Most of us don’t know what is going on in our family’s or neighbor’s heads, let alone the country. You might be pleasantly surprised they’re engaged in many activities aimed at improving lives.

How can you be happy if you perceive your country’s falling apart? After talking to people on the left and right sides of the political spectrum, I realized their main area of agreement is that the United States is on a downward spiral. An immigrant from Ukraine told me that she came here to live in a democracy that followed the rule of law. Increased lawlessness, homelessness, and poverty make her feel like she moved to a third-world country. With the media dwelling on tragedy, promoting falsehoods, and taking pleasure in reporting about backbiting politicians, the woman no longer knows what to believe. An uncomfortable rumble resides in her chest that doesn’t subside.

I agree that our political system has lost its way, but also believe many individuals haven’t. Though congress and oil magnates may not be combating global warming, private citizens are. Behind closed doors, in homes, and office buildings a great many innovations are being worked on to right society’s wrongs.

For example, Hydrogen Fuel Cell technology is on a fast track to revolutionizing transportation. Hydrogen, the simplest and most abundant element in the universe and a major component of water, oil, natural gas, and living matter, is in great abundance. For years, engineers and scientists have been searching for a way to release the energy in hydrogen to power machines. 

Hydrogen is a fuel that when consumed in a fuel cell produces only water. Turned into electricity it is clean, highly efficient, and has low power loss. Honda began selling Clarity, its fuel cell car, in 2021. Toyota put the Mirai Fuel Cell vehicle on the road this year. General Motors is expanding the market for hydrogen fuel cells beyond vehicles. They are designing emissions-free generators to power large commercial buildings. Manufacturers of autos, busses, trucks, trains, ships and planes have fuel cell designs in the planning.

How wonderful it will be when we can breathe again without ingesting carbon fuels. I’m excited by this technology and what it will do for the planet.

But, fuel cells are only one of many innovations. Biotechnology has spurred a revolution that will impact our lives the most. Watson’s discovery of the Double helix, mapping the human genome, and now CRISPR, a tool to edit genes adapted from a naturally occurring genome editing system in bacteria gave scientists tools for a better understanding of biology. Their labs are opening possibilities in health care and agriculture never before imagined.

Because of CRISPR, scientists developed a vaccine against COVID-19 in one year rather than the twenty years it took for a polio vaccine or 200 years for the one to irradiate smallpox. It won’t be long before we see a vaccine targeted against the Omicron variant.

CRISPER is being tested as a means of curing cancer, sickle cell anemia, and other chronic diseases. It might even be possible to resurrect extinct species. CRISPER benefits the agriculture community by improving crops to be more tolerant to drought, heat, cold, and pests. It is being used to develop crops with a longer shelf life and greater nutritional value.

Excited? There’s more. Agroecology, the science of managing farms as ecosystems, is a burgeoning field. Scientists study ways to build and maintain healthy soil, manage water wisely, minimize air, water, and climate pollution, and promote biodiversity. The emphasis is away from large ag to locally grown produce eliminating long supply chains.

Regenerative farming is the common term used for implementing sustainable methods to grow and harvest produce. Farms are redesigned to enhance biodiversity and eliminate pesticides and herbicides with plants that protect and nourish soils. Regenerative farming is climate-specific agriculture in that it varies depending on threats like droughts, flooding, or rising temperatures. Soil, weed, and pest management are integrated. 

An example of how symbiotic relationships enhance agriculture is in three sisters planting, a practice used by indigenous communities for generations. Corn, beans, and squash seeds planted together help one another thrive. Corn provides tall stalks for beans to climb, wrap around, and stabilize the stalk during heavy winds. The beans have rhizobia that take nitrogen from the air and convert it into forms absorbed by plant roots. Squash plants spread along the ground large leaves that provide shade, retain soil moisture and prevent weeds. A diet of corn, beans, and the squash provides a complete and balanced nutritional meal.

There is so much I could write about–artificial intelligence, robotics, 3D printing, virtual reality, and brain implants that will enable paralytics to operate a smartphone with their mind rather than thumbs. Individual technologies are combined in transformative ways to affect healthcare, supply chains, utilities, and consumer trust. Quantum computing and nanotechnology are leading to small, light, self-contained devices using little energy. We’ll have to save this for another day. 

Suffice it to say, change is occurring at great speed despite so many people languishing hopelessly in their homes. It is worth getting out of armchairs to look past politicians and media pundits and learn what’s going on in the garages, gardens, and labs of innovators. Perhaps you thought you knew your neighbors–check it out. You will find that creativity abounds where you least expect it.

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Do comment on my blog site at www.eichingerfineart.com/blog. What exciting things do you see happening that people aren’t aware of but might enjoy taking time to explore. 

REFERENCES:

CRISPER EXPLAINED

CRISPER stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats.

Palindromes are words that can be read the same way backwards and forwards. They are common in DNA, serving as backups for damage to our genetic code. Some are common in cancer mutations. Crisper allows the information to be inserted in the middle of a DNA sequence. In the case of COVID, The insertion, or spacer, as its called, contains the genetic code of viruses that have invaded in the past and developed immunization

Website: Fuel Cells. Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office. Energy.gov. retrieved from FUEL

Tabb, M.& Gawrylewski, A. & DelVIscio,J. (2021) What is CRISPR, and Why is it so Important. Scientific American, retrieved from CRISPER

Colarossi, N. (2020) How long it took to develop 12 other vaccines in history. Insider. retrieved from VACCINES

Website (2021) What is Sustainable Agriculture? Union of Concerned scientists. retrieved from AGRICULTURE

Eight emerging technologies and six convergence themes you need to know about. EmergingTechnology . retrieved from TECHNOLOGIES

Art is always for sale: Contact me at Marilynne@eichingerfienart.com.

I THOUGHT I KNEW YOU is a 3D painting / 36″ by 18″/ mixed media / framed/ $ 399.

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