A ladder implies a hierarchy.  Those at the top are lucky enough to control substantial amounts of wealth with the comfortable lifestyles and expectations of power that go along with it.  Those at the bottom are less fortunate, and dwell in varying states of poverty dreaming of the chance to climb up a rung or two.  The allure of this imagery is that all countries could in theory climb to the top of the ladder with the right economic conditions and some good luck.  The American Dream gone global.

Unfortunately, we happen to live in a finite world with finite resources.  Rather than scrambling up an imaginary ladder, communities around the world are actually balancing precariously on either side of a seesaw.  On one side sits those lucky few with their big piles of resources to consume.  On the other side sits the vast majority of humanity struggling to make do with what is left.  You can move around on this seesaw, but do it too fast or in only one direction and the whole delicate balance will come crashing down around us all.  Too far to the left, and the world will suffer ecological collapse through the depletion of natural resources.  Too far to the right, and society will unravel as poverty and exploitation explode into strikes, terrorism and revolution.

The trick is for both sides to move slowly but surely towards the middle together until they both reach the point of sustainability.  This may sound simple on paper, but when imposed on reality it means that the rich must get poorer and the poor must give up on ever getting so rich.  Try selling that dream to the masses.

Submitted by: Karl Ramjohn

Adverse Effects	Any reduction in environmental quality of a system, or other depletion of the environmental resource capital. Defined in terms of, and measured by, environmental impacts.
Alternatives	A possible course of action, in place of another, that would meet the same purpose and need (of the proposal).
Aquifer	A subsurface geological rock formation that has a high-to-moderate permeability and can yield an economically significant amount of water.
Biodiversity	The variability among living organisms from all sources including inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems. Generally considered at three levels: genetic, species and ecosystem diversity.
Biological Resources	Include genetic resources, organisms or parts thereof, populations or other biotic components of ecosystems, with actual or potential use for humanity (or other living organisms).
Biophysical	Environmental processes, ecological functions and natural resource components (biological, physical and geochemical) not directly controlled by, or dependent upon, human activities.
Cumulative Impacts	Progressive environmental degradation over time resulting from a range of activities throughout an area or region, each of which when considered in isolation may not be regarded as a significant contributor. The solution is better regional planning and control.
Data Quality	Measure of the level of validity required for interpretation and decision-making. Depends on the accuracy of the analytical methodology used, and reliability of environmental data generated.
dB(A)	Decibel (A-Scale): An international weighted scale of sound pressure levels or environmental noise, used to provide a good correlation with subjective impressions by individuals (in most cases, of loudness and sense of annoyance). The B, C and D scales are used for more specialized noise measurements.
Development	The act of altering and modifying resources in order to obtain potential benefits.
Development Proposals	Consist of a wide range of human activities which provide (a) favourable conditions for an increase in the transformation of the natural, biophysical environment to provide goods and services available to society and (b) actions which directly produce the goods and services.
Ecological Processes	Changes or reactions which occur naturally within ecosystems. They may be physical, chemical or biological
Ecological Risk	The risk that plant, animal and microorganism communities are subjected to a hazard. Considers toxicology, and the probability of environmental dispersal (e.g., exposure pathways or bioaccumulation through food webs), or other potential causation for environmental damages and losses (e.g., ecological resilience or biological diversity)
Economic Sustainability	Occurs when development, which moves toward social and environmental sustainability, is financially feasible.
Ecosystem	Dynamic complex of human, plant, animal and micro-organism communities and associated abiotic (non-living) environment interacting as a functional unit.
Ecosystem Structure & Function	Ecosystem structure is defined by the interactions between abiotic factors and biotic components of the system. Functions are activities or actions which occur naturally as a product of the interactions between ecosystem structure and processes which, taken together with the functions of other ecosystems, collectively provide “services” upon which all life on earth depends, including maintaining the balance of atmospheric gases, recycling of nutrients, regulating climate, maintaining hydrological cycles, and creating soils.
Effluents	Aqueous or suspended particulate waste streams discharged to the environment as industrial facility process residues.
Emissions	Gaseous or aerosol waste streams discharged to the environment as industrial facility process residues.
Environment	The combined features and resource capital, that provide the basis for development, environmental management and conservation. Includes the processes and components of, and services provided by, atmospheric, hydrological, geophysical, biotic, human and landscape factors.
Environmental Data	Raw facts about environmental quality. Obtained by analytical processes that convert environmental samples to numerical estimates (within error limits) of environmental quality characteristics.
Environmental Degradation	Adverse effects (reversible or permanent) on biophysical, social and economic resources, or any other reduction in the “set of options” available to future generations.
Environmental Impact	Changes in environmental quality due to external disturbance to a system. Includes beneficial and adverse, primary and secondary, cumulative, synergistic, short, medium and long-term, reversible and irreversible. Described in terms of magnitude (of effect), direction (of change) and probability (of occurrence), with or without mitigation.
Environmental Impact Detection	Test and confirmation of environmental impact hypothesis.
Environmental Impact Hypothesis	Formally stated, testable conjecture of predicted change in environmental quality associated with development actions. Can be defined in terms of environmental quality indicators, to facilitate testing (at appropriate levels of confidence).
Environmental Management System	A system which provides a structured process for continual improvement and which enables an organization to achieve and systematically control the level of environmental performance that it sets itself. In general, this is based on a dynamic cyclical process of “plan, implement, check and review”.
Environmental Quality	The status or value of the natural resource capital at a particular location at a specified time, relative to development, environmental management and conservation.
Environmental Quality Indicators	Measurable parameters that describe environmental quality and related human actions, in a summarized format.
Environmental Sampling	Physical collection of a representative portion of the environment, using techniques which facilitate accurate generation of reliable data.
Environmental Sustainability	Practices to ensure that the natural resource capital remains intact; i.e., that the source and sink functions of the environment should not be degraded. Therefore, the extraction of renewable resources should not exceed the rate at which they are renewed, and the absorptive capacity of the environment to assimilate wastes should not be exceeded. Furthermore, the extraction of non-renewable resources should be minimized and should not exceed agreed minimum strategic levels.
