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kristopher

(29,798 posts)
Thu May 10, 2012, 08:56 PM May 2012

Make No Small Plans: Turning On The Lights For 1.4 Billion People

Make No Small Plans: Turning On The Lights For 1.4 Billion People


At the recent Fortune Brainstorm Green conference which I attended in Laguna Niguel, California,...

<snip>

But, for me, it was an international theme that really grabbed my attention. While the U.S. is currently mired in pre-election clean-tech bashing and partisan shenanigans, it was a simple, straightforward, high-impact presentation by Michael Elliott, president and CEO of the poverty-alleviation-focused nonprofit ONE (One.org), that turned my head. In a packed room, he asked us to imagine living after dark in one of the many places in the developing world without access to electricity (the daily reality for about 1.4 billion people globally). Then, he literally turned off the lights. No video, no music, nothing…and then he kept talking, and said this is what it would be like living in the tens of thousands of villages, favelas, and other outposts that have no, or limited, electricity.

“So just think for a second,” Elliott said in the blackened hotel conference room, “what you, with all your dreams, your brainpower, those synapses firing off, how your life would have been different if you had to cope with the fact that around six or seven [every] evening your life went dark. And I’ll tell you what, it wouldn’t have been easy.”

With the lights back on, he then outlined a program, spearheaded by the United Nations and supported by business, foundations, governments, and nonprofits like his, that could help to change the equation. The goals of the program, named Sustainable Energy for All, are both simple and aggressive. By 2030:
- Ensure universal access to modern energy services. (95 percent of the people without access to modern energy live in sub-Saharan Africa or developing Asia.)
-Double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency. (Investing in energy efficiency is a low-cost method of creating jobs, fostering economic growth, and improving energy security, especially for countries that lack domestic fossil-fuel resources.)
-Double the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix. (Increase energy from renewable resources—wind, water, the sun, biomass and geothermal — from 15 percent of the global energy mix to 30 percent.


...

As I think about it more, perhaps the goals aren’t so audacious after all. The mission set forth, while grand, seems achievable. And the call to action is at once both motivational and grounded. We face significant ecological, economic, and social challenges of historic proportions on a global scale, and need to have realistic “stretch” goals. I think Sustainable Energy for All might just be the mantra/meme many of us are looking for.


http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/05/02/474340/make-no-small-plans-turning-on-the-lights-for-14-billion-people/
14 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Make No Small Plans: Turning On The Lights For 1.4 Billion People (Original Post) kristopher May 2012 OP
I like "Sustainable Energy For All" - please submit it on http://the99percentvotes.com GregOrr May 2012 #1
That is amazing RobertEarl May 2012 #2
Plentiful off grid electricity + wireless phone/internet = ??? kristopher May 2012 #3
$100 a month RobertEarl May 2012 #4
Where do you get $100 a month. kristopher May 2012 #5
It's what I pay RobertEarl May 2012 #6
That's what I thought. kristopher May 2012 #7
Right-oo RobertEarl May 2012 #8
For starters it is a good first step to relieving both global poverty and... kristopher May 2012 #9
Nobility? Nah. Just reality RobertEarl May 2012 #10
What is to argue? kristopher May 2012 #11
Haha RobertEarl May 2012 #12
It isn't "a long view" nor is it "defeatism" kristopher May 2012 #13
There you go again RobertEarl May 2012 #14

GregOrr

(4 posts)
1. I like "Sustainable Energy For All" - please submit it on http://the99percentvotes.com
Thu May 10, 2012, 09:23 PM
May 2012

I've just launched http://the99percentvotes.com (or http://the99vote.com for short) as a platform for submitting, discussing, and voting on public policy ideas.

There are several purposes/goals of the website, including:
(1) To crowdsource policy and establish it as a key driver of political debate and government action
(2) To create a new method for candidates to gather votes that is not dependent on money
(3) To help voters assess which candidates they ought to vote for based on like-mindedness in policy preferences

http://the99percentvotes.com/howitworks explains the plan to make democracy work bottom up.

Let me know what you think, and I hope to see you on the site. If you don't add "Sustainable Energy For All" then I will!

Thanks,
Greg

 

RobertEarl

(13,685 posts)
2. That is amazing
Thu May 10, 2012, 09:25 PM
May 2012

1 in 5 people, humans just like any one of us in the developed world still have no electricity. Amazing.

We are so lucky to have been born here. We did not build the plants or the grid. It was here when we got here. 1 in 5 were not so lucky.

One reason i was an active environmentalist - and still dabble - was the realization of the impacts we who are so lucky have made upon the natural world. We did it because we could, because we had so much luck with our easy energy. It behooved me to make sure our impacts were controlled. But i failed.

One simply has to wonder: what if all of 7B us had the same easy energy? Would the natural world be much different? I venture to say that we would have already been 100 years into climate change already.

