Working as a fisheries advocate for the past decade has provided unique insight into a variety of public resource management issues. The Corona Virus crisis has highlighted a need to think about how we manage our resources in the future to provide maximum benefit for the public. There is very little opposition to giving most adults a check that will help individuals with our finances while also helping stabilize the entire economy. We are all going through this pandemic together, but we will all go through private struggles in life when financial aid would be helpful. Some politicians have proposed permanently giving every citizen a monthly payment.
What if we could create new revenue from public resources to pay for that kind of program? What if rather than subsidizing global corporations to exploit our public resources, we formed public/private partnerships to sustainably utilize them? There are three key things civilized society requires to stay civilized. Those are food, water, and power. Our coastal waters can provide all of these in ways that benefit everyone and our environment. Hatcheries that stock native seafood can promote food security. Solar desalination of salt water can provide an almost endless supply of fresh water that creates a new revenue stream to help make those monthly payments. Wind, solar, and tidal energy can generate a sustainable supply of clean energy that also creates new revenue we can use to fund the program.
Current events make this a great time to think about how we can minimize the negative impacts of future disruptions. Some will say these ideas border on socialism when they are really a liberating way of using the free market and our public resources to promote security and prosperity for everyone. This concept can also be a model for self-governance with official oversight.
What if we could create new revenue from public resources to pay for that kind of program? What if rather than subsidizing global corporations to exploit our public resources, we formed public/private partnerships to sustainably utilize them? There are three key things civilized society requires to stay civilized. Those are food, water, and power. Our coastal waters can provide all of these in ways that benefit everyone and our environment. Hatcheries that stock native seafood can promote food security. Solar desalination of salt water can provide an almost endless supply of fresh water that creates a new revenue stream to help make those monthly payments. Wind, solar, and tidal energy can generate a sustainable supply of clean energy that also creates new revenue we can use to fund the program.
Current events make this a great time to think about how we can minimize the negative impacts of future disruptions. Some will say these ideas border on socialism when they are really a liberating way of using the free market and our public resources to promote security and prosperity for everyone. This concept can also be a model for self-governance with official oversight.