” Scrooge gushed. “We have so much in common…the love of amassing wealth!  I say, let the suckers and the losers fall where they may just so long as our coffers continue to grow fat, eh Fink!”

            “Ah, the infamous Mr. Scrooge,” Fink replied.  “Yes, I’ve spent my entire career making money for others and have been paid handsomely to do so.  But the world is a different place than it was in your day, Ebenezer.  On this crowded planet in the 21st century, I’ve come to realize that my investors can do well financially while also doing good for society and the environment as well.”

            “Heresy!” Scrooge retorted. “Don’t tell me you’ve gone soft Fink.  It’s profits above all else, I say!”

            “On the contrary, my dear Mr. Scrooge.  These days the prudent investor understands that to prosper over time every company must also make positive contributions to society.  Without a thriving, healthy society and a sustainable environment long term profitability will suffer,” Fink countered.

            To further illustrate his point, Mr. Fink went on to relate a story about BlackRock’s recent influence over ExxonMobil, one of the five richest oil companies in the world.   Shareholders wanted Exxon to come clean about the climate change impact research it had completed.  But Exxon executives weren’t eager fully disclosed the bad news. 

With pressure from BlackRock the oil giant eventually relented and released the climate report.  It was only fair to let shareholders understand the long-term risks the industry was imposing on the environment.   Now, with that information societies could better understand and respond to the challenges climate change brings.  And Exxon’s shareholders could also make smart financial decisions about the company’s future profitability in the petroleum industry.

            “It’s a new reality Mr. Scrooge; we can do well by doing good,” Mr. Fink concluded.  “After all, this pale blue planet and each other are all we have.  And this is the only home we’ll ever know.  We’re here forever…Earthbound.”

       “And we’re back!  It’s Dewey Wastemore and YaNeeda Saveit with an unprecedented development at the World Cup finals of Ultimate Jenga.  The six finalists were about to resume play and continue removing resource foundation blocks (top soil, clean air, fresh water, etc.) from the Earthtower. (Instant replay @ foreverearthbound.net) But the players have shocked the world by refusing to take the field and have called a press conference instead. Let’s listen in!”

       Uri Uppe spoke first.  “As you know, the object of this game is to take resources from the foundation of the Earthtower and convert them into consumer goods.  But we finalists have gotten so good at exploiting these resources that at the current rate it would take one and a half Earthtowers to continue to supply enough resources for us all.  Clearly, we’ll only ever have one Earthtower, so we can’t continue this pace indefinitely.”

       Next, Norm Amarrickah sheepishly stepped up to the microphone. “Some of us are better at using up these foundational resources than others.  I confess; I use more than my share.  Estimates indicate that we’d need FOUR Earthtowers to supply enough resources if everyone used them up as fast as I do today.”

       “That’s why we’ve called a delay of game,” A. Sheeahh chimed in.  “For hundreds of years the goal has been to increase our Gross Domestic Products (GDPs).  But it’s clear to us that with seven billion people on a finite planet we need a new game.  Besides, some aspects of this ever-increasing affluence are killing us!  For example, thirty-seven percent of the world’s adults are overweight or obese causing over 3 million premature deaths a year. 

       “One of my coaches, Boo Taan,* has devised an exciting alternative measure of success.  It’s call the Gross National Happiness (GNH) Index.  We finalists have agreed that pursuing ever increasing wealth has been great, but in the 21st century we’d rather compete to see who can reach the highest level of happiness instead,” A. Sheeahh continued.  He went on to explain the four pillars of the GNH Index including: Good Governance, Sustainable Development, Preservation of Culture, and Environmental Conservation.
 
      That night Norm Amarrickah knew he had made the right decision and thought, “An unsustainable pile of consumer goods, or a happier life?  That’s a no-brainer, here on our only home where we’re forever…Earthbound.”        

* Bhutan

        “Welcome back to the championship round of Ultimate Jenga, or what some have called the final exam for humankind.  This is Dewey Wastemore with the play-by-play along with color-commentator YaNeeda Saveit. 

       “And quite a game it’s been, YaNeeda!  Over 350 years of grueling competition starting back with the birth of mercantilism.  Remember, that’s the economic theory that encourages continual growth, the exploitation of resources, and the accumulation of wealth.  Now centuries later, six finalists remain: the twins – Norm Amarrickah and Seth Amarrickah,
Al Frica, Ollie Stralia, A. Sheeahh, and Uri Uppe.

       “Let’s review the rules YaNeeda.  In the popular Jenga home game, wooden pegs are stacked making a tall tower.  Contestants remove the blocks one-by-one and restack them on top, building the tower higher and higher.  But BE CAREFUL!   Because if your move causes the tower to collapse, YOU LOSE!

       “Now, in Ultimate Jenga, the building blocks aren’t wooden pegs.  They include a variety of resources like fertile top soil and clean air and water, healthy rainforests, and vibrant wildlife preserves.  When a contestant removes a block from the base of the Earthtower that resource-block converts into consumer goods.  Those goods are placed at the top making life more comfortable and convenient for that contestant.

       “How do you see this match shaping up YaNeeda?”  “Well Dewey, I gotta say, that is SOME tower!  In 350 years life has improved immeasurably for these finalists.  But some analysts are beginning to wonder if this pace can be maintained indefinitely.  And the big question on everyone’s mind - Will the Earthtower hold?  How many foundation blocks can be removed before…but look, play is about to resume.  Let’s see if Norm Amarrickah can hold on to the comfortable lead he leveraged 100 years ago.” 

       That night, several coaches were seen circling the base of the Earthtower, their flashlight beams probing for signs of weakness.  Rumors were beginning to circulate that some contestants might drop out or even recycle some of the top tower pieces to shore up cracks in the base.  One coach was heard to say, “Even if it’s not my player that causes the collapse, once someone slips up and the tower goes, we all go down with it.  Then where will we play?  This is the only game in town.  We’re here forever… Earth(tower)bound.”  (Exciting “World Cup” Conclusion Next Time!)