Sail Transport Movement Enters U.S. Mainstream: Eco-Ships And Buying Truly Green Coffee Today
by Jan Lundberg
http://www.sailtransportnetwork.com/node/914
The last month has seen exciting U.S. sail-transport developments. Three encouraging events indicate that the nation may no longer be falling behind Europe in nurturing a critical form of renewable energy. In northern Europe at least four well-established players are operating on a significant scale, and preparing to build more ships. Previous reports this summer on SailTransportNetwork.com have discussed these entities’ exciting voyages and plans for new vessels.
Due in part to the constant promotion of sail power by the Sail Transport Network and participating sailors since 1999, the U.S. is finally rising to the occasion. The occasion is none other than the recent historic global peaking of easy-to-extract-and-refine conventional crude oil, and the accelerating destabilization of the Earth’s benign climate.
? On Aug. 27, the New York Times reported on future sail design for cargo ships, featuring B9 Shipping’s coming Dyna-rig design. This news feature is the first coverage of the trend toward sail transport on a large scale. But the story did not recognize the potential for traditional sailboats, as demonstrated by the biggest sail transporter in the world, Fair Transport’s Tres Hombres schooner-brig. Nor did the newspaper realize it inadvertently contradicted the fact that the featured B9 ship or any “ecoliner” will be able to cruise indefinitely under sail power alone (although they will have auxiliary engines using renewable energy). The link for the Times story “Cargo Ship Designers Turn to Wind to Cut Cost and Emissions” and other links are at bottom of this report.
? On Sept. 4, Care2 and ForceChange circulated a petition for slashing bunker-fuel propulsion of cargo vessels, in favor of sail technology. This is the first time the mainstream environmental movement has looked at sail transport and promoted it.
? On Sept. 10, Thanksgiving Coffee Company co-launched with business-culture-changer Carrotmob their campaign to sail tons of coffee regularly from Central America to northern California. This high-profile internet project originated in consultation with Sail Transport Network, and the progression to internet-based generating of support is a welcome additional tool for the sail transport movement.
This global campaign for truly “green” coffee is what the remainder of this report is about. Carrotmob and subsequent word of mouth might get many people thinking about where the products they consume come from. Additionally, how will today’s consuming have to change because of the harsh realities of peak oil and climate change?
[To watch the Carrotmob video, buy your coffee and read the remainder of this report, go to http://www.sailtransportnetwork.com/node/914 ]* * * * *
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