WEBVTT - A Salty Podcast

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<v Speaker 1>Brought to you by Toyota. Let's go places. Welcome to

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<v Speaker 1>Forward Thinking. Welcome everyone to Forward Thinking. My name is

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<v Speaker 1>Jonathan Strickland. I am your host extraordinaire, joined by my

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<v Speaker 1>co hosts extraordinaire Joe McCormick and Lauren Vocalbon. And today

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<v Speaker 1>we wanted to talk a little bit about H two

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<v Speaker 1>O and UH and how we get salt out of

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<v Speaker 1>salt water? And well why are we even talking about

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<v Speaker 1>this show? Well, around the world, water scarcity is actually

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<v Speaker 1>a big problem. Now. There's lots of water on planet Earth.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean the surface of the Earth, it's covered in water,

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<v Speaker 1>but about more than of that water is saltwater. We

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<v Speaker 1>can't use it. We can't drink it, we can't use

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<v Speaker 1>it for agriculture, we can't use it in cooking. I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>it's just not very useful to us. Um and in

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<v Speaker 1>fact um in two thousand seven, the World Health Organization

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<v Speaker 1>estimated that forty percent of the people on Earth are

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<v Speaker 1>affected by water scarcity. Right, And so if there were

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<v Speaker 1>some way to use that salt water, that could go

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<v Speaker 1>a long way to alleviating some of that water scarcity issue. Right.

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<v Speaker 1>And the water scarcity manifest in a lot of ways.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean, in some ways, it's just that people can't

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<v Speaker 1>get clean drinking water, and that's obviously one of the

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<v Speaker 1>biggest things, and it's useful for sanitation and all these

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<v Speaker 1>things too, but it's also crucial in getting the food

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<v Speaker 1>we need. I mean, I think the figure is that, um. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United

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<v Speaker 1>Nations UH, seventy percent of the water worldwide is used

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<v Speaker 1>in agriculture of the consumptive water use. So not only

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<v Speaker 1>are we having a water scarcity issue, but this could

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<v Speaker 1>also be a food scarcity issue. I mean, when you've

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<v Speaker 1>got so much of your water tied up in the

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<v Speaker 1>production of food sources, then it makes it doubly important

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<v Speaker 1>to get that access to fresh water. And then on

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<v Speaker 1>top of that, uh, you know, water scarcity is is

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<v Speaker 1>not just regionalized, but it also can be dictated by circumstance.

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<v Speaker 1>For example, UH, after a a natural disaster like like

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<v Speaker 1>a massive hurricane hits an area, that can mean that

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<v Speaker 1>there is a at least temporary shortage of of access

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<v Speaker 1>to clean water. So this is a one of those

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<v Speaker 1>problems that is persistent in some areas and sort of

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<v Speaker 1>an acute problem in other areas in the aftermath of

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<v Speaker 1>some sort of of natural disaster or catastrophe. Um. And

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<v Speaker 1>as a result, it's a good idea to try and

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<v Speaker 1>find ways of of addressing this, including desalination right which

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<v Speaker 1>people are working on. The industry has grown about fifteen

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<v Speaker 1>percent a year recently. They're currently sixteen thousand plants operating today.

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<v Speaker 1>And uh, that's it's the the entire things expanded something

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<v Speaker 1>like two d and seventy six percent since two thousand one.

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<v Speaker 1>And it's a and encourage number. I mean, the problem

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<v Speaker 1>is that desalination is uh, it's well, I guess, to

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<v Speaker 1>use a terrible metaphor, it's a drop in the bucket.

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<v Speaker 1>Uh yeah, I mean there's the water scarcity issues can

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<v Speaker 1>can be offset somewhat by desalination, but it's hard to

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<v Speaker 1>really address the problem head on completely with it. However,

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<v Speaker 1>before we get into the drawbacks or the the other

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<v Speaker 1>the you know, the enormity of the problem, maybe it's

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<v Speaker 1>a good time to actually talk about how we go

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<v Speaker 1>about removing salt from salt water. Uh. And this is

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<v Speaker 1>a practice that is you know, it's it's centuries old. Well, yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>I mean the simplest one, the one you've already thought of.

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<v Speaker 1>Is you boil it. Yeah, yeah, the the simple distillation process.

