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©2019 Charlene Brown

The haiku book I’ve been working on, and blogging about since 2015, has just been published.  

Inventing the Future is available on Amazon. This link will remain available in the right hand column of my blog above my other Amazon links.

According to Seth Godin, “The most common way to deal with the future is to try to predict it. To be in the right place at the right time with the right skills or investments.  A far more successful and reliable approach is to invent the future. Not all of it, just a little part. But enough to make a difference.”

I don’t believe that the future is nearly as dire as the UN Climate Panel has predicted. The main reason for my optimism is that I believe we are finally becoming aware that we must change our behavior. We know that we must transition away from our heavy dependence on fossil fuels for transportation and energy production, and we must accomplish a significant portion of this transition soon.

The objective of this book of haiku is to invent (or at least point the way to) a better future. We are already locked in to decades of self-perpetuating climate change – but it won’t become irreversibly catastrophic if we act now.

A clear path to 2050

The Paris Agreement dealing with GHG emissions mitigation, ­adaptation, and finance, was signed by almost 200 countries in 2016.  Its goal is to keep the increase in global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels. (It is generally agreed that limiting the increase to 1.5 °C would substantially reduce the risks and effects of climate change, but temperature increases in parts of Canada’s north are already close to double that.)

Each country must determine, plan, and report on the contribution that it undertakes – generally in reducing the use of fossil fuels for transportation and electricity production. It has been proposed by the Green Party that Canada set a goal of eliminating the use of ­fossil fuels by 2050. Others have similar, less drastic, ideas, but no political party, industry or economic sector has laid out a clear path or timetable to achieve this.

And here’s an explanation of the first two lines of the haiku… Even though any comprehensive schedules for such massive, years-long undertakings will require constant adjustment and fine-tuning – you have to start somewhere. The third line refers to clean transition bonds, a proposed new financing tool that would enable Canada’s energy and other carbon-intensive industries to finance emission reduction and leverage opportunities for process improvement and new product development.

Graphene Haiku

The incredible properties and potential uses of graphene could mean that it will replace silicon as the fundamental building block of a new age. As well as being the thinnest, strongest and lightest known material, graphene is flexible, impermeable to molecules and extremely electrically and thermally conductive.

It has been used to make water filters capable of purifying, desalinating and extracting minerals from water much more efficiently than present methods, and fabric that is perfectly suited for making clothing that must be breathable and well insulated.

Theoretically it could be made to act as a superconductor at room temperature or to replace batteries by generating and storing ‘solar power without sunlight’ as mentioned in my blog post on Found Haiku

Line 1: Although graphene is simply graphite in the form of a sheet of networked carbon, it was discovered and isolated for the first time very recently, in 2004, and the synthesis of usable quantities is still very difficult and expensive. More efficient methods of production are gradually being developed.

Line 2: The highly unusual properties of grapheme mean that anything researchers are able to learn will likely lead to unexpected applications in apparently unrelated industries.

Line 3: Research and development potential appears to be unlimited.

Microrobotics Haiku

This haiku, randomly computer-generated from ‘found’ phrases related to clean energy research, is apparently advocating the use of reactionless drives and fake photosynthesis in the production of miniature robots.

Here's a line-by-line explanation of the terms:

Line 1: reactionless drive: objective of research  to develop an apparatus, such as a gyroscope, which is capable of producing unidirectional thrust without the equal and opposite reaction mentioned in Newton’s Third Law.

Line 2: Artificial photosynthesis is one of the next generation of renewable energy technologies referred to in Lake Water Storage Haiku. 

Line 3: Microrobotics  or microbotics is the study of mobile robots less than 1 mm in diameter.

So far I have no explanation for the haiku as a whole.

Back-to-the-land Haiku

Enclaves of artists and artisans have lived and worked for many years on Hornby Island – some since the back-to-the-land days of the Sixties. The Town Hall shown here has a splendidly landscaped roof and walls of stackwood construction – not often used for large structures such as this.  This method, also called cordwood masonry, has been revived by the sustainability movement.  Cordwood or short pieces of debarked tree are laid up at right angles to the wall surface with masonry or fireproof and earthquake resistant cob.