Habitat	Living space – all the elements which collectively define and constitute the locality or nature of the spatial and temporal “frame of reference” within the biosphere in which plants, animals and humans live. Includes non-living influences such as soil, light, temperature, moisture, humidity and other abiotic factors, as well as biotic (living) components which influence, or are influenced by, the activities of organisms, individuals, communities and organizations, all of which integratively determine the “quality of life” conditions.
Health	The physical, mental and social well-being of individuals or communities, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
Human Environment	The physical, social, and economic components, conditions and factors that interactively determine the state, condition, and quality of living conditions, employment, and health of those affected directly or indirectly by resource development activities in a given area.
Individual Risk	The risk level for a specific individual (e.g., potentially exposed personnel in facility). Measured in terms of probability that a particular individual will be exposed, injured or suffer other losses.
Inland surface waters	Waters that flow over or rest upon the surface of the lithosphere, in the interior of a land mass, and in dry weather conditions, includes the area over which such waters are seasonally present. Includes rivers, streams, tidal waters, swamps, ponds and impounded reservoirs.
Land	An area of the earth’s surface, including all elements of the physical and biological environment that influence land use. Refers not only to soil, but also landforms, climate, hydrology, vegetation and fauna, together with land improvements such as terraces and drainage works.
Land Degradation	The temporary or permanent lowering of the productive capacity of the land, or its potential for environmental management. Includes air, water and soil pollution, loss of aquatic or soil bio-activity, increased surface run-off and erosion, bio-accumulation of toxic substances, soil fertility decline, salinisation, waterlogging, contamination or lowering of water table, increased surface albedo, and deforestation, forest degradation or other habitat loss.
Land Quality	The condition of land relative to land use, including agriculture forestry, industry, conservation and environmental management.
Land Use	The management of land to meet specified socio-economic objectives. Land use is described by the purposes for which the land is used, and the types and sequences of development, conservation and environmental management activities carried out upon the land.
Mitigation	The purposeful planning, design and implementation of decisions, activities, engineering solutions or management systems that are intended to reduce the undesirable impacts of proposed development actions on the affected environment.
Natural Resource Assets: Products & Attributes	Products generated by ecosystems include: forest resources, wildlife resources, forage resources, fisheries, agricultural resources and water supply, and represent the good and services generated by the interactions between the biological, chemical and physical components of an ecosystem. Attributes of an ecosystem include biological diversity and unique landscape, heritage and cultural features, which may lead to certain uses or the derivation of particular products, but they may also have intrinsic, unquantifiable importance.
Noise	Sound pressure emissions of sufficient magnitude, intensity or continuity to be regarded as a form of pollution. Unlike chemical pollutants, noise emissions dissipate relatively rapidly over distance and time and can be regarded as a localized environmental problem.
Point Source	Discernable, confined and discrete conveyance source, including (but not limited to) any pipe, ditch, channel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container, drilling rig, oil and gas platform, vent or vehicle, from which pollutants can potentially be discharged to the environment.
Pollution	The release of any material, surplus energy or other waste stream into the environment in sufficient quantities to exceed thresholds, and adversely affect environmental quality in the short, medium or long-term.
Precautionary Principle	Sustainability principle which states that if there are threats of serious irreversible environmental damage, lack of full scientific certainty will not be used as a reason for postponing measures to prevent environmental degradation.
Proponent	Organisation (private or public sector) or individual seeking environmental clearance for implementation of development proposal.
Quality of Life	Socio-economic environmental concept embracing a diversity of values not always recognized, or adequately addressed, in marketplace analysis. Includes factors such as real income, housing, working conditions, health, educational services and recreational opportunities, which may be regarded as the general standard of living.
Risk Analysis	Technique used to determine the likelihood or chance of hazardous events occurring and the likely consequences. Originally developed for nuclear and chemical industry, where low probability events potentially have extremely serious results. Probabilistic risk analysis can be used to characterise environmental impacts, whose occurrence and nature are difficult to predict with any degree of accuracy.
Run-off	The component of precipitation or irrigation water that flows from the land-surface into streams or other surface-water. Run-off can transport pollutants from the air and soil into surface water. Flooding occurs when surface run-off exceeds stream channel capacities.
Scoping	A procedure for narrowing the scope of an assessment and ensuring that the assessment remains focussed on the truly significant issues or impacts.
Social Impact Assessment	The component of EIA concerned with changes in the structure and functioning of social orderings. In particular, the changes that a development would create in: social relationships; community (population, structure, stability, etc); quality and way of life; language; ritual; political/economic processes; attitudes/values; health impacts.
Social Sustainability	Practices to ensure that the cohesion of society and its ability to work towards common goals are maintained. Individual needs such as those for health and well-being, nutrition, shelter, education and cultural expression should be met.
Societal Risk	The risk to society as a whole. Considers both the probability of impact on individuals, and the number of people (e.g., in adjacent communities) that could be subject to risk
Stakeholders	Individuals or entities potentially affected by development proposal, e.g., local populations, government agencies, developers, workforce, customers and consumers, and others.
Standard	Value or state of an environmental variable, considered to be desirable to achieve, and undesirable or illegal to exceed. Standards can act as either as targets (ambient characteristics for specified uses) or limits (quantities of potential pollutants released to environment), which should not be transgressed.
Synergistic Effects	Circumstances in which (by acting together) separate elements (e.g., environmental pollutants) produce a greater effect than would be produced if they acted separately.
Threshold	Critical value or state of a variable (e.g. ecological resilience) beyond which rapid, often exponential, negative changes to environmental quality occur. Beyond threshold levels, changes are frequently irreversible or very slowly reversible.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Ramjohn, Karl. 2000. Development of Methodology for Impact Detection and Monitoring in Accordance with The Certificate of Environmental Clearace Rules, Rule 10. M.Sc. Thesis, Science and Management of Tropical Environments. Faculty of Agriculture & Natural Sciences, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago. September 2000; 117 pp.