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<v Speaker 1>Or actually, you don't even have to boil it. You

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<v Speaker 1>can just leave it out in the sun and reproduce

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<v Speaker 1>the natural process of evaporation that creates the water cycle

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<v Speaker 1>on Earth. So as long as you have something to

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<v Speaker 1>catch it, yeah, you just let let it evaporate and

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<v Speaker 1>then it'll drip down into a Yeah. Here, here's a

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<v Speaker 1>fun science experiment for you to try at home. You

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<v Speaker 1>get a bowl of saltwater and you get an empty glass.

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<v Speaker 1>You put the empty glass into the bowl of saltwater.

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<v Speaker 1>You cover the whole thing up with some plastic wrap,

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<v Speaker 1>maybe poke a hole in there, put it out in

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<v Speaker 1>the sun for several hours. You're going to have the

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<v Speaker 1>water evaporate from the bowl of saltwater. Uh, and it

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<v Speaker 1>will end up condensing on the plastic wrap and dripping

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<v Speaker 1>down into the glass. So the water you get in

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<v Speaker 1>the glass is drinkable. Everyone should do it. By the way,

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<v Speaker 1>you should not drink the saltwater, because your cells, in

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<v Speaker 1>an effort to dilute the massive amount of minerals that

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<v Speaker 1>are coming into your system, will start to UH to

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<v Speaker 1>push water out of the cells. And this is a

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<v Speaker 1>bad thing. In fact, it can eventually result in kidney

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<v Speaker 1>failure and uh, then you can have something called death,

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<v Speaker 1>which is what we generally like to avoid. Why you

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<v Speaker 1>don't drink saltwater. So we've been boiling water to boiling

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<v Speaker 1>saltwater to get the fresh water out of it for

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<v Speaker 1>hundreds of years, but recently we've gotten some much more

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<v Speaker 1>advanced techniques of this. Right, it's better than distillation. It's

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<v Speaker 1>it's boiling two point oh. It's a procedure called multi

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<v Speaker 1>stage flash where they they have different chambers of very

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<v Speaker 1>rapid heating that that violently boils the water and then

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<v Speaker 1>reapplies steam to the chambers of new water to uh

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<v Speaker 1>to create a rapid and efficient boiling process. Right. Right,

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<v Speaker 1>so you've got uh, you're you're boiling the water multiple

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<v Speaker 1>times in order to get as much fresh water out

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<v Speaker 1>of that saltwater as possible. You're left with fresh water

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<v Speaker 1>in one container and a very salty brine in the other,

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<v Speaker 1>which is good for marinating pork chops. Actually it's not

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<v Speaker 1>good for much of anything. That's one of the the

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<v Speaker 1>issues about desalination. But again, I guess we can we

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<v Speaker 1>can wait till we get to the end of the

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<v Speaker 1>whole discussion there. So, yeah, I mean that's that's a

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<v Speaker 1>very uh popular method of getting fresh water out of saltwater.

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<v Speaker 1>But then there's also the use of reverse osmosis. How

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<v Speaker 1>does how does that work? Because I mean, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>osmosis is the basic thing which says that when you've

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<v Speaker 1>got a membrane between between two liquid solutions, one with

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<v Speaker 1>more stuff in it and the other with less stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>the solutions want to even each other out. Right, Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>that's essentially what osmosis is. Well, yeah, but so you

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<v Speaker 1>get a you get a semi permeable membrane, meaning that

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<v Speaker 1>it's going to allow some things to go through, but

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<v Speaker 1>it's going to restrict other things. Yeah, And upon one

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<v Speaker 1>side of that membrane you put salt water and then

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<v Speaker 1>you use pressure to push the saltwater through the membrane,

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<v Speaker 1>and then fresh water comes to the membrane. The salt

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<v Speaker 1>is restricted. It's essentially filtered out by this membrane. You

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<v Speaker 1>have to use lots of lots of pumps to do this.

