Ideas To Save The Planet

Good day, Bono.

I hope this letter finds you well and happy.

My name is Todd Norman. I’m writing to honor you and support your great works and fantastic contribution to humanity and to my life, by giving you a Thoroughly Beautiful Person Award. Thank you for choosing to be a thoroughly beautiful person in the way that you create your music and the way that you act on your compassion.

Also I have been a huge fan of yours and the band since you started. Your music has touched my heart and my life has been enriched because of your presence on the planet and in my life. Thank you!

The only way that I can repay you for your beautiful gifts to me and for your service to humanity is to humbly offer you my ideas and helpful suggestions on how you can be even more effective and powerful in your work.

… here are my ideas that you, Bono, can use to make you and your work more powerful, effective, and successful. Thank you for hearing my ideas and wisdom, and for doing what you can to implement them.

You’re doing a fantastically great job trying to eliminate poor country’s debt burdens, to feed people, to ease suffering, and to help people all over the World. Thank you again for all your great work as a Hero for Humanity.

Please now also choose to be a Hero for the Planet by putting your compassion and passion into saving the planet as well as into helping others.

1. Please add sustainable living to your philanthropic efforts. You could start raising money to buy solar panels, wind generators, and hydrogen fuel cells, solar ovens, electrolyzers (that generate hydrogen gas from water), water wells, water pipelines, solar water pumps, and give them away to people all over the world. You could also be funding the conversion of existing cars, trucks, trains, and planes to burning hydrogen or to hydrogen fuel cells and thus make them zero emission and energy independent. Thus you could be helping thousands, if not millions, of people around the world, power their homes and cars from solar, wind, hydrogen, and water, facilitating them to have clean water and to live well and cleanly with 100% zero emissions and 100% energy independence. You could also advocate that others do the same, such as world leaders, governments, NGOs, Bill Gates, other celebrities, and philanthropists. (Please see the rest of this book for more details on these ideas and technologies.)

2. You could also be adding Super Adobe homes to your efforts to house people and lift them out of poverty. There are 2 billion people who don't have adequate housing. Super Adobe homes are homes made out of continuous sand bags that are filled with earth and 10% cement; that you then coiled into walls, like pottery, like logs of earth, into quonset hut vaulted rooms or domes. These homes are hurricane, earthquake, tornado, fire, wind, termite, mold, and, mildew resistant, and they use 95% less wood than a regular stud lumber built homes. They don’t burn and are Termite resistant because there is very little wood, and that is used for molds and frames for the widows and doors. The logs of earth become the roof, so Wind and storms can’t blow off the roof. They are mold and mildew resistant because the lime plaster stops them from growing. They are also very inexpensive, 1/3 or less of a normal home, because you use these bags, the earth from the land, and you don’t have the cost of a wooden roof. They are also flood and bullet resistant, because what do people or marines use to stop floods and bullets? They use sand bags filled with earth. These bags can be filled by hand, built by a community like a barn raising and/or filled with a cement pump and laid down quickly like making sausage.

I’m going to use a metal quonset hut building, with smooth metal panels, as the mold for my house. Then I can coil the bags over it and it won’t look lumpy and it will be easier to stucco and plaster. Then I'm going to remove the mold from the inside. I can then re-use the mold to make more homes and/or add additions to homes. You and NGO’s could do this as well. Also the use of a mold like this will make these homes look better, facilitate them going up quicker, and thus make them more acceptable to people. (Please see my chapter on Super Adobe homes for more details and the website, www.calearth.org.)

Anyway, you could be facilitating thousands, if not millions, of people living in these kinds of homes, not just in Africa, but also in Ireland, Jamaica, Australia, and all over the World. Since these bags are very flexible they can make a variety of different styles of homes that can fit into other cultures. Please see my other chapter on, Sustainable Homes for Native Peoples, for more details on my idea for an organization I want to start that would go around building these kinds of homes for native people’s, giving them better housing, teaching them how to build them, and creating much needed jobs in their communities. Please consider helping me manifest this intention. People need good, strong, and sustainable homes, climate change is going to continue to generate deadly storms, and we need the forests to soak up the carbon in the air to help end climate change. These homes are a solution to all that, because they are disaster resistant and use less wood, and facilitate people living well and sustainably, without killing the planet.

