I was driving in the car a couple of months back when I heard a quip from the reporter on WNPR about anyone who wanted to buy a light house was invited as TWO were going up for sale in Long Island Sound this summer. I did a double take when I heard that because I keep a pretty good eye on the goings on of Long Island Sound and I had no idea that the Feds were planning to do such a thing. And me without my check book!
Would I buy the light houses of Connecticut if I could? You betcha- 1) They are treasured assets for our State that my Dad spent his life admiring through his art work 2) They have always stood by as guardians and watch towers for wayward boaters and believe it or not, I have spent many a day wandering the Sound feeling lost. But 3) and maybe most importantly, once they are gone, they are not coming back.
You may not have tried to build a dock in Long Island Sound, but I have - two of them in fact and its HARD- from the marine environment to the Government regulations to the cost of materials, labor and time, anything built on the Sound is a challenge. And the Light Houses of Long Island Sound are nothing short of miraculous that they were not just built but stand to this day, albeit a little worse for wear. Once they fall, they will be gone and no one will ever be allowed let alone be able to rebuild them. And so when I heard Saybrook and Penfield were to be sold and soon after found out New London Ledge is to be transferred, I said lets try it.
Why me and CCB? There's lots of folks interested in New London and Penfield has been given away once already- Lots of people want them, why not let them do it? Well I can tell you from my insights into Goose Rocks where I stayed earlier this summer and from what I saw of New London Ledge that has been under the care of New London Ledge Lighthouse Foundation for the last 27 years: Just cause you get a light house, doesn't mean you get what its all about to own a light house.
In both cases, GR and NLL, the Lights are in severe degradation. You wouldn't know it from the new paint on the walls or the interesting displays in the newly rehabbed keepers rooms. They are great tourist spots or museums, but they are not viable aids to navigation because their is no human boating knowledge at the helm of those two lights and the priorities they are putting forward as stewards of their respective lights to protect them is misdirected into making them fun to visit and not protecting them for perpetuity as watchtowers for boaters.
Cape Hatteras Light in NC is loved and protected and a shining example of what to do for all light houses- and the key stone to that protection was moving it to more stable ground. Every light house in this Country is at risk due to sea level rise- and every one has some sort of Achilles heel that will be exposed when the tide rises during the next Cat 5 Hurricane. Any action taken to restore a light that does not have that key principal in mind is time and money wasted in my opinion. And when we had the money and interest in the 1990's, when Hatteras Light was saved, we should have taken action to save as many of the lights as we could.
I know, hind sight is 20/20 but if we are going to save our light houses for the next century, I want the ball.
This week, a step forward was made but step back was also made. A step forward was had because we got one step closer to making CCB the new owner of New London Ledge Light House. The step back was that Saybrook Breakwater Light bumped up in the auction to $245,000. We don't know where the bidding will stop and the GSA will declare the Light sold, but at $245K that day is likely to come soon and with it, a million license plates will become advertising for someone's private property. Uggh if I only had a benefactor.
But my vision for all that needs fixing doesn't stop at Light Houses, although if I could make everyone into a watch tower to protect boaters for perpetuity, I would.
I also have a vision to help kids learn, save the Oceans from trash poisoning and create a Navy of floating facilities that will usher us into a rebirth of the age of the Sea for the next century. But it will all come down to resources if my ideas will come to fruition. The good part, the Ocean is still a bastion of Freedom. The bad part is it is still as expensive as ever to access.
And so if I am to do all I want to do- Save the Light Houses, Build a School Ship, Create a Network of Community Boating Programs, Build a Floating Emergency Shelter for Disaster Victims and the Homeless, and harvest the world's floating garbage patches, I will need enough to buy Manhattan ...twice.
The only way I can do that is to develop a plan that will be as profitable as it is positive. And I have an idea. Its just an idea right now but a good idea I think. I'm going to use the power of capitalism to serve the common good on a global scale. Rather than create a multinational corporation that robs the environment of resources to line the pockets of shareholders, I want to create a multinational corporation that uses the proceeds of ocean cleanup to invest in the future for our world's Oceans and its people. It can be done. By undoing the damage that the current world has done to itself, using things like tidal flow, ocean trash, invasive species and the acidification of the world's oceans, we can develop new technologies that can undo the damage that currently exists.
It is possible to do right now and quite frankly being done on small scales all over the place. But not enough people are investing in it to have any real impact and there is no clearing house or central force working behind these technologies to use them to make a bundle of capital and tide of good. We need a Bill Gates for Good to stand up and say, I have the money, lets mobilize the resources to make it happen. And if the world needs another Bill Gates, why can't it be me?