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<v Speaker 1>Actually uses quite a bit of energy. It uses less

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<v Speaker 1>than boiling the water does, but yeah, it's still it's

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<v Speaker 1>still energy hungry, so you are pumping water, essentially pushing

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<v Speaker 1>the fresh water through this membrane and retaining the salt. Also, uh,

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<v Speaker 1>the water that you get on the other side of

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<v Speaker 1>the membrane may not be um perfectly salt free. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>some salt particles can get through, depending upon the type

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<v Speaker 1>of membrane you're using. Uh. And also there are other

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<v Speaker 1>issues with this, but it's it's um a way to

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<v Speaker 1>process a lot of water in a relatively short amount

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<v Speaker 1>of time. So it's uh, there are a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>desalination plants that use this approach to It does also

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<v Speaker 1>mean that you've got a lot of moving parts, so

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<v Speaker 1>things like the pumps or even the membranes themselves have

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<v Speaker 1>to be maintained and replaced on a regular basis. So

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<v Speaker 1>there's an ongoing cost of manufacturing and maintaining these pieces

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<v Speaker 1>in order to keep the the plant in working order.

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<v Speaker 1>So yeah, that's another method. There's a method that's essentially

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<v Speaker 1>uses gravity. Now this is a very small scale desalination technique.

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<v Speaker 1>It's you know, the when you're talking about a desalination plant,

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<v Speaker 1>you're talking about on the level of millions of gallons

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<v Speaker 1>of water. But for the gravity method, it's really more

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<v Speaker 1>for something like a community, you know, you think of

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<v Speaker 1>a small community, not like a major city. And UH

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<v Speaker 1>essentially is a series of filters that are vertically stacked,

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<v Speaker 1>and you pour the salt water at the top and

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<v Speaker 1>gravity pulls it downward and as it passes through the filters,

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<v Speaker 1>it filters filter out all the salt until you get

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<v Speaker 1>fresh water at the bottom. So it's like using the

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<v Speaker 1>potential energy of gravity in place of the pumps you'd

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<v Speaker 1>use in a reverse house moss plant. Right. And again

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<v Speaker 1>it's a much smaller scale. We're not you know, we're

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<v Speaker 1>not talking about something that's gonna be producing millions of

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<v Speaker 1>gallons of fresh water. Right. Well, some of these plants

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<v Speaker 1>are pretty impressive. That I was reading about the Carl's

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<v Speaker 1>Bad desalination project and that that's um a plant that's

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<v Speaker 1>under construction now in the San Diego area. UM and

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<v Speaker 1>San Diego is one of these places that's that's good

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<v Speaker 1>for a desalination project because it's dry, but it's on

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<v Speaker 1>the coast, so it has access to water, but not

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<v Speaker 1>as much fresh water. UM and this plant, what they're

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<v Speaker 1>claiming is that they will be able to supply fifty

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<v Speaker 1>million gallons per day that's fresh water. That would that

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<v Speaker 1>would be an enormous offset. Obviously, that would be fantastic.

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<v Speaker 1>And of course there are other communities that have even

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<v Speaker 1>or you know, even large cities that have even less

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<v Speaker 1>access to fresh water than someplace like San Diego does.

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<v Speaker 1>A lot of places in the Middle East use desalination. Sure,

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<v Speaker 1>Saudi Arabia, I think is currently the largest producer of

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<v Speaker 1>desalination plants. Also, what's interesting to me is that culturally,

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<v Speaker 1>in some of these areas, especially in the Middle East,

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<v Speaker 1>desalinated water is thought of as being inferior to water

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<v Speaker 1>that was just fresh to begin with. Like it's yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>there's actually a cultural perception that the water tastes UH

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<v Speaker 1>differently and that it has h an unhealthy effect on one.

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<v Speaker 1>UH tests have not borne that out, but the perception

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<v Speaker 1>is there. And of course if the perception is there,

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<v Speaker 1>that can really you know, that can really shape people's

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<v Speaker 1>behavior and adoption of these sort of technology. So some

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<v Speaker 1>of the some of the obstacles to desalination are culturally based,

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<v Speaker 1>not even technologically based. So we've looked at these couple

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<v Speaker 1>of techniques UM and so they can both be very

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<v Speaker 1>effective for producing water in a dry area that borders

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<v Speaker 1>the ocean, but they're still pretty energy hungry. Reverse osmosis

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<v Speaker 1>is better, but can we do any better than this? Well,

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<v Speaker 1>that's a good question. That is the question of the day.