You could also then work to put the solar, wind, and hydrogen fuel cells, solar ovens, solar water pumps, etc… in and on these homes and make them not only disaster resistant, but also 100% Zero emission and 100% energy independent. If people in Africa lived these homes they wouldn’t have to walk miles to cut down the forests to get wood to build their homes or for their wood stoves for heat or cooking. They could be having clean electric stoves powered by fuel cells that are fueled by clean hydrogen gas they produce themselves from water, the sun, and the wind, or hydrogen burning stoves. Also women wouldn’t have to walk miles to get dirty Water, because they would now have a water well, water purification, and a Solar or Wind water pump. If you implemented these ideas you would help stop deforestation and save lives from water born diseases, while raising living standards, and helping to stop climate change by helping people to live well without polluting.

I’ve had plans to build a Super Adobe home that is powered by solar, wind, and hydrogen for 9 years now. I’d have been living this way for years now if I had the money to do so. Recently I have been homeless and very poor. I also lived in shack with no electricity, phone, or running water, and a bucket for a toilet, for a year while writing this book, so I got a small taste of how billions of poor people have to live. I hope that the proceeds of this book will get me the money I need to manifest my dream house, so I can be home-full instead of homeless. Please consider helping me to live sustainably, as well as anybody who is alive enough to want to live this way. The world needs more people to stop polluting the planet, and to be examples to others that it’s possible to live this way. Thank you for also choosing to help me manifest my dream house.

3. Also you could add Desalination to your efforts to help people. There is more Water on this planet than anything else, we just have to take the salt out of it and distribute the now fresh water to anywhere we need it. (Please see my other chapters, Desalinate Seawater and Re-salinate the Oceans, and Water pipelines Instead of Oil Pipelines, for more details on these ideas.) We all, you, the NGOs, the UN, and all the governments of the world, could be funding and facilitating large and small scale desalinization plants, and Water distribution systems, either by building new water pipelines, or using the existing rail systems and/or on water trucks, that are fueled by hydrogen, that is gotten from water, solar, and wind. These plants could also be powered by tidal and wave power.

If this was done, it could end all hunger and thirst worldwide, because everyone would now have permanent, abundant, fresh, and clean water to drink, have clean sanitation, fuel their homes and cars, and to grow their crops, no matter what climate change does or doesn’t do to our weather patterns.

Nearly every country on Earth is close to an ocean and could be benefiting from this idea. There are already 12,500 desalination plants on the Planet today. You could be manifesting more of theses plants and not only giving people food when they need it, like you did with Live Aid, but also facilitating them to be able to permanently feed themselves.

This idea would also end climate change because it would fuel the hydrogen, solar, wind, and water economy. Which could power all our homes, cars, trucks, trains, planes, and factories, which would stop our putting pollution into the atmosphere, and thus clearing our skies, stop polluting our children, and stop our using coal and Oil which are main causes of Climate Change. It would also facilitate every nation’s energy independence, which would stop future wars for oil.

You could be working to manifest this idea globally, but start by manifesting one home, one car, one village, one city, or one whole country at a time. Then others will see that it is possible and copy your example. People don’t have to go without or pollute in order to develop and live well. You could not only ease suffering, improve people’s lives, but also Save the Planet at the same time.

4. Also you could be advocating for and funding and facilitating the conversion of existing coal fired power plants to hydrogen gas burning power plants, and thus working to eliminate the source of a lot of the climate change pollution around the world from coal. We went to the Moon burning hydrogen in the rocket engines. There are already backyard hydrogen gas barbecue’s and it’s being burned in fake log fire places, instead of natural gas, and in cooking stoves.

I signed up for Sir. Richard Branson’s, Earth Challenge, which is the $25 million contest that he set up to get ideas on how he can spent the $3 billion he wants to put towards saving the Planet. I’m very poor and have tried to tell them about these ideas and they wouldn’t even return my email or allow me to enter that contest. Bono, you could go to Sir. Richard and get him to implement these ideas. You also could be advocating for these ideas to NGO’s, governments, Bill Gates, and whoever else you can think of.

