Robert William Falls - Carbon Play: The Candid Observations of a Carbon Pioneer

PRAISE FOR CARBON PLAY

Have just reread your Salish Sea piece and I love it it is perfect and beautifully written.

DR. JANE GOODALL, internationally renowned primate researcher and conservationist

Carbon Play is a sweeping chronicle of travels, cultures, science and technology unlike any other book on the climate crisis. Roberts Fallss extensive explorations have taken him to the four corners of the earth, and from every different vantage point comes a useful nugget of information on oceans, forests, climate and the technological breakthroughs that make a post-carbon world within reach.

ELIZABETH MAY, OC, MP for SaanichGulf Islands,
Leader of the Green Party of Canada

Carbon Play is an important, timely and very readable contribution to the dialogue around carbon markets and climate change. The book does not profess to be a comprehensive review of the literature relating to carbon markets and thats to its advantage. Rather, the author successfully meshes science with experiences and accounts from his own personal journey. Such an approach proves to be very successful in making this key and complex issue more accessible to a new and broader audience.

MARK ANGELO, founder of World Rivers Day

A delightful personal journey through the carbon landscape. Refreshingly easy to read though dealing with a monumental global issue.

DR. JOHN WIEBE, founder and chairman of The Globe Foundation

Robert Falls has done well laying out his life as a veteran carbon explorer. I like the way he has combined science (explained in easy to understand language), autobiography (his life has not been boring), and some hopeful and practical solutions for mitigating, adapting and innovating towards a safer future. People like Robert, rather than the climate change deniers or hysterics, will help us limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

MIKE HARCOURT, former mayor of Vancouver, former premier of British Columbia

CARBON
PLAY

The Candid Observations
of a Carbon Pioneer

ROBERT WILLIAM FALLS

Copyright 2017 by Robert William Falls

First Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, audio recording, or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher or a photocopying licence from Access Copyright. Permissions and licensing contribute to a secure and vibrant book industry by helping to support writers and publishers through the purchase of authorized editions and excerpts. To obtain an official licence, please visit accesscopyright.ca or call 1-800-893-5777.

RMB | Rocky Mountain Books Ltd.

rmbooks.com

@rmbooks

facebook.com/rmbooks

Cataloguing data available from Library and Archives Canada

ISBN 9781771602181 (softcover)

ISBN 9781771602198 (electronic)

Cover design by Chyla Cardinal

Distributed in Canada by Heritage Group Distribution and in the U.S. by Publishers Group West

For information on purchasing bulk quantities of this book, or to obtain media excerpts or invite the author to speak at an event, please visit rmbooks.com and select the Contact Us tab.

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and the Canada Council for the Arts, and of the province of British Columbia through the British Columbia Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this book are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the publishing company, its staff or its affiliates.

This book represents some highlights of one carbon pioneers career path, spanning the years 1978 to 2017.

The book is largely anecdotal. It is not intended to provide a comprehensive review of carbon markets but rather a collection of stories, accounts and insights surrounding one mans journey.

To learn in detail about current carbon markets, and the status of international carbon and climate policies, readers are directed to an ever-growing body of literature readily available from bookstores and online sources.

This book I am dedicating to Linda Gwennyth Kabush Dickinson, who as a young librarian purveyed me the tools and the impetus to write.

Beyond providing me my first journal, complete with a karma repair kit, a haiku, and some of her own prose, Linda connected me with such literary upstarts as Leonard Cohen, Tom Wolfe, Tom Robbins, Richard Bach and Annie Dillard.

The early 70s were positively alive, and these creative minds, along with the extraordinary illuminations flowing through them, were a big part of the reason why.

Sadly, tragically, Linda passed away on January 9, 2017, a few days before I set off for Thailand to finish the book. She had read my work, all but the final chapter, and I know from our last discussion that she was very happy about it. Even though it had arrived very late, while she felt her own life fleeting, Linda knew her vision would be manifest.

Linda opened the door to brilliant minds, challenge, exuberance and joy.

I am forever grateful.

For the Life of this Planet

The way the red sun surrenders

its wholeness to curving ocean

bit by bit. The way curving ocean

gives birth to the birth of stars

in the growing darkness

wearing everything in its path

to cosmic smoothness.

The impulse of stones rolling

towards their own roundness.

The unexpected comets of flying fish.

And, Forest, Great-Breathing-Spirit,

rooting to the very end

for the Life of this planet.

Grace Nichols

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

I first wish to acknowledge Connie Spiers for a range of efforts, from her gentle encouragement to the relentless application of her red pen. Until Connie became involved, the book was a future project she made sure it happened.

Tianyi Kou took the time from her graduating year at UBC to secure the references of an unfamiliar field, and I thank her for doing so with a constant smile.

Many other people participated in Carbon Play, some knowingly, most not. I cannot list them all, but in order of their appearing on my path I wish to thank:

Linda Kabush, librarian extraordinaire, for introducing me to the literature of Man and Nature;

Professor Emeritus Les Lavkulich, Resource Management Science, for revealing to me a viable path forward and challenging me to navigate it;

Professor Iain E.P. Taylor, Curator of UBCs Botanical Garden, for being my first and final biology teacher;

Professor (the late) Glenn Rouse for bringing colour, humanity and light into science;

Dr. (the late) Alex Peden, Curator of Marine Biology at the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, for giving me my first real job as a biologist;

Gordon and Ann Mohs, anthropologists, for sharing their Babine Lake island camp and for some magic moments that continue to mystify;

Debbie Brill, high jumper extraordinaire, for her unmitigated joyfulness, free thinking and athletic discipline;

Jimmie Wright, photographer, for his fun, his appreciation of all things wild, his eloquence and his artistic skills;