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<v Speaker 1>I think. Yeah. I mean, if you've got these methods

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<v Speaker 1>of removing salt from salt water to get fresh water,

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<v Speaker 1>but they require huge amounts of energy. Really you're talking

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<v Speaker 1>about an energy problem, not just a water problem. I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>where where does this energy come from? And that's a

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<v Speaker 1>big question to ask. I mean it's it seems, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>simple on the face of it, but when you really

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<v Speaker 1>start to think about it, if you have to burn

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<v Speaker 1>fossil fuels in order to generate fresh water, really your

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<v Speaker 1>problems are kind of shifting. You know. It's even if

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<v Speaker 1>you get enough fresh water, you are still having the

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<v Speaker 1>problem of having to depend upon fossil fuels. You also

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<v Speaker 1>have the problem of pollution. So how do you get

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<v Speaker 1>around that. One method might be to try and harness

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<v Speaker 1>solar power to generate the energy needed to run these

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<v Speaker 1>desalination plants. Um that would be a very clean way,

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<v Speaker 1>relatively speaking. I mean you have to take in the

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<v Speaker 1>account what it what it takes to build a solar panel.

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<v Speaker 1>But yeah, there and and there's rare earth minerals and

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<v Speaker 1>things of that nature that you have taken. Everything is

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<v Speaker 1>a big picture when you ultimately look at it. But

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<v Speaker 1>but the generation of the power itself would be clean

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<v Speaker 1>using solar energy. Uh. The only issue there really is

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<v Speaker 1>being able to generate enough solar energy to provide what

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<v Speaker 1>is necessary for running a plant. Luckily, I guess you

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<v Speaker 1>could say for a lot of these areas where a

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<v Speaker 1>desalination plant is is most needed, they also tend to

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<v Speaker 1>get a lot of sunlight, So you could if you

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<v Speaker 1>were able to build an efficient enough solar panel and

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<v Speaker 1>then build a rays of these solar panels entire solar farms,

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<v Speaker 1>you could generate the energy needed to run a desalination plant,

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<v Speaker 1>which in turn would generate the fresh water you need.

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<v Speaker 1>You still have to find a way to dispose of

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<v Speaker 1>the brine in a way that's that's uh responsible, because

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<v Speaker 1>the brine itself is very dense. It's got a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of salt content. Remember, I mean, that's where all that

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<v Speaker 1>salt was before. You know, when you got all the

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<v Speaker 1>saltwater exactly most of the time it ends up is

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<v Speaker 1>runoff in a freshwater river. Which of course is not

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<v Speaker 1>good for the natural wildlife. Yeah, and you're talking about

0:12:45.320 --> 0:12:47.360
<v Speaker 1>even if you just dumped millions of gallons back in

0:12:47.360 --> 0:12:49.520
<v Speaker 1>the ocean, that can't be good for the local wildlife

0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:52.840
<v Speaker 1>because because this stuff sinks down and then it immediately

0:12:52.880 --> 0:12:58.599
<v Speaker 1>starts to uh to really impact the oxygen producing elements

0:12:58.800 --> 0:13:02.840
<v Speaker 1>in the ocean. So you start to really make a

0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:06.680
<v Speaker 1>severe impact on the local area and uh and of

0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:09.160
<v Speaker 1>course that ends up being kind of a domino effect

0:13:09.559 --> 0:13:13.120
<v Speaker 1>and you get this whole uh Ian Malcolm chaos theory

0:13:13.200 --> 0:13:18.280
<v Speaker 1>problem that ultimately results in dinosaurs eating somebody. But of

0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:23.280
<v Speaker 1>course he would say that life uh finds. But sorry,

0:13:23.320 --> 0:13:26.840
<v Speaker 1>go ahead. Well, I wanted to ask another question. Why

0:13:26.880 --> 0:13:31.040
<v Speaker 1>can't we just manufacture water? Now? Think about it here.

0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:36.880
<v Speaker 1>Water is two parts hydrogen, one part oxygen. Yes, we

0:13:36.960 --> 0:13:38.960
<v Speaker 1>know exactly what's in it and how to make it.

0:13:40.120 --> 0:13:42.800
<v Speaker 1>And these are some of the most abundant elements in

0:13:42.840 --> 0:13:46.160
<v Speaker 1>the universe. So why is it that we can't just

0:13:46.360 --> 0:13:49.960
<v Speaker 1>make water? Well, we could, I mean we would need

0:13:50.480 --> 0:13:54.280
<v Speaker 1>a lot of energy. Yeah. Well, also, Joe, we need

0:13:54.320 --> 0:13:57.120
<v Speaker 1>we need to get that that hydrogen. That's the problems.