5. You could start by leading by example by taking my, I’m On It! Pledge. You certain have been on the job of helping people all over the world. Now you can get on the job of saving the planet in your own life. You have millions of dollars lying around and can therefore afford to convert all your homes, cars, and limos, to solar, wind, water, and hydrogen fuel cells. You need only to make saving the planet a personal priority and a moral imperative. You could be able to tell the world, “I’m On It! My homes and cars are 100% zero emission and energy independent. I’m doing what I can to save the planet. You could live this way, too. So let’s all get on saving the planet!”

All your future concerts could be also zero emission and energy independent, as well. The stage, the lighting, trucks, and the tour bus could all be powered by solar, wind, and hydrogen. You could be generating your own hydrogen as you drive in the bus by having solar panels on the roof, a water tank, and an electrolyzer, and during the day via Solar and wind while your trucks are sitting around before the night concert. In fact your next tour could be the “ZEEI Tour” (zero emission energy independent) or “The 100% Clear Tour,” the “We’re not killing the Planet Tour,” or the “We’re On It! Tour.” Or I’m sure you can come up with another powerful and witty slogan. You could also sell “I’m On it!” t-shirts or buttons too, and encourage your fans can participate, as well. Motivate them to say to the world, “I’m on the job, I’m taking action to solve the world’s problems.” “Hunger and Thirst – I’m On it!” “Poverty – I’m On It!” “Climate Change – I’m On it!”

Your music studio could also be powered by solar, wind, and hydrogen fuel cells, and all your future albums could be zero emission and energy independent, as well.

You could make living Clearly and cleanly, “cool” too, by choose to be a shining example to the world of how to save the planet. Please consider doing what you can to live and create sustainably, and to lead the world to save the planet.

6. Al Gore has stolen my, Music to Save the Planet - worldwide concerts idea, and he is calling it Live Earth. Unfortunately his didn’t listen to me, and didn’t steal my entire idea. I wanted to hold these concerts on Earth Day to raise money, not just awareness about climate change, and buy solar panels, wind generators, and fuel cells, etc…. and give them away to people all over the world. Al didn’t play it like that. Please talk to Al Gore and show him how to do it right, like the way you guys did with Live Aid Concerts, where you not only raised awareness about hunger but you then also bought food and gave it away for free to end famines.

Which leads me to my really big idea bomb – which I hope explodes in your heart and imagination, and ripples out around the World…

7. You could be advocating for and working to make the entire island of Ireland 100% zero emission and energy independent.

Please see my Invitation to Be More Powerful to the Queen of England, where I invited her to work toward a ZEEI Royal family and United Kingdom. You could be not only living sustainably yourself, but also lobbying your government to convert to hydrogen, solar, and wind, as well.

How could you do this?

First you could have concerts, like the one’s Willie Nelson does, Farm Aid, that would also be ZEEI, the stages and lighting etc… and raise money and awareness about the possibility of clearing the skies of Ireland, generating lots of good jobs building solar, wind, and hydrogen technologies, for themselves and then the rest of the World. Thus making the Celtic Economic Tiger roar again. You could show them by example that it’s possible to live this way, call upon their spirituality to mobilize them to Save the Planet, then you could use the money you raise to buy this technology, and ask people to sign up if they want to live sustainably, never have a blackout again, never have to pay for heat, electricity, or gasoline again or have them turned off.

Then you, Bono, could show up at people’s homes, and say, “I heard you want to live sustainably. Thank you for choosing to care about saving the Planet. Here’s everything you need.” Then a small army of people put the Solar panels, Wind generators, a residential Hydrogen Fuel Cell, an electrolyzer, Water cistern to harvest rain Water, a residential Water purification unit, Hydrogen gas tank, convert their car to burn Hydrogen, and put a Hydrogen gas station in their garage that they use to fill up their cars with the Hydrogen they produce themselves.