2. DEAT 2000. Guideline Document: Strategic Environmental Assessment in South Africa. Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Pretoria, Republic of South Africa. May 2000; 36 pp.

3. EMA 1999. Trinidad & Tobago: State of the Environment 1998 Report. Environmental Management Authority, Republic of Trinidad & Tobago; 66 pp.

4. Glowka, L., Burhenne-Guilmin, F. & Synge, H. 1994. A Guide to the Convention on Biological Diversity. IUCN Policy & Law Paper, No. 30; 161 pp.

5. Gilpin, A. 1995. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA): Cutting-edge for the 21^st Century. Cambridge University Press; 182 pp

6. Bisset, R. 1996. Environmental Impact Assessment: Issues, Trends and Practice. Environment & Economics Unit, United Nations Environment Program. June 1996; 96 pp.

7. Gilbert, R., Stevenson, R., Girardet, H. & Stren, R. 1996. Making Cities Work. Earthscan Publication Limited, United Kingdom.

8. Interorganizational Committee on Guidelines and Principles for Social Impact Assessment 1994. Guidelines and Principles for Social Impact Assessment. US Department of Commerce / National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration / National Marine Fisheries Service. May 1994; 33 pp.

9. Pieri, C., Dumanski, J., Hamblin, A. & Young, A. 1995. Land Quality Indicators. World Bank Discussion Paper No. 315. The World Bank, Washington, DC; 63 pp.

10. TTBS 1998. Specification for the Effluent from Industrial Processes Discharged to the Environment. TTS 547:1998. Trinidad & Tobago Bureau of Standards.

]]> http://sumptuous.wordpress.com/?p=601 Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:12:24 +0000 drfrank http://sumptuous.wordpress.com/?p=601 From today's news -

A campaigner against Heathrow Airport's third runway has attempted to glue himself to Gordon Brown at a Downing Street reception.

Literally.

INTRODUCTION

Goal: Ideal or desirable value or state of environmental quality, identified by scientists and policy makers.

Target: Value or state of environmental quality considered to be attainable in the short or medium term (in the interest of long-term environmental management goals).

From this perspective, the goal of environmental management is to promote national development in the various sectors, in an economically viable and socially acceptable manner, without causing environmental degradation. This long-term goal may be approached by establishing targets, to be attained in the short to medium-term. In the context of environmental management, the primary target of all proposed developments, is to promote a favourable cost-benefit ratio, by undertaking tangible accounting of goods, services and attributes of the natural resource capital.

One of the major challenges to implementation of sustainable development legislation in developing countries is that frequently, where feasible engineering solutions (or other techniques) exist for ecological compatibility, concern of a loss of economic efficiency are cited as a perceived outcome (e.g., the so-called “environment vs jobs” trade-off). There are also frequent socio-cultural barriers to effective implementation.

These factors may directly affect the functional application of environmental laws, by hindering the establishment of progressive trade-offs among the three main objectives of sustainable development . Consequently, they may also complicated attempts to integrate environmental concerns into conventional economic decision-making.

