richard branson

Cartoon – pen and watercolour 9″ x 12″

all artwork & content Copyright Jean Burman 2008 (C)

The engines had scarcely cooled… and the atmosphere had barely settled across the skies over Heathrow last week… before the naysayers and ne’er do wells were out in force baying at the moon. They wanted blood. They always do. But… in the fallout of mixed press reviews after last week’s historic test flight of a Virgin Atlantic 747 jumbo using an experimental biofuel made from coconuts and the brazillian babassu nut … it was headlines like

Branson’s coconut airways-but jet is on a flight to nowhere

Flight of Biofuel Fancy

Biofuel flight a publicity stunt

Ecoplane a dangerous Branson stunt

Virgin Atlantic bangs two halves of a coconut together and calls it biofuel

which left many readers (including this one) if not “seeing red”… then just a little “green around the gills” ~grin~

Labelled as “high altitude greenwash” by Greenpeace… and a “gimmick” by Friends of the Earth… the test flight predictably met with harsh criticism from green groups and certain areas of the media. But in my view… they missed the point.

In what was undeniably a historical small first step in the quest for cleaner skies and a brighter future for us all… Sir Richard Branson was once again at the forefront of innovation and enterprise in the ground breaking collaboration between Virgin Atlantic Boeing GE Aviation and energy company Imperium Renewables. Marlin Dailey from Boeing said:

“Today’s flight is a continuation of a journey we embarked on last year with Sir Richard and Virgin Atlantic to identify more sustainable forms of fuel for the aviation industry. Change begins with a vision. Following that, innovation and technologies are essential to proving the feasibility of renewable, alternative fuel sources for an environmentally progressive future of aviation. We commend Virgin Atlantic for their efforts to move that vision forward for the betterment of all of us.”

In acknowledging that this was just the first small step… Branson said:

“This pioneering flight will enable those of us who are serious about reducing our carbon emissions to go on developing the fuels of the future… fuels which will power our aircraft in the years ahead through sustainable next-generation oils… such as algae.”

Clearly… this is just a start. But like all good ideas… they have to start somewhere. The first wheel may well have been “square” but it didn’t take long for us to realise that making it “round” would cause it to be a whole lot more efficient!  Creative innovation and enterprise were needed to make the leap… and in the process of discovering “what will do” by first acknowledging “what won’t do”… progress was made.

It’s no different now.

We stand [excitedly] on the forefront of a new frontier. We need to develop new approaches to old challenges. New ways must be found to provide sustainable renewable sources of energy to not only power existing infrastructure… but also to power the infrastructure of the future… much of it beyond our wildest dreams at this point in time.

To this end… we need to keep an open mind as never before. We cannot go back… even though the pundits would have us believe that we should.

“Well, that settles it. We’re going to have to go back to sailing ships (but they might frighten the whales!)” – anonymous poster

But rolling back progress is not the answer. We must go forward. It’s the way of things. So instead of standing in the way of those who would go on ahead to blaze the trail for the rest of us… we should get behind them and help with the push.

And anyone who is willing to invest in excess of $3 billion dollars [and the requisite elbow grease] over the next decade to fight global warming (as Branson has pledged to do)… is worth getting behind don’t you think?

“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

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