It seems very likely that we have spent too long in the company of bad ideas to now arrest our slide toward the brink. I hope I’m wrong about this, but I would not be surprised if the human experiment runs radically off the rails in our lifetime. — *Sam Harris
One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds. Much of the damage inflicted on land is quite invisible to laymen. An ecologist must either harden his shell and make believe that the consequences of science are none of his business, or he must be the doctor who sees the marks of death in a community that believes itself well and does not want to be told otherwise. — Aldo Leopold
That the situation is hopeless should not prevent us from doing our best. — Aldo Leopold
(1) My primary aim is to acquire funding. Without funding, I can’t move forward with my big ideas and strategies aimed at saving the planet. If you want to find out more, you have to be interested in ‘saving the planet,’ you have to be a potential backer, and you have to state that (since I’m not a mind-reader).
For years, I suggested something along the lines of a McArthur Fellowship (where $800,000 is paid out in quarterly installments over five years) as being a proper amount of funding for what I’m seeking to do. But the page where I talk about that underwent a major makeover years ago; consequently, $100,000 has become the new goal. That amount would compromise my ability to present my ideas as well as I would like; and would leave little time for much else; but at least I would finally be able to start getting my ideas out there and presented together as one holistic solution.
(2) Alternatively, using a crowdfunding platform might work — if enough people contact me expressing potential interest in that. So if you think you might be interested, let me know — and how much do you think you might be willing to give, on a monthly basis?
(3) Feel free to share thoughts, ask questions, offer suggestions.
(4) If you’d like to help — no special skills required — contact me. If I could hire thousands of people, I would. But I can’t afford to hire even one person. So please contact me in this regard only if you would like to volunteer your time and understand that I can’t pay you.
ADDITIONALLY:
(5) I consider myself one of the best thinkers in the world today in terms of my ideas and overall thinking concerning how to save the planet, but I’m curious who others think fits that bill.
(6) I’d love to hear examples of what others consider some of the best and most original ideas that tie in with saving the planet (particularly from the past twenty years or so).
(7) I also invite you to share specific examples of what you consider the very best of the best — the creme de la creme — in terms of books, audiobooks, films, documentaries, interviews, articles, podcasts (specific episodes), YouTubes, scientific papers, quotations, etc., that tie in with saving the planet (e.g., might it persuade even the most unpersuadable?).
(8) Do you live in the NYC / LI area? Might something like this (“Willing to Cook for Strangers, but Guests Are Harder to Find, The New York Times) interest you? If enough people contact me expressing an interest in participating in something like this, I might set something like this up.
(9) If you live in the NYC / LI, tri-state area and would like to be a part of a ‘Saving the Planet’ Meetup (Meetup.com) group, let me know.
(10) Once I get funding, I’ll be in a position to start launching my ideas into the blogosphere and getting my ideas out there. But I want to be able to do this in such a way that these ideas and strategies have the greatest chance of making a real difference in the battle to save the planet. Therefore, if you’re a talented, successful, accomplished writer (or editor) and would like to help with this, let me know. This would most likely have to be pro bono; and the more passionate you are about wanting to save the planet, the better.
(11) Would you like to help make it possible for me to get my ideas out there — and hence, potentially save the planet — without it costing you a cent? Here’s a challenge, if you’re up to it. Can you rewrite or create a much better version of my About me or Afterword pages (or any other parts of my website)? I might be willing to make those changes, and would be happy to give you credit if I do (but it must be pro bono). On a scale of 1-10, my website might be a 5; but imagine how much easier it might be to acquire funding if it were a 9 or 10. Challenge accepted?
(12) If I created an email list for like-minded individuals interested in saving the planet, would you like to be on it? (Please state why.)
(13) Are you a superstar musician (rock, pop)? Open to potentially collaborating with Ecoideaman to create a hit single? I’ve got loads of material to work with. What’s in it for you? Perhaps another hit. What’s in it for me? If it crushes, I won’t need to seek funding, that will be my funding.
(14) If I get funding, one of the things I plan to do early on is devote a couple weeks or so to getting many of my key ideas down on film — albeit in a rudimentary way — so that if something happens to me (e.g., a drunk driver runs a red light, killing me instantly), at least there’d be this film. (To be released only if something were to happen to me before having the opportunity to reveal my ideas.) If you are a filmmaker or film director who might be interested in helping put this together, let me know.
(15) I’d like a few lines of dialogue transcribed from a 1987 film that is close to 3.5 hours long. (This might be useful for a blog post I’ve long wanted to do.) I don’t have the time or inclination to spend that much time on this, but if you’re a film buff, you might enjoy it! Interested?
(16) “If we have done extremely well as a species, it is only at the expense of other species at present, and of our own species in the future.” — Boris Zeide. This is one of my favorite quotations (pertaining to what we’re doing to the planet); but I can’t recall how I originally came across it. If you can shed light on this puzzle, please do.
(17) Not interested? If not, why not? I don’t have the resources to pay for focus groups, so I’d appreciate honest feedback. (Please indicate approximately how much of my website you’ve actually read.)
(18) Please bear in mind you never have a second chance at a first impression. If your first email is significantly unhelpful (or impolite), I might not read your second. (Someone once emailed: “Don’t hold your ideas hostage.” I found that mildly amusing, but never read the next email. The takeaway: if you want to help me, great; if you don’t, fine; but please don’t waste my time.)
(19) Do you know of anyone else, anywhere in the world, doing what I’m doing? If you know of anyone like that — of limited means, spending their own money to get word out that they have lots of big, bold, brilliant ideas and strategies aimed at ‘saving the planet,’ but need funding to roll those ideas out — please share that information with me, I’d love to see it!
(20) ‘Six degrees of separation’ is the idea that all people are six degrees of separation (social connections wise), or fewer, from everyone else. You personally might not be interested or have the wherewithal to help me with rolling out my ideas and strategies, but chances are you know of someone (or are six degrees of separation from someone), with the wherewithal, who might be interested. And ironically, by passing along word about this website, you might in effect be accomplishing more towards saving the planet than what all of today’s thousands of billionaires, combined, are accomplishing. Yes, I really believe my ideas are that good!
[*Note: Since that Sam Harris quotation above is so ridiculously hard to find on the internet, I’m including this link. Click on “old interview,” sign into your Amazon account, and you’ll be redirected to the archived page with the interview transcript. The interview isn’t from 2014, it’s from an unspecified number of years prior.]
Please indicate in your email, how, specifically, you found out about this website. Since my advertising budget is small, it helps knowing how people found their way here. Thanks!
My contact information: EcoIdeaMan@Gmail.com