OBJECTIVES OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT & TRADE-OFFS

APPROACHES TO SUSTAINABILITY

(I – III; based on Munasinghe, 1993)

I: Economic Objective

The economic approach to sustainability is based on the Hicks–Lindahl concept of the maximum flow of income that could be generated while at least maintaining a stock of assets (or capital) which can yield these benefits. There is an underlying concept of optimality and economic efficiency applied to the use of scarce resources. Problems of interpretation arise in identifying the kinds of capital that need to be maintained (e.g., manufactured, natural and human capital) and their substitutability, as well as in valuing these assets, particularly ecological resources. The issues of uncertainty, irreversibility and catastrophic collapse pose additional difficulties.

II: Social Objective

The social (or socio-cultural) concept of sustainability seeks to maintain the stability of social and cultural systems, including the reduction of destructive conflicts. Both intragenerational equity (especially elimination of poverty) and intergenerational equity (involving the rights of future generations) are important aspects of this approach. This approach attempts the preservation of cultural diversity across the globe, and better use of knowledge concerning sustainable practices embedded in less dominant cultures. Modern society would need to encourage and harness pluralism and grass-roots participation into a more effective decision-making framework for sustainable development.

III: Ecological Objective

The ecological view of sustainable development focuses on the stability of biological and physical systems. Of particular importance is the viability of biological and physical systems that are critical to the overall ecosystem. Protection of biodiversity is a key aspect. Furthermore, “natural” ecosystems may be interpreted to include all aspects of the biosphere including man-made environments like cities and industrial estates. The emphasis is on preserving the resilience and dynamic ability of such systems to adapt to change, rather than conservation of some “ideal” static state of the environment.

CONCLUSION

Evaluation of these objectives using direct monetary comparisons may not always provide adequate accounting of the natural resource capital in relation to environmental degradation. In this context, the efficient application of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process may require the implementation of multi-criteria analysis (Munasinghe, 1993). Subsequent posts will discuss inter alia the use of indicators of environmental quality in providing a scientific basis for assessing costs and benefits, to assist in addressing the economic, social and ecological concerns associated with the implementation of sustainable land use and enforcement of impact control legislation.

REFERENCES

Munasinghe, Mohan. 1993. Environmental Economics and Sustainable Development. World Bank Environmental Paper No. 3. The World Bank, Washington DC, USA.

Ramjohn, Karl. 1999. Sustainable Solutions to Land Degradation (Saline Intrusion) in the Lower South Oropouche Floodplain: Community-based Management Strategy. Tropical Environment Research & Management Center, Trinidad & Tobago. May 1999; 22 pp.

Ramjohn, Karl. 2000. Development of Methodology for Impact Detection and Monitoring in Accordance with The Certificate of Environmental Clearace Rules, Rule 10. M.Sc. Thesis, Science and Management of Tropical Environments. Faculty of Agriculture & Natural Sciences, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago. September 2000; 117 pp.

Related Discussions:

http://sustainablelanduse.wordpress.com/2008/07/13/reclaiming-the-definition-of-sustainability/

When our Sri Lanka 2048 TV debate series started a few weeks ago, I had no idea that I'd be hosting some programmes. But through an interesting turn of events, I've ended up doing just that.

The series, which TVE Asia Pacific is co-producing with IUCN and MTV Channel (Pvt) Limited -- Sri Lanka's ratings leading TV broadcaster -- has been going out once every week from 22 May 2008. As I wrote at the time the series started, most programmes (8 out of 10) were hosted by Sirasa TV's versatile and dynamic presenter Kingsly Rathnayaka.

Our plan was to do two shows in English, exploring the topics living with climate change and the nexus between business and the environment. We were still searching for a presenter for these two even as we produced and aired the Sinhala programmes.

In the end, the channel management as well as our production team all suggested for me to take it on. I've been hosting quiz shows on TV since 1990, and have been a regular 'TV pundit' on a broad range of development, science and technology issues for at least a decade. I've also been doing a fair amount of moderating sessions and panels at international conferences. Hosting Sri Lanka 2048 challenged me to combine all these skills -- and to be informed, interested and curious about our topics under discussion.

I enjoyed being the 'skeptical inquirer', a role I've had fun playing for long years as a development journalist. Our viewers can judge how well I fared. My aim was to keep the panel and audience focused, engaged and moving ahead. My style is slower and more reflective than Kingsly's fast-paced, chatty one. Direct comparisons would be unfair and unrealistic since we are very different personalities.

But I'm enormously grateful to the younger, more experienced Kingsly for his advice and guidance in preparing for my new role. The TV camera is ruthless in capturing and sometimes magnifying even minor idiosyncrasies in presenters. It has as much to do with style as with substance. Hope I made the grade...

Here's the promotional blurb for this weekend's show, titled Business As Unusual (yes, I borrowed the apt title from our sorely missed inspiration Anita Roddick). It was broadcast on Channel One MTV, the English language channel of Sri Lanka's Maharaja broadcasting group.

Sri Lanka 2048 looks at Business As Unusual: How can companies do well while doing good?

The private sector is acknowledged as the engine of our economic growth. But how long can this 'engine' keep running without addressing its many impacts on society and the natural environment? With public concerns rising everywhere for a cleaner and safer environment, how best can businesses respond to the environmental challenges -- and find new opportunities to grow and innovate?