This would not only support people who care about saving the Planet and generate fanatically great and global awareness, but it would also support clean technology manufactures, and all the homes that you facilitate to become ZEEI would then be examples to the rest of their town and the World. Their neighbors will want to live this way too, because the next time there is a blackout, that home will be the only home with its’ lights on. You could be saving the planet one house, one car, and one village, and one country, Ireland, at a time.

This is also my idea for 2 TV shows, Who Wants to Live Sustainably? and Modernize My Town. You could help me manifest these ideas in Ireland on the BBC, and it could be called Modernize My Flat, Lane, County, or Village.

Also you could then get the local, state, and federal governments to convert all the government offices and buildings. Then mobilize the nation to fill in the rest of every home, car, truck, train, plane, boat….until you get to a 100% zero emission and energy independent Ireland

Also get them to invest in sustainable tech. manufacturing companies, as well as desalination plants. You could be fueling your entire country from the water that is all around you and never be dependent on England or Saudi Arabia again for fuel, and you also would never have and famine ever again either, because you would have permanent fresh water from the oceans for farming.

Also you could then tear down all the power grids and power lines, that cause blackouts, spoil your views, shower your children with radiation, and cause fires. Because if every home had fuel cells, solar, and wind, you wouldn’t need them, and even the remotest cottage would have power and heat without having to build power lines. So not only would this idea modernize your entire country, clear your skies, and generate lots of good jobs, but you all would also then be a shining example to the rest of the World.

You could then do the same for other countries around the World, like Jamaica, where they have lots of Hurricanes. You also could team up with the Marley family and build Super Adobe homes that are ZEEI for the Jamaican people. I saw your induction of Bob Marley into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame and I thought it was great and powerful. You could now act equally as powerfully by helping their entire country to live safely and sustainably.

Also please see my chapter on, A Zero Emission Energy Independent Planet, for more details on my idea for a Movie to Save the Planet, which depicts a positive vision of the future where all our collective problems are fixed and Humanity survives, instead of being destroyed by war and pollution. Please consider helping me manifest this idea in anyway you can. I loved the Million Dollar Hotel, by the way. (Bono did a cameo in that movie and I think U2 did the soundtrack, as well.)

Well… I think that’s enough powerful ideas for one person to handle, even you Bono. I may have more later.

8. Now it’s 2009, and I do have another suggestion related to your new song, Get on your Boots.

I think that the idea behind that song and title is that we should be getting on our boots on and getting to work to solve the worlds problems.

So my idea bomb to you is… All this carbon trading silliness is not the way to end climate change, because the rich are just buying off people, and still polluting. I agree with Roy McAlister that we should be getting the carbon out before we burn it, and make stuff out of it, like golf clubs, car bodies, and other products. I was investigating carbon fiber composite products online the other day, and saw that you can buy carbon fiber shoes.

Everyone is worrying about their “Carbon footprint” which is the amount of carbon they burn and pollution they emit to power their lives. You know because people are giving you a lot of crap about the large carbon footprint of your new tour and stage. (I heard over a hundred semi-trucks of stuff.)

But I am trying to turn that around, and remove that worry from people’s brains (brain pollution). We should be talking about Energy Abundance instead of energy conservation, because solar, wind, hydrogen and water are abundant for everyone and are zero emission, so we don’t have to conserve them. Also if you wasted any energy, what would you be wasting? Just sunshine, wind, tides, and water all of which there is more than enough of for everyone.

If you lived in a zero emission energy independent home, and drove a negative emission hydrogen burning car that cleaned the air as you drove, then you would have no carbon footprint, and wouldn’t have to worry about how much heat or lights you have on or how much you drive. All those semi-trucks that you use on your tour could be converted to burn hydrogen and be cleaning the air as you tour. They also could be generating their own hydrogen gas by having solar on their roves and using it to electrify water and generate Hydrogen as they drive or as they’re parked. Then you wouldn’t have to worry about how big your tour is, or how much you're polluting.

Also if people wore carbon fiber shoes, they would make Real Carbon Footprints!

