The Plot to Cool the Planet
Sam Bleicher
Copyright © 2018 The Strategic Path LLC
All rights reserved
First Edition, released Earth Day, April 22, 2019
Second printing, October 2019
NEWMAN SPRINGS PUBLISHING
320 Broad Street
Red Bank, NJ 07701
First originally published by Newman Springs Publishing 2018
This book is a work of fiction. Except for known public figures, all individuals in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to individuals living or dead is coincidental. All events described occur in a hypothetical future and are a product of the author’s imagination.
ISBN 978-1-64096-289-7 (Paperback)
ISBN 978-1-64096-290-3 (Digital)
Printed in the United States of America
Table of Contents
For humanity, in the hope we can survive an existential threat spanning centuries past and future for which neither evolution nor experience has prepared us, with our only tools intellect, imagination, and courage.
Chapter 1
At Sea
The excursion to the Buddhist shrine is the perfect opportunity to meet her, he thought. Sri Lanka was the seventh stop on the twenty-one-day cruise, and he was ready. He had noted her well-tailored wardrobe, elegant jewelry, and lighthearted conversations with passengers and crew. He was confident he understood her personality and style.
He caught her eye and tentatively offered a slightly ironic, cynical comment.
“For a mere mortal, the Buddha certainly seems to have acquired some superhuman qualities, don’t you think?” The remark was designed to provoke a longer conversation. She took the bait.
“Well, perhaps he actually was more in tune with the universe than the rest of us,” she rejoined.
“Maybe so, but I’m not persuaded yet.” After a bit more good-natured sparring, he introduced himself.
“I’m Mark O’Mara, from Ireland.”
“Ingrid Halvorson, from the Netherlands,” she answered carefully.
“Really? I would have expected Halvorson was Swedish.”
“It is. My family moved to Amsterdam when I was a child. I still speak some Swedish.”
The conversation flowed from there. Ingrid was delighted to talk about something more intellectually stimulating than the weather and the food, though she was enjoying both. Mark was younger, more charming, and more sophisticated than most of the cruise passengers. After a bit, he suggested dinner at La Petit Brasserie, the French dining room aboard the ship. She cheerfully accepted.
The Royal Asia Explorer was the world’s newest, most exclusive cruise ship. Though registered as a Canadian flag vessel to reassure passengers and minimize taxes, it was conceived, owned, and managed by an Italian line. This trip was the ship’s maiden voyage from Dubai to Bali and Singapore, and the June weather was perfect.
The next day was at sea, crossing the Bay of Bengal. Mark and Ingrid spent most of it together, eating and talking. They eased into the subject of world affairs and found similar perspectives on climate change and global politics. She found him intelligent and well-informed, appropriately dressed, and aware of which fork to use at dinner.
They danced that evening around the pool under a full moon as the ship glided toward Myanmar. By dinner the next day, she was entranced, and he seemed equally intoxicated with her.
The three years since the election of President Donald Trump had been a continuing public policy disaster from her perspective. The paralysis of global climate policy particularly distressed her professionally and personally.
Climate