By: Jose Luis Caceres
Review of ‘The Carbon Sequester’: “A revolutionary technological breakthrough aimed to act on Climate Change, which brings along a spectacular geopolitical plot. More than a thriller this novel reverberates on the crude reality the world is currently facing and the impending need to act in order to confront it.”
I started writing this article in some sort of readers ‘review’ fashion, but at the end of the day I couldn’t trick myself avoiding sharing what this novel, ‘The Carbon Sequester’, really meant to me.
I believe that most people could relate to the fact that every once in a while, an event, a circumstance, an encounter, or a set of these, strikes and resounds in one’s life with such impetus that catalyzes into a life-changing situation.
Examples of the above abound: The loss of a loved one, the fortuitous encounter of that ‘special’ person, that anxiously expected trip, winning the lottery – or – the fall of the oil price, the loss of a job, the realization and acceptance that climate change is an impending and serious threat to the planet or reading an impacting novel.
Few of the above touched me deeply. Organizing my thoughts after accepting the reality led me to draw a road-map towards an ambitious pursuit and though barricades and setbacks were expected, also were the milestones after the hard work and perseverance. As an update, the journey is underway now and there is no way back.
Well, this article is not necessarily about me, but about the novel that I can count as one of the drivers that coincided with the set of circumstances that provided the grounds for completely redefining the course of my career and to a wider extent, my vision of life.
I recall finishing reading ‘The Carbon Sequester’ at midnight of the 21st of June this year, coincidentally the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. From my location at that time, in the Nordic city of Riga – Latvia, through the window I was able to see the shy presence of sunlight lingering in the horizon despite the wee hours. After completing the book, mesmerized by watching a sunset that never really settled, I couldn’t relax thinking (perhaps inspired by the hero of the novel), that I had a mission, a purpose, and it was perhaps that night when I finally fully agreed that to myself. That mission, that purpose, that quest, was to work for the sustainable future of the planet.
My recollection of dreams when I woke-up the morning after I finished the book, gravitated around the thrilling adventures and misadventures narrated in the novel. The plot of the Carbon Sequester is without a doubt extremely captivating, right from the start all the way to the epilogue, and beyond that, the sequence of events commingled with the meaning and purpose of the writing, and hence its impact at a personal level.
But why did it impact me so much? First, I would like to mention that I actually had the opportunity to meet the author of the novel –Arj Mukherjee– in person, around ten years ago. It was the time when I used to go salsa dancing in the Latin bars in my hometown, Calgary. Arj used to be one of the regulars and whenever neither him nor me were somewhere in the world working in our oil-related assignments, we would run across on the dance floor and between songs and dances we would often share experiences of our respective jobs.
It was interesting for me to learn that though Arj was East Indian – Canadian, he spoke perfect Spanish and that from his position as a chemical engineering consultant, he was an advisor for important energy projects in South American countries, including my country of origin, Peru. From that period of our lives onward, we continued connecting over social media, despite me quitting the salsa scene soon after I settled and started a family, 8 years ago. Then, upon the realization that Arj was in the works for releasing a novel, as he was advertising it, I got intrigued in anticipation, moreover when learning that the plot had to do with a revolutionary technology that had the potential to transform the energy landscape of the world as we know it, while mitigating climate change.
Then, upon purchasing the book online and avidly starting to read it, I realized that I related greatly to the main character -Ricky-. Like Ricky, I used to be an oil-man myself and worked as a petroleum geologist for several years while spending a significant deal of time exploring for oil, offshore Africa. So, there was a vivid reminiscence of me, when in the novel, Ricky was living the life as an oil executive and until the tragic events of the P-220 offshore platform.
During the financially glorious days of a stable 100$/barrel of oil, I neglected my conscience even-though I knew that the world would not be faring very well the more we continued in a business as usual trajectory, bringing more oil online and burning it without restraint. The catalyst for me to shake my head and reprogram my path ahead was the collapse of the oil price. Like many, I didn’t see it coming. The novel captures this well and Ricky didn’t see it coming either.
After my last project in Africa, in June 2015, I followed my wife’s intuition and we moved to Riga – Latvia. I decided it would be my sabbatical which I would use to regroup my ideas and come-up with a plan, at that time I was still in a limbo and getting increasingly concerned by seeing that the industry I once thought I would retire working in, was crumbling before my eyes.
The reconciliation with myself came when I rescued my inner desire to be part of the global and burgeoning movement to mitigate climate change -a drastic shift of career path to say the least- and I realized that I could be a part of this movement, instead of sitting in the sidelines. I had skills and knowledge, I had also a M.Sc. degree in Energy and Environment from University of Calgary, that degree was what brought me to Calgary in the first place, around 16 years ago and now I felt, it was time to use it. That is how I decided to specialize in the fields of sustainable energy development and climate change.
So, whereas in the novel, Ricky worked hard on making its technological breakthrough (CRH -the acronym for Chemically Renewable Hydrocarbons-) a reality, me in a more conventional way, stood with studying and preparing myself for the journey ahead.
Well, the parallels of me and Ricky are drawn until this point, the epic adventures that unfolded in the novel in connection to the geopolitical plot are more than I would wish for. Being a family man, I wouldn’t have felt very comfortable risking my life being chased by a mercenary assassin or a megalomaniac tyrant, which the novel narrates in spectacular fashion.
Luckily for me, and again, interestingly, things are aligning pretty well for what I want as a career goal. Following the Paris agreement on climate change (COP21) the resonance of the impending consequences should humanity chooses not to act on climate is more and more acknowledged, at least by the educated sector of the population and the opportunities that interest me are also coming along. Canada of course is not an exception, specially under the direction of the current government. That is why I decided to return back to Calgary, at a time when many people are leaving or trying to leave the province of Alberta, affected by financial hardship and/or unemployment as a consequence of the ongoing economic downturn.
I think that the philosophy behind karma, which is well depicted in the novel, applies well in reality. Karma, or the fact that we all are interconnected and that each action has consequences, creates very interesting situations, in a way that connects events from the past with unfolding events making one think that it was meant to happen, or that there is a reason for someone to appear in one’s life, or something to occur at a specific moment and time. Well, I believe the events that unfolded in my personal life, briefly portrayed above, even the fact that I read ‘The Carbon Sequester’, happened for a reason.
Lastly, I vehemently share with Arj (and the fictional character, Ricky) the almost utopic vision of making of this planet, our home, a better place to live.