These and related questions will be raised in this week's Sri Lanka 2048, the series of TV debates exploring Sri Lanka's prospects for a sustainable future in the Twenty First Century. The one-hour debate, this time in English, will be shown on Channel One MTV from 8 to 9 pm on Saturday, 19 July 2008.

Titled Business As Unusual, this week's debate brings together concerned Sri Lankans from academic, corporate, civil society and government backgrounds to discuss what choices, decisions and tradeoffs need to be made for businesses to become environmentally responsible -- and still remain profitable. Increasingly, there are examples of smart companies achieving this balance.

This week's panel comprises (seated left to right in the photo below): Professor Sarath W Kotagama, Professor of Environment Science, University of Colombo; Renton de Alwis, Chairman, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority; Dilhan C Fernando, Marketing Director, MJF Group; and Jeevani Siriwardena, Director - Product Management, Sri Lanka Export Development Board.

The wide ranging discussion -- looking at both domestic and international markets, and covering a range of industries -- notes that many companies already address not just financial but also social and environmental bottomlines. Adopting cleaner production practices have helped increase profits through being thrifty with resources and careful with waste.

The debate also looks at the findings of a survey that IUCN and the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce carried out last year of 45 companies on their corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies and practices. It revealed that a significant number of companies are actively applying CSR principles, with slightly over half (53%) already having environmental components in their CSR (known as CSER). The survey also found that local companies were stronger on CSR/CSER than the local operations of multinational companies.

As some panelists and audience members argue, embracing sound environmental practices goes well beyond CSR. With rising consumer awareness and greater scrutiny of how companies source materials and energy, 'going green' has become an integral part of responsible corporate citizens.

Sri Lanka 2048 debates are co-produced by TVE Asia Pacific, an educational media foundation, and IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, in partnership with MTV Channel (Private) Limited. This editorially independent TV series is supported under the Raising Environmental Consciousness in Society (RECS) project, sponsored by the Government of the Netherlands.

Wherever you are, Anita, I hope you were watching our show tonight -- and hopefully nodding... When you insisted that businesses must care for community and the environment, you were so ahead of the pack. We're still struggling to catch up.

Photos by Amal Samaraweera, TVE Asia Pacific

"There are times in the history of our nation when our very way of life depends upon dispelling illusions and awakening to the challenge of a present danger. In such moments, we are called upon to move quickly and boldly to shake off complacency, throw aside old habits and rise, clear-eyed and alert, to the necessity of big changes. Those who, for whatever reason, refuse to do their part must either be persuaded to join the effort or asked to step aside. This is such a moment. The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk. And even more - if more should be required - the future of human civilization is at stake."

With these words, climate crusader Al Gore opened a powerful speech delivered in Washington DC on 17 July 2008, in which he issued what he called 'A Generational Challenge to Repower America' to take bold steps towards solving the climate crisis.

At one point he told fellow Americans: "We're borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that's got to change."

Having outlined the environmental, security and economic implications of America's addiction to oil, Gore challenged his nation "to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years".

I was immediately reminded of President Kennedy's pledge to Congress on 25 May 1961 where he said:
"I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him back safely to the earth."

In fact, later on in his speech Gore referred to this saying: "When President John F. Kennedy challenged our nation to land a man on the moon and bring him back safely in 10 years, many people doubted we could accomplish that goal. But 8 years and 2 months later, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the surface of the moon."

Al Gore's full speech, according to a video recording posted on YouTube, lasted 27 minutes -- but the We Campaign has released the highlights of the speech running for 5 minutes:

Read the text of his full speech on the We Campaign website.

Read The New York Times coverage of Al Gore speech

The We Campaign is a project of The Alliance for Climate Protection -- a nonprofit, nonpartisan effort founded by Nobel laureate and former Vice President Al Gore. Our ultimate aim is to halt global warming. Specifically we are educating people in the US and around the world that the climate crisis is both urgent and solvable.

http://www.bdafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8728&Itemid=5848

Negotiate Tana River sugar project  

Written by Joe Ageyo  July 14, 2008:

Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni are not the best of friends - that is the impression one gets when the two men are together. But they seem to share a philosophy that is sometimes referred to as ecoskepticism.

Museveni has often dismissed the idea of Sustainable Development as a Western construct, with  little relevance to underdeveloped Africa. He is often heard saying that development is like a pregnancy and can therefore not be said to be sustainable. His point seems to be that development is an absolute concept and so is either happening or is not happening. Really?

Raila seems to agree. When asked about the proposed Tana Delta sugar project, the PM gave what is now his signature response to controversial development projects - that "your daughter must not remain a virgin if you want to have grandchildren."

This view on the face of it seems to suggest pragmatism at its very best and a deep desire to improve the lot of the poor residents of Tana River. Yet it flies in the face of modern-day development planning principles.

First, that all "development" is good and should take place at whatever cost and secondly, that development is the same thing as economic growth. The first view is based on the notion that the western countries "developed" using the same model they are now calling unsustainable. The logic is, therefore, that Africa should gun for economic growth now and worry about the environment later.

It is predicated on the idea that Africa's greatest problem is material poverty and so the continent must strive to "develop" at whatever cost.The second assumption is even more misguided - the idea that economic growth is an end in itself.