While my endeavors have lead me to take on small battles on local scales, I want to leverage my current efforts on to new platforms in new places around the world and develop a for-profit mechanism to address the global issues which will affect the remainder of my life, and the life of my unborn children. I don't think I will devise the next personal computer system that revolutionizes the way we live, but the Robber Barons of the 19th Century were no way smarter than Bill Gates and they did all right for themselves? The Pollution in Long Island Sound is a testament to how successful the white men of the 19th and 20th Century were.
But all those who have gone before us, did so to make a lot of money for themselves and their shareholders. Oh sure some did some really nice things- We wouldn't have things like the National Seashore or Yale New Haven Hospital if the rich didn't believe in charitable giving. But the current tax code and the current state of affairs in the Charitable world is not mobilized to do big things any more here in the US and some have argued that the Non-Profit world will falter in the next century. Oh we are fighting Global Hunger and Aids in Africa and that's truly important, but what is the point of saving millions of lives to have them washed out to sea in a Cat 7 Hurricane because their village became an island due to sea level rise? As I said it's gonna take a boat load of cash to do all the things I want to do but it has to happen.
So rather than continue to work within the 501c3 world to address this issue as a non-profit leader, I think I will be that much more successful doing it as corporate mogul of a for-profit international maritime enterprise. If you cant beat em, join em right?
But I wont do it fishing or whaling, I wont do it drilling for Oil in the Gulf of Mexico. I wont do it as a Shipping Mogul. Those things aren't on my resume or in my wheel house. But picking up trash, has also made a bundle for Wayne Huizenga (Waste Management Founder) and while that is not in my wheel house on land, it is on the sea. I have picked up tons of trash.
I have lots of experience picking up floating trash, but how do you make money doing it- well that's for me to know and you to watch. Yes I have an idea. But its an idea that if I share it, I may lose it, so lets just say, my global efforts will involve things like picking up sea-born trash and the like. The question is how will I make a bundle doing it? Doing it better than anyone else.
So that is the plan and the idea, will it work? Who knows! But is it worth trying even if I fail? Even if I die trying? You betcha. The effects of a total failure have to be better than not trying. While I haven't succeeded to my satisfaction in my efforts here in Connecticut, I don't think you could call what I have done a total failure. So stay tuned- it should be fun to watch- but that's just my opinion.
 |
| New London Ledge Light, built in 1909 and made of brick, the water of the 1938 Hurricane reached the second deck- wonder what will happen when the Cat 5 storm hits and water is up to the third deck with a compromised foundation? |
You may not have tried to build a dock in Long Island Sound, but I have - two of them in fact and its HARD- from the marine environment to the Government regulations to the cost of materials, labor and time, anything built on the Sound is a challenge. And the Light Houses of Long Island Sound are nothing short of miraculous that they were not just built but stand to this day, albeit a little worse for wear. Once they fall, they will be gone and no one will ever be allowed let alone be able to rebuild them. And so when I heard Saybrook and Penfield were to be sold and soon after found out New London Ledge is to be transferred, I said lets try it.
 |
| $245,000- for this rock bottom price you can own your own light house that used to be the Icon of Connecticut- Save those license plates folks, they will be collectors items some day cause any day now the gavel will fall and Saybrook Breakwater Light will become the only State-sponsored bed and breakfast complete with all the free advertising you can ask for. |
In both cases, GR and NLL, the Lights are in severe degradation. You wouldn't know it from the new paint on the walls or the interesting displays in the newly rehabbed keepers rooms. They are great tourist spots or museums, but they are not viable aids to navigation because their is no human boating knowledge at the helm of those two lights and the priorities they are putting forward as stewards of their respective lights to protect them is misdirected into making them fun to visit and not protecting them for perpetuity as watchtowers for boaters.
 |
| Cape Hatteras was moved in 1999 when times were better, now that the economy has failed and isn't looking up any time in the near future, the feds are unloading these lights into private hands- but no one is asking the new owners what they will do when the tide rises and doesn't go back down. |
I know, hind sight is 20/20 but if we are going to save our light houses for the next century, I want the ball.
This week, a step forward was made but step back was also made. A step forward was had because we got one step closer to making CCB the new owner of New London Ledge Light House. The step back was that Saybrook Breakwater Light bumped up in the auction to $245,000. We don't know where the bidding will stop and the GSA will declare the Light sold, but at $245K that day is likely to come soon and with it, a million license plates will become advertising for someone's private property. Uggh if I only had a benefactor.
