I am feeling less than in full control of my life in this covid-19 times. So, my first act to get back control is to abbreviate the naming of the coronavirus to just C-19. Ah, that feels better already.

Next, I realized that an excellent second position about control is to identify areas that I can influence.

Currently, the boringly simple concept of flattening the curve is an example. I can have fun with that phrasing and think it applies to my stomach profile. That helps. I have control over that curve.

With C-19 so much a part of my everyday life, I thought I’d move past C-19 for a time to reflect on other things.

What would be one invention that would help change the world that I’d like to create? This challenge assumes many things, so let’s not complicate this worrying about assumptions. That will only end the fun too soon.

To guide my thinking so as not to be overwhelmed, I’ll pick just one area as an example, food security.

Food security needs soil or similar growing medium, water, fertilizer and energy. There needs to be a transportation method to move food from where it is grown to where it is purchased and consumed. It also needs storage capabilities, both the long and short term.

That seems simple enough I said to myself. More than half in jest.

My invention would be a scalable flat, interlocking panel that would deliver the first 4 basic necessities. Homeowners and renters could buy or rent just one panel if that was all the space or interest, they had available.

Companies, including farmers, could invest in as many panels as they wished up to quarter sections or more.

So far, this invention would reduce the cost and logistics of transportation as an issue, as foods grown would be consumed locally.

Storage? Food can’t be consumed, reliable, as quickly as it is grown. We need to store it safely while preserving the nutritional value. I need a 10-year-old with imagination still intact to figure this part out. Maybe an automatic harvester, that would cool or freezer the crop and move it by pipelines to long term storage warehouses.

What would you dream as your one invention to change the world? Think like a 10-year old.

Would it address the energy sector? What about carbon capture and climate change? What about institutional change to take on the big ideas with significant risks. These benefits usually pay-off longer than 4 years and the next election? What institution would you invent, or would it be an institution at all?

Now here’s where we turn the corner with our ideas. Try to identify somewhere or somehow where you can put your brainpower, time and energy to support action that will get us closer to creating your invention.

Hopefully, for a short while, you forgot about C-19 and felt inspired.

My thanks to St. Albert Seniors Association: 780-459-0433 for making this Blog possible.

Glenn Walmsley
Volunteer