If that were the case, then the world's largest economy, the USA, would not be changing governments so regularly, on account of perceived economic mismanagement. If that were the case, the world's fastest growing economy, China, would be receiving nothing but accolades from around the world.

Yet Americans still complain of economic difficulties and several world leaders have been toying with idea of boycotting the Olympics to protest China's human rights record.

This is simply to say that any development that does not address the total needs of a person is not development at all. This is where the controversial concept called Sustainable Development comes in.

Granted, that terminology has as many definitions as there are scholars but the most widely accepted one has to do with 'meeting today's needs without jeopardising the ability of future generations to meet theirs.'

To that end many visionary development planners now think beyond economic growth. Sustainable Development addresses economic, social and ecological aspects.

That is to say that for development to be sustainable it must, of necessity, combine a robust economy with rich and resilient natural systems as well thriving human communities. So when some Ugandans complain about the Bujagali power project, President Museveni should not blast the World Bank and NGOs but ask himself whether provision of hydropower is necessarily more important that listening to what the people want.

What use is a multi-billion sugar project in Tana River if many of the local residents feel it is an intrusion?Granted, we all need a growing economy, we all want Vision 2030 realised even in 2010, but it is important to remember that there is life after 2030.

Many economists (not just environmentalists) are now warning that if Planet Earth was a business it would be in the red - we are simply drawing too much more from nature than it is able to replenish.

But there is now even an economic imperative for keeping a keen eye on the environment. In Tana River, leading conservationists, Nature Kenya, say the costs of the proposed project are underestimated and its potential benefits grossly overrated.

But even if it were to take off, there will be the big question of whether British consumers, for instance, who are so environmentally conscious will be willing to pay for ethanol produced under acrimonious circumstances, with possible irreversible damage to the environment.

Development must therefore be a negotiated concept where the government strives to find a place where the interests of all stakeholders meet, even if it does not guarantee the maximum economic benefit.

Ageyo is the NTV News Editor

The keynote address to the China Update forum this year was given by Professor Jeffrey Sachs [see the video]. Sachs' speech raised major questions: firstly, how does the world go from ‘industrial development’ to ‘sustainable development’? Secondly, what should then be expected of China?

Industrial development to sustainable development
On the first point, Sachs' argument has two major tenets. The first is that global economic convergence will lead to Asia being central to global order. He thus envisages a highly multilateral world order. The reason for this shift is that the ‘keys to economic development have been solved’. Central to this premise is his belief in the ability of technology to achieve development. Development, he argues, in this sense was made possible through globalisation, growth and technology transfer. Our knowledge of this, and the adoption of this model by developing countries, means that the economic challenge of what has to be done to become rich has been addressed.

But, we are have yet failed to answer what we have to do about fixing the environment. Sachs believes that current economic models lack an integration of ‘nature’ with growth’. Our current models of development revolve around ‘using’ natural ‘resources’. Development has been industrial rather than sustainable. Rather than solving the Malthusian ' problem, we have postponed it and intensified it. Current high food and oil prices are thus a sign of structural problems rather than speculative behaviour.

Hence, we are now in a new geopolitical age. The world has developed a powerful economic engine, based on ever-improving communications, technology and convergent economic growth. But 3 major challenges remain for sustainable development:

• ending residual poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Andean highlands and Central Asia
• controlling population growth
• inducing environmental sustainability

What should be expected of China?
China is critical to the process of sustainable development. Yet compared to more industrialised nations China is responsible for far less of the damage from industrial development. It appears that China may need to quell its growth for the global good.

Yet nature, Sachs argues, doesn't care about fairness. And that leaves 4 expectations of China:

• to be a global donor rather than recipient of aid--- China's engagement with Africa is a positive contemporary example
• a need to engage with the world and push forward on economic integration. The world doesn't have the ability to give China the time to concentrate on its own development problems
• a need to become a greater force for peace- the examples of North Korea (positive) and Zimbabwe (negative) were noted here
• the need to become an innovator in its own right.

Conclusions
Sachs' focus is on technology. He believes that the most pertinent question at present is that of what kind of technological transformations are necessary to allow both economic growth and sustainability. He sees technological improvements both affecting supply-- carbon sequestration, nuclear power and mass solar-- and quelling consumption needs-- more efficient cars and batteries. He argues that we should focus on talking about environmental technologies rather than systems of permits, caps and trades, which he sees as opaque and biased against developing countries. He believes that China will agree to join international programs should they be able to access technologies whilst avoiding ‘dependence’.

Questions
Professor Ross Garnaut observes that the problem is one of how creation of the incentives to invest in these technologies, and to apply them, can be provided while still avoiding the prisoner's dilemma. Sachs' belief in technology as creating the institutions to curb emissions may thus put the cart before the horse.

---

To see Professor Sachs's speech in full, find the video here.

IISD is a non-for-profit organization with a team of more than 150 people. They promote change towards sustainable development. Take a look at their Annual Report.

 

 

 

 

Jacqueline Novogratz shares stories of how "patient capital" can bring sustainable jobs, goods, services -- and dignity -- to the world's poorest.