 

RobertEarl

(13,685 posts)
4. $100 a month
Fri May 11, 2012, 10:36 PM
May 2012

I doubt they have the capital.

Lets say they did.... how would the world change?

Sure, their personal world would change, but what about the whole wide world?

kristopher

(29,798 posts)
5. Where do you get $100 a month.
Sat May 12, 2012, 12:27 PM
May 2012

I'd like to address your question, but I need to know what is behind the money figure to be sure we are on the same page.

 

RobertEarl

(13,685 posts)
6. It's what I pay
Sat May 12, 2012, 01:58 PM
May 2012

For wireless, electricity and internet. That's cheap.

So how can 1.4B people who don't even have electricity now, come up with 100 a month?

So, as to your 'change the world' idea.............

kristopher

(29,798 posts)
7. That's what I thought.
Sat May 12, 2012, 03:16 PM
May 2012

What you pay has absolutely nothing to do with the the demographic discussed in the OP.

Solar lighting with LED and batteries averages out to pennies per month.

Solar to charge cell phone batteries is similar.

Very large populations without existing wired infrastructure are able to leapfrog the cost of that distribution system and focus on business models serving those populations with wireless technologies. Use google and see what is happening in Africa and the use of cell phones.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200809180986.html

Now compare the quality and cost of setting up a library in inaccessible areas with the quality and cost of accessing the best libraries in the world via the internet.

If you think a revolution in communication and education isn't how to change the world, then we have little in common.

 

RobertEarl

(13,685 posts)
8. Right-oo
Sat May 12, 2012, 03:30 PM
May 2012

Now, how will the world change when all those people are hooked up?

I can't imagine why you avoid the question and go off in tangents.

I could imagine but i prefer not to go negative.

Did it ever occur to you that some people don't want or need wireless and internet? Heck, some people in the US are just fine without it.

But like I said, we were born with electricity and we would pretty much die without it. We are lucky is exists.

Again: how will the world change when all those people are hooked up?
That is what I want to know. If you'd be so kind........

kristopher

(29,798 posts)
9. For starters it is a good first step to relieving both global poverty and...
Sat May 12, 2012, 04:04 PM
May 2012

...reducing the rate of population growth.

Aside from the general idea of social justice and equity, that is. I'm guessing you see some sort of nobility in poverty, poor sanitation, ignorance and hunger?

 

RobertEarl

(13,685 posts)
10. Nobility? Nah. Just reality
Sat May 12, 2012, 04:15 PM
May 2012

Are you saying that lightbulbs, internet and iphones will feed people? <sarcasm>

You do realize, don't you, that if the rest of the world lived as opulently as we developed world people do, resources would be depleted by now given the 7B folks?

In my mind we have not used the conveniences to make civilization be sustainable, but i am open to opposing arguments.

kristopher

(29,798 posts)
11. What is to argue?
Sat May 12, 2012, 04:24 PM
May 2012

You are presenting a value judgement that is based on "I've got mine, fuck you" while I'm following a path guided more by the Golden Rule.

I can't see that there is much to discuss. I could give you all the evidence in the world and your basic values and beliefs will cause you to parse it in a way that only reinforces your existing opinions. You seek confrontation, not discussion.

 

RobertEarl

(13,685 posts)
12. Haha
Sat May 12, 2012, 04:37 PM
May 2012

You are funny.

Accusing me of stuff that you are making up. Laugh a minute.

We here are lucky to be living here and now. In one hundred years, not so much. One hundred years earlier, not so much. In fact, we are like a candle burning at both ends. We will flame out. And the people who do survive, imo, will be those who are not dependent on electricity, the internet and iphones. Just like a hundred years ago here, and like most of the world now.

Call it the long view, or defeatism or whatever, but to me that is the reality. We are so lucky to be here now, don't you agree?

kristopher

(29,798 posts)
13. It isn't "a long view" nor is it "defeatism"
Sat May 12, 2012, 05:12 PM
May 2012

You have what appears to be a selfish opinion that you are cloaking behind a mantle of defeatism. I can't change your nature but I can help change the world in a positive way by encouraging opportunity for those who have none. If you don't like that, I really don't care so long as you stay out of the way.

 

RobertEarl

(13,685 posts)
14. There you go again
Sat May 12, 2012, 06:53 PM
May 2012

Telling me your foolish opinion about me. Didn't you read the stuff about how lucky we are to have all this dropped in our laps?

It's why people want to come to America, or Europe or wherever life is easy. And I welcome them. I wish everyone as much.

But given that our life is not sustainable yet has never been better and will never be better than it is now, is a reality that you have not once addressed. Instead you just make stuff up and attack me with it.

Life has gone of forever without electricity and will go on without electricity whether you like it or not.

And the stupid thing about us having all this and not using it wisely and with gratitude is that it is ruining many other lives. Many innocents have paid with their lives so that we can have lights. You do know that right?

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