My Approach and Some of My Experience

My goals reflect the teachings of ancient sage to do good without calling attention
to myself with the belief this will benefit the greatest number of people. Learning
by listening, doing by understanding, seeking to satisfy and to never disappoint.
Leaving quietly knowing good people will continue.
A wise prudent ancient ruler received his greatest scholars advice: DO NOT BUILD
SOCIETY UPON ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES, It will destroy peoples dignity. The ruler
agreed building a society of moral virtue, and belief in the inherent goodness of
people. We should carefully study the wisdom of the past.

Careful Study and Analysis

Identification and Buy-In of Stakeholders
Team Building
Educational Programs
Review and Strengthen

1988 I returned to Vietnam for the first time since the end of the war. It was an
emotional experience and to be honest, there was some trepidation that followed
me there. However, after less than 48 hours, the uncertainties were being replaced
y a sense of intense curiosity on my part and on the part of the Vietnamese people I
encountered.
Environmentally Clean Communities
During the next several years I spent more and more time in Vietnam. At first,
because of the US Trade Embargo, I could not do anything beyond studying the
conditions and making friends. With the lifting of the Trade Embargo, things
changed and I began to provide consulting services to such companies as Motorola,
Bandag, Stanford University, and some others. These activities led me into various
parts of Vietnam and the observations I generally formed where of a country
impacted by poverty and severe economic challenges but also a country with a high
level of literacy and a population of people who were able and willing to work
diligently.
Looking around I began to think about how it might be possible to create
programs for economic development that would build on the capacity of the people,
the existing resources, and programs that would fill needs of the society.
The obvious choices would center on agricultural developments.
An intense period of study began. Reading large numbers of books and articles that
addressed existing methods of development in a poor and not yet developing
country. It seemed to me that these programs were best highlighted in a book titled

The Road to Hell. Not an easy book to read but important as it looks with great
skepticism at charities and how and to some considerable extent why they exist.
The other area of study was associated with religious based organizations who were
active in developing programs for the rural poor. For a variety of reasons I found
these programs to be not of interest to the goals I envisioned.
I had earlier in my life been involved in commercial fishing and water treatments.
These earlier activities had led me to identify technologies and methods that could
be considered a program for development.
I know one thing. While I was quite passionate about what I was doing. I knew that I
could not possibly do it alone. So I reached out to some friends and associates and
we formed what became a think tank that we at first called Environmentally Clean
Communities or ECC. Over time people with expertise in aquaculture, agriculture,
renewable energy, housing, education, health care, water, economics, and more
came to participate in the work of ECC.
For the next couple three years considerable efforts were undertaken to identify
best methods for what we hoped would be the implementation of the initial ECC
development.
These efforts identified the potential and opportunity to create an engine for
development utilizing intensive aquaculture and agriculture. Our requirement for
100 hectors of land would allow the development of a sustainable ECC for one
hundred families. The projected revenues from the combined and integrated
activities were greater than $20 million USD per annum based on a total invested
amount of less than $5 million USD.
We looked at how to be able to create a program that would provide for the
members who came to work in the organization, the rural poor, to become owners
and equity participants. Our attention was gradually drawn to cooperatives and as
a model, the Mondragon Cooperative of the Basque region of Spain in particular.
All the models for assisting the rural poor that we identified fell into what we
perceived to be two general categories. First was aid. In principle this amounted
to NGOs and other forms of charities coming into a community and making gifts of
such things as tools and water pumps. Of course the spectrum is much greater.
The second followed the concepts of the Grameen Bank and the provision of small
loans albeit at very high interest ratesat times greater than 40%. From our
perspective the first type of aid fell into the descriptions presented in The Road to
Hell whilst the second we felt offered opportunities but the costs to the borrower
were exhorbatent and were aimed at city dwellers as opposed to those living in the
rural areas.
Our goals were to create a viable program that would keep people on the farm, so
to speak, rather than seeing them go off to the ever growing cities that were
infested with filth and crime.
Our realization was an awakening.

As a simple example, suppose an investor wishes to build a factory or other type of