She founded the Acumen Fund - a nonprofit that acts like a venture capital fund, investing in high risk businesses that serve a cause (high risk for other investors, but very serious in its approach to get results) in developing countries. Very interesting approach to tackling poverty...

I met Yasmina Zaidman, Acumen's director of knowledge & communications (and writes most of the blogs over at the Acumen blog at the Net Impact Conference I went to last month. What a fantastic speaker as well.

Watch the video though, it's great.

Moving forward (albeit painfully slowly...) on the thesis front. Wanted to bang my head against the wall more than a few times.. but that's the joy of thesis writing, no? ;)

Anyways, this topic touches heavily on my topic so, I leave you now with questions (not just about Acumen Fund and 'patient capital' but just sustainable development questions in general), no answers.. something just for pondering...

• this is 'patient capital' - which is needed for projects like this and doable in this case since it's being funded by philanthropic dollars... but for everyone else who's out there to make a buck, ventures are about growth growth growth... How can we tell people to 'be patient' when their investors are down their neck?
• sustainable development - the word in and of itself is oxymoronic... sustainable (circular) and development (linear)... not the first one to point this out, just an ongoing question in my head. Annie, from the Story of Stuff is bang on "you cannot live on a linear system on a finite planet indefinitely" - at the end of the day, no one is 100% sustainable - read the No Impact blog to see how hard it is even to try
• it seems like everyone who wants to help needs to go there (to a developing country) to understand first hand... if you don't everyone else will tell you that you don't understand 'them' - you're less qualified to 'help' in that sense. What about the people who can't get there? Plus, aren't the environmentalists telling us to slow down on the travel? How can we make it easier to connect these two worlds virtually? Asking cause I think its about time I get myself out of the western world and see the world that the other 5 billion people see...

Well.. should probably start answering my own thesis questions.... so, back to work.

*****

Past the peak

We have almost certainly passed the peak of global oil production. If that hasn’t happened yet, it will unquestionably occur in the very near future. The current run-up in prices can be explained away by the war in Iraq and the threat of war with Iran, price gouging by OPEC or the oil companies, or speculation.

But the practical reality is that oil prices will never come down again by any significant amount, and the increases will soon make us nostalgic for $4 gasoline.

The post-oil world is going to be very different from the world all of us are accustomed to. It will change almost beyond our imagining, it will change fast and it will be painful. The most immediate effect here in Asheville is likely to be the collapse of the tourist economy. I haven’t seen figures yet, but I would be willing to bet that tourism is already off this summer, due to higher gas prices. Some restaurants have closed lately, feeling the pinch already. Others will follow.

Unlike many other cities and counties, Asheville doesn’t have much of an economy beyond tourism anymore. There’s a little manufacturing and some tech and financial jobs and the health industry, but not much that brings in outside money. The end of oil is going to hit us like a sledge hammer.

A collateral effect of the oil collapse will be a general rise in all energy prices. Natural gas can replace some oil uses. But the price will rise. Coal is being touted as an option, but it’s dirty. Clean coal technology is expensive and problematic. Nuclear power has proven to be enormously expensive, and safety remains an urgent concern. Solar and wind power are good bets, but installation of sufficient generating capacity to replace the oil used for electricity in the next decade will be approximately impossible.

Replacement of gasoline and diesel for transportation fuel on a meaningful scale will not occur and there is every possibility that we will face rolling blackouts or brownouts on a regular basis in the not-distant future.

Meanwhile this country’s total debt obligation to other countries now amounts to $50.5 trillion. One trillion is a very, very large number. Fifty trillion dollars approximately equals the total income of everyone in the country for one year.

At the same time, the value of a dollar has fallen by 40 percent on world markets since 2000. We are rapidly becoming a very poor country. China has begun unloading dollars. There’s talk of pricing oil in Euros. The empire is collapsing. The time line is uncertain, but the outcome is clear.

This week the Congress is getting ready to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and there was a run on the IndyMac bank. The men behind the curtain are telling everyone not to worry and maybe things will settle down for a while. But this is what the beginning of a collapsing economy looks like. Note that he last time this kind of thing happened, in what we call the Great Depression, conditions were different. We had loads of oil, for one thing. We were exporting it.  And we had a large and growing industrial base. Now the big industry is all overseas.

I know most of you have heard all that before.  Why am I repeating it at a rally to save our park? What does that have to do with developers and high rise condos and building a sustainable community?

Here’s why. How many of you have ever lived in a walk-up apartment above the sixth floor? Six floors of stair climbing is considered to be the reasonable limit for young healthy adults. Elderly folks are likely to stop at two or three. Taller buildings are heavily dependent on elevators. Elevators are costly to run and very unreliable during electrical blackouts. All services to high rise buildings cost more in terms of energy or time—simply walking up and down six flights of stairs carves into your day, particularly when you are hauling groceries or moving furniture. A community that is looking realistically at our energy future cannot reasonably afford to build any new buildings taller than six stories.

The skyscraper is about to become a historical artifact of the oil era. We can’t afford to build new dinosaur buildings in Asheville.