0:13:57.320 --> 0:14:01.080
<v Speaker 1>See hydrogen hydrogen, Yes, extremely plentiful in fact, the most

0:14:01.120 --> 0:14:05.440
<v Speaker 1>plentiful element in all of the universe. However, or at

0:14:05.480 --> 0:14:10.600
<v Speaker 1>least our galaxy. However, hydrogen on Earth does not really

0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:15.840
<v Speaker 1>have It doesn't doesn't really occur unbonded very free. Yeah,

0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:18.440
<v Speaker 1>there's there's a little bit of free hydrogen on Earth,

0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:21.840
<v Speaker 1>but really, you know, percentage wise, it's a very small amount.

0:14:22.200 --> 0:14:25.360
<v Speaker 1>Most of hydrogen on Earth is bonded to something else,

0:14:25.840 --> 0:14:28.240
<v Speaker 1>and in order to get at that hydrogen, you have

0:14:28.320 --> 0:14:32.080
<v Speaker 1>to expend energy to free the hydrogen from whatever it

0:14:32.120 --> 0:14:35.600
<v Speaker 1>is it's bonded to. For example, um salt water, I

0:14:35.600 --> 0:14:38.320
<v Speaker 1>mean ocean water. There, You've got lots of hydrogen. You know,

0:14:38.360 --> 0:14:40.400
<v Speaker 1>I've got all that hydrogen right there in the ocean.

0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:46.320
<v Speaker 1>That's really probably the biggest and most accessible, uh source

0:14:46.360 --> 0:14:49.000
<v Speaker 1>of hydrogen that I can think of. So I guess

0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:52.520
<v Speaker 1>if you ran electricity through ocean water, we just need

0:14:52.560 --> 0:14:59.800
<v Speaker 1>to process this ocean water somehow. If only there were

0:14:59.800 --> 0:15:02.640
<v Speaker 1>a a to process ocean water so that you pull

0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:05.240
<v Speaker 1>the hydrogen out and the oxen out and then combined

0:15:05.320 --> 0:15:07.440
<v Speaker 1>it to make fresh water. I mean, you could just

0:15:07.480 --> 0:15:10.920
<v Speaker 1>boil the stuff, that's what you could do. But I mean,

0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:13.320
<v Speaker 1>why not run electricity through it? So that you could

0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:16.920
<v Speaker 1>use electrolysis to free that button. Yeah. No, that's the

0:15:16.960 --> 0:15:19.400
<v Speaker 1>problem is that you go right back to that energy

0:15:19.480 --> 0:15:24.160
<v Speaker 1>issue is without a source of hydrogen, you really can't

0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:29.240
<v Speaker 1>manufacture water in any way that makes sense. There's just

0:15:29.600 --> 0:15:32.440
<v Speaker 1>especially when when there are other ways of getting at

0:15:32.480 --> 0:15:36.080
<v Speaker 1>the water that are less energy intensive than you're playing

0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:38.880
<v Speaker 1>a losing game. So that's why there are there are

0:15:38.960 --> 0:15:40.960
<v Speaker 1>new new processes that are coming out. One of the

0:15:40.960 --> 0:15:44.640
<v Speaker 1>newer ones is called an ion concentration polarization. And this

0:15:44.760 --> 0:15:47.800
<v Speaker 1>this basically just a runs an ion current through a

0:15:47.880 --> 0:15:52.120
<v Speaker 1>nonporous membrane, and salt and larger particles like bacteria and viruses,

0:15:52.160 --> 0:15:54.320
<v Speaker 1>stuff that you don't really want your water anyway, are

0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:58.360
<v Speaker 1>are pushed away from the membrane and clean water flows

0:15:58.360 --> 0:16:01.520
<v Speaker 1>through it. Wow, that sounds so like Star Wars E

0:16:01.840 --> 0:16:06.360
<v Speaker 1>the wait, the membrane repels it and any any kind

0:16:06.400 --> 0:16:09.720
<v Speaker 1>of charged anything, it's going to deflect right away from

0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:11.680
<v Speaker 1>the membrane, and so so the brian kind of goes

0:16:11.760 --> 0:16:14.680
<v Speaker 1>up away and the and the fresh water flows directly

0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:17.200
<v Speaker 1>through it. Um and this a keeps the membrane clean,

0:16:17.240 --> 0:16:19.000
<v Speaker 1>so you don't have to get at all dirty and

0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:21.600
<v Speaker 1>gunky and clean it or replace it all the time. Um.

