Our next challenge
Evan Zabawski | TLT From the Editor August 2009
Carbon pollution reduction is this generation’s moon shot.
In our youth, we all have the imagination and stamina to be innovative; however, as we get older, we need to encourage those coming in behind us through mentoring.
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President Obama has set a goal to reduce carbon emissions 80% by the year 2050. That gives us 40 years, which may not seem long enough, but consider how long it took to put a man on the moon.
Spurred by the launch of Sputnik one year earlier, NASA was created on Oct. 1, 1958, to provide for research into the problems of flight within and outside the Earth’s atmosphere and for other purposes. In 1961 President John F. Kennedy said, “This nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth.”
It took NASA three years to achieve the first manned suborbital flight, as much of the technology needed to fly had either not been perfected or even invented yet. Eight years later, thousands of scientists, engineers and computer specialists worked on a lunar landing before achieving success. The lander alone had 14,000 anomalies that needed to be investigated and resolved to make it ready for launch.
Along the way, a type of surface-applied solid lubricant was developed that has found everyday practical applications. Perfecting the spacesuit gave us materials that now have found their way into insulation for the Alaska Pipeline, fire-retardant clothing for firefighters, energy-efficient fabric roofs for buildings and reflective material used in applications, including home insulation, food packaging, wall coverings, window shades, life rafts, candy wrappings, reflective safety blankets and photographic reflectors. Dialysis and water filtration also took a leap forward when developing life support systems for the Apollo missions.
If we reflect on what was accomplished in those eight years and what has progressed in the 40 years since (invention of the cell phone, GPS and MP3 player to name a few), then what do the next 40 years hold for us?
Consider that not all of the technology required to answer President Obama’s call exists today, and many of the men and women to do it haven’t even been born. The average age of those working in the control room the day Apollo 11 safely splashed back down to earth was 28 years old.
In our youth, we all have the imagination and stamina to be innovative; in other words, we have gumption. As we get older, we need to encourage those coming in behind us through mentoring. We will become the giants on whose shoulders future generations will stand.
For example, when Ferdinand Porsche (of Volkswagen Beetle fame) was 27 years old, he developed the first hybrid car, which had electric-wheel hub motors on all four wheels and twin gasoline engines. Debuting at the 1901 Parisian Auto Salon, this car went on to win first in its class in the 1902 Exelberg Hill-Climb in Austria. Nearly 70 years later, this design found its way onto the lunar rovers used in the last three Apollo missions. It would take another 25 years before an automaker would employ this design in a commercial vehicle.
We must not look upon this goal as daunting but, rather, as a challenge to rise up collectively. We may not invent the high-efficiency, renewable-fuel engine/power plant today, but we can keep our efforts focused in that direction knowing that each step is a step closer and a step together.
Evan Zabawski, CLS, is a training and consulting specialist for The Fluid Life Corp. in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. You can reach him at evan@fluidlife.com.