October 2006

This summer Third Planet left South Florida to take up our global climate change advocacy work on Florida’s First Coast. The direct impact of the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons on our lives was too much. The straw that broke the camel’s back. Not that we’re out of harm’s way, but my family feels safer. We’re out of the peninsula.

For many years I spoke to Southeast Florida and Bahamian audiences, organized workshops, worked in local and state policy circles, and generally got myself involved in “all things global climate change and energy”. Energy engineering, as people who know me will tell you, is my forté.

In the 1970s, when I was a power systems planning engineer, I first learned about the exponential growth of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere from the combustion of fossil fuels. My life as a fossil fuel power engineer changed. I became increasingly involved in building more efficient power systems, and fugitive gas/waste gas cogeneration became my area of specialization. As the years went by and evidence built for me that these so-called greenhouse gases were having a discernable effect on our atmosphere, I became more involved in advocacy.

Eventually I teamed up with Third Planet where I am now president. Third Planet remains today a small but intensely dedicated NGO working on the most pernicious problem of our day — global climate change.

I am an optimist at heart, but global climate change is one of those issues you either believe or you don’t. Knowing what I know — that long wave solar radiation reflected from the Earth is trapped by carbon dioxide and water vapor in a positive feedback loop that further boosts the temperature of our oceans and atmosphere — is downright scary.

There’s no doubt in my mind that hurricane cycles or not, global warming is the reason these storms are now the geographic size of states. And that’s why I’m happy to be out of the peninsula.

There are other reasons why I’m happy to be out of the peninsula. These relate to the immediate need for a greater role in planning for sustainable development. When I moved to Fort Lauderdale 22 years ago, there were less than 3 million residents in the tri-county region. Today there are over 5 million, and that’s increasing by 100,000 new residents every year. Providing electricity and water alone are hugely problematic. A couple of brief illustrations:

At one presentation to fellow energy engineers, I told the audience that every year FPL was adding the equivalent of a new 250 MW power plant to the grid somewhere else other than Southeast Florida just to keep pace with the growth of demand in the Southeast. An FPL representative at the meeting told me I was being too conservative: the number is closer to 500 MW. For my new neighbors on the First Coast, that’s equivalent to adding a new Seminole Generating Station on the St. Johns River every 2 1/2 years!

• Drinking water wells, the principle source of potable water, are being depleted so rapidly that salt water intrusion is now a problem. Water plants are converting to brackish water osmosis to provide drinking water. How far can desalination be from the horizon? For the record: desalting seawater takes 15 times the energy of reverse osmosis, the method used today to produce a gallon of freshwater. So the challenges and the costs are rapidly becoming exponentially greater.

• Third Planet has much to offer the people of Florida and Florida’s First Coast. Global climate change is affected by our energy choices, our sustainable development choices, and the way we build our communities. Through our work on these pressing issues in Southeast Florida, we bring first-hand knowledge and experience about regional solutions and recommended action steps for realistic sustainable development that embraces economic development. We share this knowledge with businesses, government, and the public through our interactive educational presentations, lectures, and workshops.

In order to carry out this essential public awareness and motivation mission, Third Planet must build its current donor base with the financial support of like-minded individuals and businesses throughout Florida, especially Central Florida and Florida’s First Coast, who share our concern about global climate change, our energy choices, and sustainable development.

If you have the desire and ability to make a difference, to impact society by being a steward, and a vital participant in the very worthy cause of making Florida and the First Coast sustainable, please make your voice heard now with a financial contribution to Third Planet.

You will receive our newsletter, email briefings, access to the president to directly address your concens, and our personal thanks for your involvement in our mission.

Sincerely,
Robert Farmer, President
Third Planet Foundation