An explanation of the haiku on the painting:
Line 1: On a Price/Quantity graph, market is in ­equilibrium where Demand and Supply curves ­intersect.
Lines 2 and 3: Both these concepts are, like Line 1, factors embraced by the sustainability movement.

Tidal Power Haiku

This fjord, another candidate for tidal power, is even further north than Pangnirtung, which I wrote about last year.

Here is an explanation of the haiku on the painting of the Sam Ford Fjord, above.

Line 1: Additional transportation costs and logistic complications of delivering supplies to such locations make it critical to use everything twice, wherever possible.

Line 3: To build an algorithm means to define the process or set of rules required by a computer to enable it to do calculations or other problem-solving operations. Properly coded algorithms might even enable a computer to execute ­heuristic (interactive, trial-and-error, rule-of-thumb) processes.

Another Synergy Haiku

Relative to the energy obtained from the burning of fossil fuels, non-combustion renewable energy is generally less reliably available exactly when needed.  Because of the intermittent or seasonal ­nature of most forms of renewable energy, efficient energy storage is ­essential.

Line 1: Phase change dynamics is the study of  heat storage in phase change materials, which absorb or release large amounts of  latent heat (heat of vaporization, melting etc) when they go through a change in their physical state, i.e. from solid to liquid and vice versa..

Line 2: The light in a fiber-optic cable travels through the core with total internal reflection. Because the cladding does not absorb any light, the light wave can travel great distances.

Line 3: Combine these concepts for a synergistic total.

Reining in greenhouse gas (GHG)

This in another entry in the Transitioning chapter in the Clean Energy Haiku book.

Even though Canada’s contribution to global GHGs is miniscule compared to – say – China, it is unlikely that there is a contiguous population of under 40 million anywhere in the world the emits as much as we do.

And this is an attempt to make sense of the haiku on the above painting of Lunenburg NS.

Line 1: bootstrap propulsion: when operation is no longer dependent on outside power or (GHG-emitting) propellants it is said to be in a self-sustaining, or bootstrap, operation.

Line 2: Tangential economics means applying economic principles to real-world events that may not often appear connected to economics.

Line 3: In the early stages of transitioning to a carbon-neutral economy, while we are still so fossil-fuel dependent, the emission of greenhouse gas (GHG) must be reduced where  ever possible.

Synergy haiku

Here’s an interpretation of the haiku on the painting of Lake O’Hara, above.

Line 1: Storable power: energy storage systems convert electricity into a storable form of energy and release the energy back as electricity at a later time. Storage technologies under study include pumped-storage hydropower, compressed air systems that can spin a turbine, and utility-scale batteries.

Line 2: Net zero-ready building: designing building to be very energy efficient with the appropriate infrastructure to handle an on site power when the price of onsite generation (from photovoltaics for example) and storage comes down

Line 3: This is synergy: creation of a whole that is greater than the simple sum of its parts.

Really Old Climate Records

The paleontologist who discovered the Burgess Shale in 1909 was so impressed with the extent and diversity of the layers of fossils, that he returned over a dozen times, finding more life forms every time. Over the years the Geologic Survey of Canada and the Royal Ontario Museum got involved and many additional outcrops have been found, stratigraphically both higher and lower than the original. These layers continue to yield new organisms faster than they can be studied.

Here is an explanation of the haiku on the painting of Emerald Lake and the Burgess Shale, above:

Line 1: Shale stores ‘fossil fuel’ energy.

Line 2: Paleoclimatologists studying fossil records found a rapid acceleration in the diversification of complex organisms during the Cambrian Explosion, a period half a billion years ago, during which most major phyla in existence today appeared.

Line 3: When researchers understand the climate of time of the Cambrian Explosion and its effects, this could add synergistically to their ability to predict long-term future effects of the range and rate of climate change.

