When it comes to taking on global warming, few ideas are as audacious as the one put forward by Mark Anderson, the Friday Harbor-based CEO of Strategic News Service who has a knack for identifying technology trends. The idea sounds simple: Take the tons of carbon dioxide spewing from our industrial plants and transform it into graphene, a form of carbon just one atom thick but 200 times stronger than steel, more conductive than copper, harder than diamond, extremely elastic and one millionth the thickness of a human hair. Turn that substance into “ink” for a 3-D printer and use it to manufacture everything.

Such a plan, Anderson believes, would drastically lower the amount of CO 2 sent into the atmosphere while simultaneously creating a new, sustainable manufacturing sector producing graphene-composed objects ranging from buildings and vehicles to electronics and clothing.

Several years ago, Anderson, a longtime fan of graphene, challenged a group of high-tech executives and scientists at his annual “Future in Review” conference to help verify and formalize his idea of using graphene to address global warming. He then sent a copy to every member of Congress. No one responded. In January, tired of waiting for others to act, Anderson formed the Carbon Trifecta (carbontrifecta.org), a Seattle-based nonprofit with the goal of making the idea a reality. “It seems as though no one is working on the most important aspect of the problem of global warming: How do we behave over the next 30-year transition [to renewables] without destroying the planet on the way to saving it?” Anderson explains. “We don’t think industry would find this solution set on its own.”

To lead Carbon Trifecta, Anderson tapped Andrew Himes, a former Microsoft executive who cofounded the Microsoft Developer Network and led the first web development project at Microsoft before becoming a nonprofit startup specialist. He was the founding executive director of the Charter for Compassion International, an organization whose goal is to encourage people to live by the principle of compassion.

“I have known Andrew for over 20 years and he represents the perfect combination of passion, technical knowledge and experience with both for-profit and philanthropic enterprises,” Anderson notes. “Most important, it took him about 10 minutes to comprehend the importance and utility of the Carbon Trifecta, and no time at all to come on board.”

When he first heard about the idea, Himes says he thought, “That sounds way too cool to be true.”

However, after learning more about graphene, what it looks like at the nano level and how it can connect to other nano carbons, Himes says, “I became convinced this could be the idea that could create a sustainable and flourishing future environment for human beings.”

Carbon Trifecta aims to bring Anderson’s grandiose vision to life by supporting and encouraging advances in science, financing, knowledge sharing and cooperation among countries and industries with respect to graphene. The startup nonprofit has a staff of two and is in the midst of raising $3 million in seed funding through Kickstarter, foundations and individual philanthropists.

Scientists are hot on graphene. “The unification of all these amazing properties in a one-atom-thin membrane makes graphene a promising candidate for a variety of applications, from ultra-high-speed optical, electrical and optoelectronic devices to new work in optomechanics, optical and electrical interconnects and biosensors,” says Xiaodong Xu, a scientist at the University of Washington who has been working on the application of graphene in photoelectronics since 2009. A UW colleague, Mehmet Sarikaya, sees graphene as a promising interface between biology and electronics for surgically implanted bioelectric devices that can alter the body’s own processes to treat such afflictions as arthritis and high blood pressure. At Washington State University, Yuehe Lin, a professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering and a laboratory fellow at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), has developed a graphene-based portable biosensor that makes it easier to detect harmful bacteria like E. coli.

The Boeing Company has secured a number of patents involving graphene. “Boeing sees potential in using graphene to make aircraft lighter and more fuel efficient while maintaining safety and reliability,” Boeing spokesman Tom Koehler says. “Presently, we are not utilizing graphene on our airplanes due to the maturity of the technology. We will, however, continue to track developments associated with graphene since it offers many opportunities across various markets, including aviation.”

Indeed, most experts say the science needed to deliver on Anderson’s ideas is still years away.

“It’s a wonderful idea, but a hard thing to do,” says James Tour, a professor of materials science and nanoengineering at Rice University in Houston. Tour holds more graphene patents than any other individual in the United States, and he says graphene research is still in a nascent stage, lacks funding and can’t be produced at a reasonable cost. “Graphene is very much a cottage industry,” says Tour.

Tour’s patents are being used to produce nano particles that can be used in laundry detergents and upholstery for brighter colors as well as in LED displays and other electrical and medical applications. To the extent that research is being done at any extensive level, says Tour, it’s happening in places like South Korea and China, where government backs the research.