Professor Whimsy Cures America: Part Three: The Treetise Part Two

Not only am I a professor of Whimsy, I am also a master fool. This is evident by the fact that when I first  wrote this, I believed that CNN would report on it.  Obviously, they never picked up on it, because this material is too sophisticated for them. That is evident by all the letters after my Name: Dr Noah Clawson Ph.d., MD, RunDMC. 

Anyways...

Below is the final portion of Professor Whimsy Cures America: Part three: The Treetise Part Two.

Instead of Northeasterners focusing on regulations that restrict the coal companies, we need to focus on creating more economic options for folks in the Rust Belt. All Americans would benefit from taking a step back and looking at the big picture. At this moment in history, the economics of energy is undergoing a major shift away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy. Accordingly, we should take this opportunity to facilitate this shift. We should do this in a way that benefits all Americans and unifies the Rust Belt with coastal economies. An obvious idea is to help the Rust Belt transition to a renewable energy economy, but that is much easier said than done.

While the price of solar cells and wind turbines has come down, in many cases, they are still prohibitively expensive. The emphasis on overcoming the barrier to high cost has been to improve the technology of those devices, so they can generate electricity with greater efficiency. While that approach is valid, there is a complementary approach that deserves equal attention: We can recycle the materials used to build solar cells and wind turbines. Recycling can bring down the price of renewable energy in a way that it can’t for fossil fuels.

When we extract fossil fuel from the earth, we ultimately will combust it. This combustion might heat a house in the winter, move a vehicle, or generate electricity. Whatever the case may be, the combustion process forever destroys the fossil fuel. This is not the case with the metals and metalloids we mine to construct solar panels, wind turbines and innumerable other electronic devices. In particular, solar panels and wind turbines utilize large quantities of copper, aluminum, glass and silicon. We can recycle all of those materials with far less energy than what it would take to mine and refine them.

If Americans believed that recycling certain materials helped their country, I’m convinced they would do it en masse. The challenge here is figuring out the specifics of how we can do that to unify the country. How can we grow networks of corporate interests to direct those materials into the Rust Belt? How can we then encourage the solar and wind industry companies to move into the Rust Belt to receive those materials? The best known strategy for influencing corporate behavior is for us to use our consumer power as leverage. I believe we can double our leverage on corporations by organizing our recycling efforts and becoming both corporate consumers and suppliers.

Here is an illustrative example of what such “double leverage” would look like: Suppose I am able to organize a few million people to implement the ideas in this letter. Suppose further that we educated ourselves as to what products contain materials that have value for the alternative energy sector. We learn that two such products are electronic devices and batteries.

Our first major step would be to organize as consumers. We would make a collective decision to only buy batteries and electronic devices from the companies that do the best job building the recycling infrastructure of their products. Naturally, this would give these companies a big incentive to invest in the recycling infrastructure for their products, so they could win us over as customers.

Our second major step would be to organize as suppliers. We would make a collective decision to supply the recycling company that is the closet fit to our ideal. Then, we could work in a collaborative, carrot-and-stick fashion to mold that company into our ideal.

Realistically, we would be lucky if to start we could find a company in the Rust Belt that recycles the right material. We would be even luckier if that same company sold some of its products to other companies in the Rust Belt. If we could form an alliance with such a company, we would be giving them an incentive to stay in the rust belt and continue to sell their output to other Rust Belt companies. Furthermore, we would be creating an incentive for other recycling companies to come to the Rust Belt. These other companies would know that if they formed an alliance with the renewable energy industry, we would be likely to do business with them.

If my hypothetical “Recycling for Renewables” organization actually existed, they would be in luck. BATTERY SOLUTIONS ** in Howell Michigan recycles both batteries and E-scrap. I recently spoke to one of their representatives. He informed me that they sell most of their recovered materials to industries in Ohio. 

In addition, BATTERY SOLUTIONS recently teamed up with Call2recycle – a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the logistics of recycling cell phones and batteries. Anyone can use Call2recycle’s website to find a free drop off location for batteries and cellphones. This means that anyone can become a provider for BATTERY SOLUTIONS simply by recycling their cellphones and batteries in the Call2recycle network. The down side with Call2recycle is that they don’t take all E-scraps; they only take cellphones and batteries.

For large corporations that would like to recycle all their E-scraps, a better option might be to work directly with Battery Solutions. In this option, Battery Solutions will customize a recycling program to the particular E-scrap disposal needs of the corporation with which they have partnered.

I believe that this option would be ideal for an international news organization such as CNN for a number of reasons. First, I’m sure that CNN burns through electronic devices at a far greater rate than the general public. Recycling those electronics would be an excellent way for CNN to demonstrate some stewardship and earn some positive PR. In addition, forming an alliance with Battery Solutions would provide CNN a convenient way to segue into news stories that would give their viewers hope. 

For instance, CNN could report that many of the elements in electronics are sourced from unstable regions – regions that exploit children to do the mining. They could explain how recycling electronics helps the United States avoid the sort of international entanglement that leads to military action. They could use the opportunity to report on how we depend on China for rare earth elements and how recycling could help us lessen that dependence. They could talk about how much landfill space they are saving and the toxic waste they are keeping out of the earth. Most importantly, they could report on how their alliance with Battery Solutions is helping to heal our country from RBCF.

Batteries and E-scraps are not the only products we could recycle for renewables. There are others, but I would have to do more research to learn all of them. The point is that this idea gives us possibilities and positive directions that we can take. Even better, it gives us an opportunity to be solution-focused and not talk about Trump. Conservatives and Liberals can work together without sacrificing their values, because this idea combines stimulating the economy with helping the environment.

** Since this initial writing, the company Battery Solutions was acquired by Retriev. Retriev recently changed its name to Cirba Solutions.