0:16:21.720 --> 0:16:24.360
<v Speaker 1>And and I bet those and the other plants get

0:16:24.440 --> 0:16:29.000
<v Speaker 1>pretty grimy. Yeah, oh yeah, I'm sure. Uh and and yeah,

0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:32.360
<v Speaker 1>and it unfortunately only really works on a very small scale. Again,

0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:34.640
<v Speaker 1>this is a this is a personal community kind of thing.

0:16:34.640 --> 0:16:37.400
<v Speaker 1>They're using in a lot of rescue operations. I think

0:16:37.480 --> 0:16:41.080
<v Speaker 1>during Katrina they hurt some ground units for something. And

0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:43.120
<v Speaker 1>and this sort of stuff is great for those those

0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:46.320
<v Speaker 1>acute problems we were talking about. For a persistent issue

0:16:46.360 --> 0:16:49.680
<v Speaker 1>where you have to deliver a significant amount of fresh

0:16:49.720 --> 0:16:53.440
<v Speaker 1>water to a large population on a continual basis, obviously

0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:57.280
<v Speaker 1>that would not be the ideal solution. Uh. The good

0:16:57.320 --> 0:16:59.560
<v Speaker 1>news is that there are a lot of companies working

0:16:59.560 --> 0:17:01.360
<v Speaker 1>on this. Like like you said, Lauren, I mean, this

0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:05.360
<v Speaker 1>is an industry that has grown, you know, considerably over

0:17:05.400 --> 0:17:09.359
<v Speaker 1>the last several years. And uh and I've I've personally

0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:13.000
<v Speaker 1>spoken with an engineer over at a General Electric that

0:17:13.240 --> 0:17:18.119
<v Speaker 1>was all about designing desalination plants and finding new ways

0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:21.600
<v Speaker 1>to make the more efficient so that it is less

0:17:21.680 --> 0:17:25.800
<v Speaker 1>of an energy investment to uh, to to create fresh

0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:28.359
<v Speaker 1>water from saltwater. And this is a problem that's not

0:17:28.400 --> 0:17:31.439
<v Speaker 1>going to go away anytime soon. I mean, obviously this

0:17:31.520 --> 0:17:35.080
<v Speaker 1>is something that we're going to have to really concentrate on, uh,

0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:37.919
<v Speaker 1>in order to support our communities. Uh. Some of us,

0:17:38.000 --> 0:17:40.160
<v Speaker 1>you know, are very fortunate that we live in places

0:17:40.240 --> 0:17:44.000
<v Speaker 1>where access to fresh water isn't such a an issue.

0:17:44.480 --> 0:17:47.159
<v Speaker 1>But uh, for other people, I mean, this is this

0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:49.360
<v Speaker 1>is a fact of life. It's just an ongoing thing

0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:52.639
<v Speaker 1>that they're going that they have to solve. So I'm

0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:56.000
<v Speaker 1>really optimistic about the future in general, and I think

0:17:56.000 --> 0:17:59.200
<v Speaker 1>technology is going to play a large role in making

0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:02.920
<v Speaker 1>in howlping us get access to fresh water. But Joe,

0:18:02.960 --> 0:18:04.960
<v Speaker 1>I think you would agree with me that technology is

0:18:05.000 --> 0:18:08.200
<v Speaker 1>only going to play one part and that i'll significantly

0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:10.720
<v Speaker 1>large part of this is going to have to require

0:18:10.840 --> 0:18:16.640
<v Speaker 1>some some behavioral changes. Oh right, I mean you cannot.