But my vision for all that needs fixing doesn't stop at Light Houses, although if I could make everyone into a watch tower to protect boaters for perpetuity, I would.
 |
| The Ex Navy Dive Barge- Down to a budget ready price of $550K, I still have a mind to buy this old girl and turn her into something amazing. I have the idea, but the funds that's another story. |
I also have a vision to help kids learn, save the Oceans from trash poisoning and create a Navy of floating facilities that will usher us into a rebirth of the age of the Sea for the next century. But it will all come down to resources if my ideas will come to fruition. The good part, the Ocean is still a bastion of Freedom. The bad part is it is still as expensive as ever to access.
And so if I am to do all I want to do- Save the Light Houses, Build a School Ship, Create a Network of Community Boating Programs, Build a Floating Emergency Shelter for Disaster Victims and the Homeless, and harvest the world's floating garbage patches, I will need enough to buy Manhattan ...twice.
 |
| This is a research vessel I eyed a few years back- What if we had a ship like this at the ready the next time a natural disaster hit- or a deep freeze had us worried humans would freeze to the sidewalk in New Haven? |
The only way I can do that is to develop a plan that will be as profitable as it is positive. And I have an idea. Its just an idea right now but a good idea I think. I'm going to use the power of capitalism to serve the common good on a global scale. Rather than create a multinational corporation that robs the environment of resources to line the pockets of shareholders, I want to create a multinational corporation that uses the proceeds of ocean cleanup to invest in the future for our world's Oceans and its people. It can be done. By undoing the damage that the current world has done to itself, using things like tidal flow, ocean trash, invasive species and the acidification of the world's oceans, we can develop new technologies that can undo the damage that currently exists.
It is possible to do right now and quite frankly being done on small scales all over the place. But not enough people are investing in it to have any real impact and there is no clearing house or central force working behind these technologies to use them to make a bundle of capital and tide of good. We need a Bill Gates for Good to stand up and say, I have the money, lets mobilize the resources to make it happen. And if the world needs another Bill Gates, why can't it be me?
While my endeavors have lead me to take on small battles on local scales, I want to leverage my current efforts on to new platforms in new places around the world and develop a for-profit mechanism to address the global issues which will affect the remainder of my life, and the life of my unborn children. I don't think I will devise the next personal computer system that revolutionizes the way we live, but the Robber Barons of the 19th Century were no way smarter than Bill Gates and they did all right for themselves? The Pollution in Long Island Sound is a testament to how successful the white men of the 19th and 20th Century were.
 |
| The Future of Long Island Sound and our World's Oceans is in our hands. Why wait for someone else to step up and do it, I will do it myself |
But all those who have gone before us, did so to make a lot of money for themselves and their shareholders. Oh sure some did some really nice things- We wouldn't have things like the National Seashore or Yale New Haven Hospital if the rich didn't believe in charitable giving. But the current tax code and the current state of affairs in the Charitable world is not mobilized to do big things any more here in the US and some have argued that the Non-Profit world will falter in the next century. Oh we are fighting Global Hunger and Aids in Africa and that's truly important, but what is the point of saving millions of lives to have them washed out to sea in a Cat 7 Hurricane because their village became an island due to sea level rise? As I said it's gonna take a boat load of cash to do all the things I want to do but it has to happen.
So rather than continue to work within the 501c3 world to address this issue as a non-profit leader, I think I will be that much more successful doing it as corporate mogul of a for-profit international maritime enterprise. If you cant beat em, join em right?
 |
| The Tole Mour, a school ship in Cali could move here. When I make my fortune she'll be long gone, or will she? Cross your fingers |
But I wont do it fishing or whaling, I wont do it drilling for Oil in the Gulf of Mexico. I wont do it as a Shipping Mogul. Those things aren't on my resume or in my wheel house. But picking up trash, has also made a bundle for Wayne Huizenga (Waste Management Founder) and while that is not in my wheel house on land, it is on the sea. I have picked up tons of trash.
I have lots of experience picking up floating trash, but how do you make money doing it- well that's for me to know and you to watch. Yes I have an idea. But its an idea that if I share it, I may lose it, so lets just say, my global efforts will involve things like picking up sea-born trash and the like. The question is how will I make a bundle doing it? Doing it better than anyone else.
So that is the plan and the idea, will it work? Who knows! But is it worth trying even if I fail? Even if I die trying? You betcha. The effects of a total failure have to be better than not trying. While I haven't succeeded to my satisfaction in my efforts here in Connecticut, I don't think you could call what I have done a total failure. So stay tuned- it should be fun to watch- but that's just my opinion.
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