New Alternative Energy Source Unveiled at World Energy Congress in Montreal

Welcome to the Power of Art. Worldwide media and thousands of congress goers were energized yesterday by a new alternative energy that, in some ways, at least, seems to make a lot more sense than much of what the conventioneers have gathered in Montreal to yak about.

What happened was that energy, in the form of international headlines, was generated yesterday by an innovative "few cell", that is, a few demonstrators choreographed by a Montreal artist. The dozen or so participants performed a "Black Tide Beach Party" around the fountain at Place Jean-Paul Riopelle, near the Palais des Congress, setting the tone for several hundred demonstrators present.

Broken down to its naked essence, the energy crisis we find ourselves in could be described as a quest to accelerate the demise of the planet.

We race to devise more ways of burning more carbon so we can put more cars on the road in more countries so that more people can drive to whatever jobs and buy and burn more and dirtier oil.

Rather than jump into this insane race to hell on Earth, one Montreal artist, Colin St-Cyr Duhamel, succeeded in putting on a remarkable demonstration of a little-used, though well-proven, energy source, the power of art.

Whereas industry the world over has expended millions of tons of fossil fuels in the efforts to influence opinions and buying habits of consumers, St-Cyr Duhamel managed to consume just a small quantity of carbon-based fuel in the form of crude molasses.

The image at left is a self-portrait by St-Cyr Duhamel from 2006, entitled "Emporte, sans savoir quoi", showing the artist in a fantastically revealing Avatar-esque setting.

I haven't been in touch with the artist or anything but certainly hope he continues to pursue his vision faithfully, with the same clarity.

The power of art is something I have written about in the past on this and other blogs. I believe this to be one of the most viable untapped power sources available to human civilization. Something which has unlimited potential that has had so little attention can only be a huge opportunity
.