I think that if you, Bono, wore a pair of carbon fiber boots it would make you’re efforts to mobilize humanity to save the planet that much more powerful. It would be a witty twist of words to, Get on your Boots, that you like, and you could use your star power to help open people’s minds and turn their brains around about this carbon issue. You could popularize carbon fiber boots, and even sell them at your shows and on your website. Wear them yourself and encourage others to wear their spiritually and politics, on their soles, as a way to take action to save the planet.

I just want to say one last thing.

Please see my chapter on, The Arts and Artist are Important because Our Vision, Creative Thinking, and Action Can Save the Planet. I’m taking the time to tell you all these suggestions, because I think that you, Bono, have the intelligence, courage, heart, and vision to hear them and act on them.

All your work for humanity has been so hugely beautiful, and you certainly have shown the world how important and powerful artists can be. But the thing that most impressed me about you is that you once said, “We want to be bigger the Beatles!” I didn’t think that was arrogant or boasting. People in this country talk down to people all the time, like “Who do you think you are?” and say mean nasty things to each other and their children like, “Smart ass!” etc… I think that each generation should be as smart and powerful as they can be, and not limit themselves to the standards of the previous generation, which constitutes the growth and potential of Humanity.

You had vision, not arrogance to say, ‘We can do better and be more powerful, than even the Beatles were.’ You deserve all your wealth and fame. You wouldn’t have any of it, if you acted hesitantly and fearfully or said, ‘Oh… we couldn’t possibly be better or bigger than the Beatles!’

Your attitude totally embodies the intent of my Invitations to Be More Powerful. Our ancestors started wars, were racists, held slaves, invented nuclear weapons, and have yet to find a cure for AIDS, or Hunger and Thirst. We all need to have the vision to do better then previous generations.

I believe that we can save the planet. We can end climate change, end hunger, thirst, poverty, and war.

Bono, you are thinking and acting to manifest such future everyday and the world has changed for the better because of your efforts.

I have been listening to, U2’s first album, Boy, as I write this book and one of my favorite songs of all your albums, is The Ocean. It’s a very short song, but the lyrics have spoken to me for years. “…And I felt like a Star, I felt the world could go far, If they listened to what I said…” I have felt that way for years and it’s the main motivation behind my writing this book. I honestly believe that the world would change for the better if people only listened to what I have to say and acted on it. You have not only felt that way, but you have told the world and acted on that intention, and the world has changed because of your passion, courage, compassion, and action. Thus you have been a huge inspiration to me.

I’m attempting to do the same with my life, my work, and with this book. Your new song, I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight, has the lyric “Every generation gets a chance to change the world. Pity the nation that won't listen to your boys and girls. Cos the sweetest melody is the one we haven't heard.” This book is my attempt to change the world, and I hope that these ideas, which you may not have heard before, are sweet music to your ears. I just turned 40, so I'm not much younger than you. Our generation can save the humanity and the planet, and I am joining you in taking action to save them. Hopefully some day I will be as successful as you have become. All things are possible.

Thanks again for choosing to be a Thoroughly Beautiful Person and a Hero for Humanity and for inspiring me, touching my heart, and moving my soul with your words, your music, and your activism.

Please now choose to be a Hero for the Planet as well, Bono.

Thank you for choosing to be even more powerful by hearing and acting on my wisdom, ideas, and suggestions, which are intended to make you more effective in your work. Please consider doing me the honor of accepting my appreciation and humble gifts in person and allowing me to dance for your pleasure.

I look forward to seeing how much more powerful you can become in the future, and where these ideas take your imagination and empower your work.

Thanks for listening and Rock On, Bono!

Sincerely,

Todd Norman
Ideas to Save the Planet
2006-2009

I’m including this letter in my book in an effort to communicate my ideas and suggestions to Bono in the hope that this book will find it's way into his hands, and it changes his life and the future of Humanity.

I’m doing my end by trying to help him by thinking up all these ideas, writing them down, and communicating them to him. That’s all I can do.

It’s now up to Bono to hear them and to act on them.

Please help me to get these ideas into Bono’s hands by giving him a copy of this book, telling him about them for me, and sending him a link to this web page.

Thanks for the miracle connection.