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Mitchell Rabin Interviews Blue Planet Founder, Henk Rogers

Continuing the ongoing narrative of the importance of showing the world solutions to Global Warming, reducing the carbon footprint and moving away from the use of fossil fuels, Mitchell’s guest today is becoming a force of Nature in this space, Henk Rogers, CEO of Blue Planet Foundation.

Henk Rogers is one of the world’s leading advocates and activists for reducing, and eventually eliminating, humankind’s dependence on fossil fuel. He is the founder, visionary and chairman of the board at Blue Planet Foundation, a public charity in Hawaii whose tireless efforts helped pave the way for the nation’s first policy requiring that 100% of the state’s electricity come from renewable sources by 2045.

In 2015, Henk founded Blue Planet Energy, one of the leading providers of energy storage systems (i.e., batteries) that power homes, businesses and critical infrastructure. The company’s innovative Blue Ion technology is advancing the safety, reliability and efficiency of battery systems and microgrids.

Henk is also the co-founder and president of Blue Planet Research, an applied science and engineering laboratory that has designed and built off-grid renewable energy infrastructures, Blue Ion energy storage systems, HI-SEAS Mars/Moon simulation habitats and hydrogen production systems.

Henk also founded Blue Startups, Hawaii’s first venture accelerator for local technology entrepreneurs.

He is now focusing beyond Hawaii to help others enact mandates for 100% renewable energy in their regions. He has spoken at three Inter-Parliamentary Union assemblies, where he convinced 178 member countries to declare climate change an emergency.  

His newest initiative, Blue Planet Alliance, aims to unite people, organizations and countries to create a world where humanity and nature live in harmony.

Furthermore, Henk is also the founder of the International MoonBase Alliance, which enables multinational collaboration between space agencies, companies and academic institutions to help launch a sustainable human presence on the Moon and beyond. Henk also serves as chairman of the Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems (PISCES), a state agency under the Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism of Hawaii working to position Hawaii as a leader in space exploration.

Prior to focusing on environmental protection and space exploration, Henk was a pioneer in Japan’s fledgling computer game industry and developed the Black Onyx, the first role-playing game in Japan. He is perhaps best known to mainstream video game enthusiasts as the Managing Director of the Tetris Company, which controls the worldwide licensing rights to Tetris, one of the most popular video games in history. 

 
Mitchell Rabin is the Founder, President and CEO of A Better World Promotions & Media, with a background in psychology  stress management, acupuncture and social entrepreneurship. He is a counselor, and executive coach all as a means of educating and inspiring clients and students alike to lead others by modeling humane, eco-sensitive and integrity-based values.  He has been a consultant to business leaders and CEOs of green and health-oriented start-ups over the past  25 years. He is an impassioned environmentalist and social entrepreneur using media, the cultural arts & business as agents for change. 
 

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Mon., 7-27-20, 7pm EST: Mitchell’s guest today is Duane Elgin, an internationally recognized speaker, author, and social visionary who looks beneath the surface turbulence of our times to explore the deeper trends that are transforming our world. In 2006, Duane received the International Goi Peace Award in Japan in recognition of his contribution to a global “vision, consciousness, and lifestyle” that fosters a “more sustainable and spiritual culture.”

His books include: The Living UniverseWhere Are We?  Who Are We? Where Are We Going? (2009); Promise AheadA Vision of Hope and Action for Humanity’s Future (2000), Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life that is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich (2010, 1993 and 1981), and Awakening Earth: Exploring the Evolution of Human Culture and Consciousness (1993). With Joseph Campbell and other scholars he co-authored the book Changing Images of Man (1982). In addition, Duane has contributed chapters to twenty-two books, and has published more than a hundred major articles and blog posts.

In the early 1970s, worked as a senior staff member of a joint Presidential-Congressional Commission on the American Future looking ahead from 1970 to 2000. He then worked as a senior social scientist with the think-tank SRI International where he coauthored numerous studies of the long-range future; for example, Anticipating Future National and Global Problems (for the President’s Science Advisor), Alternative Futures for Environmental Policy (for the Environmental Protection Agency), The Future of the Automobile (for the Ford Motor Co.), and Limits to the Management of Large, Complex Systems (for the President’s Science Advisor).

As a speaker, Duane has given more than 300 keynotes and workshops with audiences ranging from business executives and civic groups to churches and college students.

For the past three years, he has been the executive director of a project that has brought together more than a dozen “Great Transition Stories” that offer new cultural narratives for our collective imagination and that can serve help guide us toward a sustainable and meaningful future. He is now developing a growing number of collaborations with organizations in business, film and media, colleges and universities, and more.

He has an MBA from the Wharton Business School, an MA in economic history from the University of Pennsylvania, and an honorary Doctor of Philosophy for work in “ecological and spiritual transformation” from the California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, CA.

Over the past thirty years, Duane has co-founded three non-profit organizations working for media accountability, citizen empowerment, and a trans-partisan ‘community voice’ movement using the television airwaves legally owned by the public.

Duane is married to Coleen LeDrew Elgin, and he is also a father and grandfather.  Duane and Coleen have collaborated on various projects such as the video overview of Duane’s book, The Living Universe and a book they co-authored, Living Legacies..

His professional website is: www.GreatTransitionStories.org

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