commercial enterprise. Such investor brings the capital, know how, technology,
and other necessary and required materials builds the necessary infrastructure,
identifies, hires and trains people, and then starts the enterprise.
We had already identified that a ECC development was projected to earn $20 Million
USD and more per annum based on a total investment of less than $5 Million USD
staged over a three year period.
Our insight was that approaching the creation and development of an ECC program
could be done as if an investor was building a factory. We, as the creators could
also present that the 100 families should be provided the opportunity over time
through their sweat equity to become partial owners in the ECC program where they
lived and worked.
Discussions we thereafter had with a broad variety of international organizations
indicated that our approach was unique and attractive. This was bottom up
economic development rather than trickledown economics. The only negative
comment that was offered to us was from a party in the Development Bank of Brazil
who said this type program was very much needed in the rural areas of Brazil but
that it would not workwhen asked why his comment was that middle class
would not allow it to happen because they would be threatened by the new upward
mobility of the theretofore rural poor.
During these efforts we also created an acronym for our program which is REED
Rural Economic and Environmental Development.
In addition to creating an engine for sustainable development, we envisioned
distance learningremember this was in the late 1990s before this idea became
the commonplace idea we now know and expect. In addition, there would be proper
housing, programs for sanitation, health care programs, renewable energy, and
especially programs for the maintenance and development of the family unit. While
economic development was of critical importance, these others programs aspects
could not be compromised from our perspective.
An unexpected issue we came to understand in our discussions with such
organizations at the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, African Development
Bank, UNEP, UNDP, we came to discover what we felt was a hidden trap in trying to
work with these organizations. They have what they call a transparency
requirementin principle while they liked out concepts, for them to provide
financial support would need to be done through a local government support
together with a requirement at all parts of the program be broken into pieces and
then bid upon by various vendors of similarbut not necessarily equal technology.

Consulting and Business Development

A considerable amount of my personal work efforts since the early 1990s has been
directed toward the improvement of water conditions. Without water we as a
species and society cannot survive.

As much of this early work was done in Vietnam a country then of extreme poverty
and without any budget to implement, it was incumbent upon be to (1) understand
their needs, (2) identify technologies and processes that would fulfil those needs
(3) seek ways in which funding could be identified and committed in order to
implement the needed programs.
Over time I was successful in these efforts and a series of projects ranging in size
from less than $100,000 USD to more than $4 billion USD have been undertaken.
These successes led me into China were several projects to restore some horrible
lakes and canals was undertaken. Working in a country such as China is fraught
with difficulties. One of the greatest disappointments was to watch a project to
clean and restore a large lake in Central China go from very successful to a
complete failuredue to a lack of the Chinese government to enforce its regulations
and allow a powerful special interest to continue the polluting that his factory was
doingruining our efforts and costing the local government a rather large amount
of money.

Solid waste is an ever growing challenge and a serious health problem. Working as
a consultant I have been involved in studies that examine existing programs as well
as for the creation of new programs. These efforts have taken me to China,
Vietnam. Mexico, Saudi Arabia, to name a few. While the solutions are not
necessarily complex or of particular difficulty to implement, political will to solve
the problems is a continuing issues. Another interesting aspect was that for Mexico
City the solid waste dump is very largevery large The site is also controlled by a
local mafia that allows some but not all to enter and scavenge for a fee. In this
efforts to implement treatment become complicated.

Energy is a critical need and requirement for our present and future society. Whilst I
have undertaken studies and made recommendations for renewable solar-thermal
power plants for Saudi Arabia, I have also been involved in negotiations and project
coordination for Gas-Thermal Power plants in Mexico.
Wastewater and sewage collection and treatment programs have taken a
substantial amount of my time over the years. The lack of such systems in much of
the world is dishearteningespecially since both collection and treatment can be
implemented without huge capital coststhis has been a benefit of my early work
in Vietnam where I needed to identify technologies and methods that would be
suitable but not outside the ability to pay. I find it curious that in some countries
they have the budgetary capability but are unwilling to undertake such work, I
believe, because of social norms that make planning and even discussion of such
needs unacceptable.

Food production may have reached a peak production point. There are some who
believe this. What I have determined is that most thinking and planning for food

production reverts back to methods that have been utilized since the earliest days
of human civilization. These methods have offered and provided for societal
sustenance and growth until now, but I am prepared to argue they should be
supplemented with methods that are not as land, water and labor intensive. There
are a multitude of examples around the world that can be utilized as models for
development and implementation in other parts of the world where food is now
imported.

Aquaculture has a deservedly bad reputation in much of the world today. However,
this is totally unnecessary. Models of environmentally sound intensive production
(as much and more than 25 kgs/m3/yr have been proven effective, safe, and
reliable.

Job creation is a critically important field of activity. Being able to position and
develop tens and hundreds of thousands of well paid, interesting, needed jobs has
become a breaking point for many governments. Without jobs people are unable to
buy food, when food is unavailable then political and social stability are negatively
impacted and social upheaval and political change occurs.

An important aspect of job creation, for government policy makers, is the support
mechanisms for societal stability. These complex issues need to be carefully
considered and programs for their adaption and implementation carefully studied.

Climate Chang is a game breaker on virtually all accounts. Yet, if we, as a society,
continue to approach problems and challenges with the same thinking and
programs that have now led us to this point in time, there is little or perhaps no
reason to believe that solutions can and will be identified and implemented. Special
interests abound and yet these special interests are also made up of people who
have families and children. Creating programs that offer new opportunities, that do
not lead to further social degradation, that can be rapidly implemented offer hope.

We have the tools

We have the needs
What we do not have is time to waste

Doe more information and discussions please contact:

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