0:18:16.680 --> 0:18:19.679
<v Speaker 1>As far as we know that, there's no quick, easy

0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:22.159
<v Speaker 1>technological solution to this. Like we said, we've got this

0:18:22.280 --> 0:18:26.119
<v Speaker 1>energy barrier. There's always a huge amount of energy that

0:18:26.240 --> 0:18:30.640
<v Speaker 1>you would need in order to get fresh, clean water

0:18:30.760 --> 0:18:32.800
<v Speaker 1>to the people who need it. And so one of

0:18:32.840 --> 0:18:36.600
<v Speaker 1>the easiest solutions, one of the most viable solutions, is

0:18:36.640 --> 0:18:42.320
<v Speaker 1>just to use less, conserve better, and and manage more efficiently. Right,

0:18:42.480 --> 0:18:44.680
<v Speaker 1>it's a little bit outrageous that we hear in America

0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:48.719
<v Speaker 1>use fresh water fresh drinking water in our toilets and

0:18:48.720 --> 0:18:50.960
<v Speaker 1>and that kind of thing is just incredibly wasteful and

0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:54.239
<v Speaker 1>there's no really good infrastructure way to get around that

0:18:54.359 --> 0:18:57.080
<v Speaker 1>right now. But yeah, it is one of those things

0:18:57.080 --> 0:19:01.000
<v Speaker 1>where during the whole design process us for it, I

0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:04.480
<v Speaker 1>don't think anyone was thinking, hey, you know, maybe we

0:19:04.480 --> 0:19:07.600
<v Speaker 1>should find some way of using gray water in order

0:19:07.640 --> 0:19:10.000
<v Speaker 1>in these systems, in order to conserve the fresh water,

0:19:10.600 --> 0:19:13.240
<v Speaker 1>because it's just, you know, why worry about it. You've

0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:17.280
<v Speaker 1>got plenty of access to freshwater all the times everywhere. Yeah,

0:19:17.320 --> 0:19:19.120
<v Speaker 1>but it's it's definitely one of those things that we

0:19:19.160 --> 0:19:21.359
<v Speaker 1>have to think about. And uh and Joe, you know,

0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:24.600
<v Speaker 1>in in the video episode of Forward Thinking, I think

0:19:24.640 --> 0:19:27.200
<v Speaker 1>you you really nailed it. You said changes are coming,

0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:30.840
<v Speaker 1>and they have to because without them, we're going to really,

0:19:31.000 --> 0:19:33.160
<v Speaker 1>especially depending on on where in the world we live,

0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:36.320
<v Speaker 1>we're going to be facing some really tough, tough problems

0:19:36.320 --> 0:19:39.520
<v Speaker 1>in the in the foreseeable future. So you know, we

0:19:39.520 --> 0:19:43.840
<v Speaker 1>we have to take responsibility and accountability and make these

0:19:43.920 --> 0:19:48.080
<v Speaker 1>changes so that, uh, so that future generations don't suffer

0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:52.040
<v Speaker 1>for it. Thank you for agreeing with the point that

0:19:52.080 --> 0:19:55.399
<v Speaker 1>you made the video series. I appreciate that. Joe. I

0:19:55.400 --> 0:19:56.920
<v Speaker 1>was afraid you were going to leave me out there.

0:19:57.000 --> 0:19:59.960
<v Speaker 1>I was like, He's like, you know, changed changed my mind.

0:20:00.119 --> 0:20:04.080
<v Speaker 1>Turn on all the faucets please, Okay, okay, Well, I'm

0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:07.040
<v Speaker 1>glad that we got that out all the way. All right, guys,

0:20:07.040 --> 0:20:10.760
<v Speaker 1>remember Forward Thinking it's a video series. We've got it

0:20:10.840 --> 0:20:14.040
<v Speaker 1>launched and going and it's it's fantastic. I could not

0:20:14.119 --> 0:20:17.840
<v Speaker 1>be happier with it. Uh. The website is fw thinking

0:20:17.920 --> 0:20:20.679
<v Speaker 1>dot com. We're on Facebook, We're on Twitter, We're on

0:20:20.720 --> 0:20:23.600
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0:20:23.720 --> 0:20:26.480
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0:20:26.480 --> 0:20:29.560
<v Speaker 1>what future topics get you really jazzed, and what do

0:20:29.600 --> 0:20:31.600
<v Speaker 1>you want to see us tackle because we want to

0:20:31.640 --> 0:20:33.600
<v Speaker 1>hear from you if we want to take those topics

0:20:33.680 --> 0:20:37.280
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0:20:37.359 --> 0:20:39.560
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0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:44.560
<v Speaker 1>to you again really soon. For more on this topic

0:20:44.600 --> 0:20:54.840
<v Speaker 1>and the future of technology, visit forward thinking dot com,

0:20:55.000 --> 0:20:57.800
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