Climate Migration Haiku

The emerging phenomenon of climate migration refers to the enforced evacuation of areas about to be rendered uninhabitable or submerged by climate change. This migration is likely to be northward and upward to higher elevations, and may eventually shift population concentrations. How will this previously unforeseen circumstance be handled?

Here is an explanation of the remaining lines of the haiku on the painting of the Kluane Icefield, above:

Line 2: Reaching grid parity is considered to be the point at which an energy source becomes a contender for development.  By eliminating the huge costs of electricity transmission or transport of fuels for on-site generators, the development of alternate energy sources is especially important in the North.

Line 3: It is possible that melting permafrost could not only exacerbate global warming by releasing methane and other powerful greenhouse gases, but might have initiated a runaway process of temperature increases. It also could cause erosion because permafrost lends stability to barren Arctic slopes.

Disruptive new stuff haiku

This is the first entry in Chapter 6 of the Clean Energy Haiku book I am writing – Handling the unforeseen and unintended.

Kakabeka, the second highest waterfall in Ontario, comes with a great story…  An Ojibwa Chief instructed his daughter to devise a plan to protect her people from an imminent Sioux invasion. She entered the Sioux camp, pretending to be lost, bargained with them to spare her life if she would guide them to her father’s camp. Placed in the bow of the lead canoe, she instead led the warriors and herself over the falls to their deaths. The legend claims that one can see her when looking into the mist of Kakabeka Falls, a monument to the princess who gave her life to save her people… If I’d know about this before I painted the falls, I would have included her and made this an allegorical picture.

Here’s an explanation of the haiku on the painting above.

Line 1: Technology or service displacing established industry

Line 2: An allegory is a device used in literature and art to ­signify a meaning that is not literal. It may be symbolic of a concept, like disruptive new stuff or unintended consequences of legislation.

Mitigating Climate Change

This is the first entry in Chapter 5 of the Clean Energy Haiku book I am writing – Transitioning.

Abruptly ending the consumption of fossil fuels is impossible.  Even an immediate end to oil and gas exploration and declaration of in-ground resources as ‘stranded,’ as some environmental groups recommend, would do irreparable harm. Transition to a low carbon economy can only be accomplished through an orderly progression at each stage in the energy ­economy.

Here’s an explanation of the enigmatic haiku on the painting of Canmore, above.

Line 1: Physics is the branch of science dealing with matter and energy and their interactions. Newton’s second law of motion, normally written F=ma, and Einstein’s Special Relativity theory, expressed as E=mc² are about all that most people remember about Physics.

Line 2: Methane reductions are cheap: Making improvements to oil and gas equipment and facilities that leak or release methane is a relatively inexpensive way for the oil and gas sector to reduce greenhouse gas emissions during the sow’s ear years, while we’re still dependent on fossils fuels for such a large portion of our energy needs.

Hydroelectric Haiku

This picture will be the first illustration in Chapter 3: The Controversial Stuff, in the Clean Energy Haiku book I am writing. Hydoelectric power wasn't always controversial. If permission to use Niagara Falls to generate hydroelectric power were to be the subject of a referendum in the twenty-first century, many would vote against it – blissfully unaware that the power plants in Niagara Falls have been quietly (well actually, quite noisily) generating electricity for a century!  Originally called the Queenston-Chippawa Hydroelectric Plant and renamed Adam Beck I in 1950, the first large-scale hydroelectric generation project in the world started producing power in 1922. It was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1990.

This haiku is not as ambiguous as it first appears.

Line 2: Energy efficiency and renewable energy (such as hydroelectric power) are said to be the twin pillars of sustainable energy policy.

Line 3: The controversial aspects of hydro result when dams are built and you look further afield at the flooding of productive land or habitat, or even further afield to the loss of market for small run-of-the-river operations which were counting on continued demand for electricity.

Energy Storage Haiku

TransCanada Overpass

A series of overpasses has been built to get wildlife safely across the TransCanada Highway in Banff National Park.

Unlike some of the paintings that I have ‘randomly’ selected as haiga backgrounds for the computer-generated haiku, these structures have very little to do with energy storage, other than to look very cold in mid-winter just after sunset.

By  way of explaining the haiku… An air source heat pump is a system which transfers heat from outside to inside a building, based on the principal that air at any temperature above absolute zero contains some energy, and involving a  compressor and a condenser to absorb and then  release heat. On-going research aims to find an efficient combination of air source heat pumps and salt-solution energy storage to smooth out the variable efficiency of the heat pump, a problem shared by all weather dependent, non-combustion energy sources.

Boundless Human Energy Haiku

Mt. Robson, BC

Haiga is a style of painting that incorporates the clean, minimalist, yet often profound, aesthetic of haiku.  Both haiku and haiga translate nature through an artistic language with spiritual immediacy and selfless skill. This is achieved through Zen-like training in contemplation and technique.

About twenty-five years ago I attended a watercolour workshop in the Canadian Rockies given by well-known American artist, Barbara Nechis. We were in the Bow Valley surrounded by spectacular peaks, and Barbara reminded us that some of them had been painted hundreds, if not thousands, of times. She went on to suggest that, under the circumstances, we consider carefully whether or not each of the paintings we were about to produce really ‘needed’ to be done.

I’ve tried to heed Barbara’s advice – working on something approaching her wonderfully loose, semi-abstract style. Hence the ‘abstracting’ of Mount Robson into clean  and simple haiga to go with the clean and simple haiku.

Having cleared that up, we will now attempt to make sense of the first line of the haiku.  It refers to a possible outcome of research on modified microbes. Genetically engineered bacteria and yeast can produce hydrocarbon-based fuels from organic waste. In addition to being renewable, the microbes are ‘carbon-neutral’ using about the same amount of carbon to produce the oil as will be emitted when it burns.

Another National Park Geothermal Haiku

Paint Pots, BC

For centuries, the Ktunaxa, Stoney and Blackfoot First Nations used the ochre beds surrounding the ‘paint pots’ in Kootenay National Park as a source of pigments for ceremonial purposes. 

The ore was even mined for a time in the early 20th century, before it was decided that this was incompatible with the objectives of the National Park system.

What this haiku might have to do with National Park environmental objectives gets a little circuitous... Existing infrastructure may point to the less energy-intensive upgrading of existing buildings compared to tearing down and starting over with all new materials, and charging as they go could refer to any form of transportation that generates electricity while in motion.

Low Carbon Transit Haiku

Pond Inlet, Nunavut

Pond Inlet is one of the most picturesque communities in Canada’s Arctic. However, because of its isolation the cost of food and other materials such as construction supplies can be much higher than that of southern Canada. Milk is close to $4 a litre and carbonated drinks can be as much as $4.50 a can. There are environmental costs as well, because supplies must be brought in by ship during the short ice-free summer season or even more expensively and energy-intensively by air for the rest of the year.

Hence the possible appeal of low carbon airship transit. Hard to say how kinetic energy storage devices, such as flywheels, fit into any of this, but it is known that they have better lifetime cycles and higher power and capacity than static energy storage devices such as batteries or capacitors have.

Lake Water Storage Haiku

Québec

This may seem like an odd choice of a haiga to illustrate the term ‘lake water storage cooling,’ as the only Canadian city where this has been tried is Toronto. Québec is not situated on a lake – it’s on a narrow stretch of the St Lawrence River. (In fact, the name given to the original French settlement by Samuel de Champlain was based on an ­Algonquin word Kébec, meaning ‘where the river narrows.’)

Artificial sun experiments aim to improve the production processes for solar fuels, the next generation of renewable energy technologies, by using extreme temperatures to manufacture the fuels.

Garbage in, energy out

Mt. Assiniboine

Replacing the use of scarce resources by converting garbage to energy is a potentially valuable consideration, especially in remote areas where resources – fuel for heat or electricity generators, for example – must be shipped in. The conversion would, of course, have to be very efficient, even utilizing the CO₂ and other gases produced in the process.