At the same time, we need to demand that our building code requires the highest attainable level of energy efficiency in all new buildings. Gold LEED certification shouldn’t be a bargaining chip, the way it was with the Ellington Hotel (approved several months ago by the city council). It should be required on all commercial buildings. We need to push for smaller, better insulated, naturally lighted homes and apartments. The baby-steps that Asheville City Council has undertaken are a worthwhile start, but they are still far short of what will be demanded by circumstances in the very near future.

We need to divert our community development money away from fantasies involving new industry and invest the money in a revolving loan fund to retrofit homes and businesses: first with energy saving technologies, then with alternative power sources. Dollars invested in energy savings deliever an immediate and increasing, guaranteed payback. A ten percent savings on heating oil is worth more every time the price jumps. Dollars we don't spend on energy stay in our pockets and in our community.

At the same time, we need to do everything in our power to support and expand local agriculture. Before the oil era, about 25 percent of our population was engaged in feeding the rest of us. Today 1.5 percent of our population are farmers. The difference is almost entirely due to oil for fuel and natural gas for fertilizer. In the next decade or two, we are going to become a much more agrarian society as a matter of survival. We need to facilitate that, and quit turning valuable farm land into subdivisions and shopping centers. We also need to figure out how to return human waste to the land as fertilizer. We need to rethink our sewage disposal on a major scale.

It appears that the WalMart problem, that is to say, the high cost of low prices, will solve itself as Chinese goods become too expensive due to shipping costs and the weak dollar, but we need to do what we can to support local businesses during this transition time. If we want to have a local hardware store tomorrow, it makes a lot of sense to shop at a local hardware today.

We can facilitate that by asking local businesses to create lists of the top 10 or 20 items they consistently purchase from outside the community, and distribute those lists to every local business so they can find local suppliers for the goods and services they need. The longer we can keep dollars in the local economy the more benefit they will have for everyone as the local hardware store hires a local worker who shops at a local market whose owner hires a local painter who hires a local roofer  who shops at the local hardware and so on.

In short, what I’m suggesting is that our activism has to go beyond stopping one misguided project after another and protecting one parcel at a time from the rapacious greed of the handful of developers who value dollars above community. We need to broaden the effort, to insist that our elected officials face the looming realities of the 21st century. Pretending that things will be better tomorrow will not make it so. Imagining that peak oil and the collapse of the U.S. economy will not profoundly affect our lives is a recipe for disaster.

In closing I’d like to recall an interview I conducted with Environmental educator David Orr who chairs the environmental-studies program at Oberlin College and lectures at four dozen other colleges and universities each year. Two of his books are academic bestsellers, and as an environmental educator, Orr has few peers.

He came to Asheville last October to keynote the tenth-anniversary celebration for South-Wings, the Asheville-based environmental group that puts eyes in the skies over clear-cuts, blasted mountains and disappearing estuaries throughout the Southeast. I caught up with Orr at the nonprofit’s offices on Haywood Street.

“Humanity has faced crises before, but there has never been such a high likelihood that we would destroy ourselves,” Orr declared. “Even nuclear war would probably have left survivors, but climate change, collapsing biodiversity and toxic pollutants are all hitting at once. Any one of them could do it.” He described his recent correspondence with Wes Jackson (of The Land Institute) and Amory Lovins (of the Rocky Mountain Institute) about the appropriate public stance to take in the face of these bleak circumstances.

Jackson is utterly pessimistic about the prospect of a technological fix for modern society, and in his writings, he notes that since the invention of agriculture, human society has inexorably drawn down the Earth’s capital stock. So his life’s work has been trying to reinvent agriculture as a sustainable practice.

Lovins, on the other hand, tends to be an optimist who devotes his energies to inventing our way out of the shrinking ecological box we inhabit. His headquarters in Snowmass, Colo., is solar-powered, with an atrium where tropical-fruit trees grow. Lovins envisions hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered autos that will generate electricity for our homes and produce pure hot water as a byproduct.

Orr told me he sees no use in preaching pessimism, because if people don’t believe that they can save themselves, they may not try. On the other hand, he finds no rational basis for optimism. There are few people alive who have devoted more time and attention to the living systems that sustain us, and Orr is convinced that we are in very deep trouble. And I would note that the view he offered of the calamities we face doesn’t even include the oil shortage or financial collapse.

“What we can talk about is hope,” he said. “We can hope for heroes. We can hope that many of us can be heroes. It will take heroic work for our species to survive, to make the changes necessary, but people are capable of heroism.”

I believe that. I believe you here today are community heroes for working to save our commons. And I believe that at least some of you here today will be the heroes we need to bridge the coming crisis.

The last time a generation was called to salvage a crumbling world we faced global depression and a world war. Heroes rose up and delivered a freer, fairer, more humane society than the prewar U.S.A. had ever been. This time, its up to us.

After traveling with Ethan and having a blast, I realized the importance of a good travel buddy. Unfortunately, hanging out in an office in Amman is not the best way to meet other backpackers, especially not ones that have to adhere to a tight work schedule. While I in general don’t mind traveling by myself, Jordan is not a huge single backpacker’s destination, which means meeting people on the road is hit and miss. And certain places, such as nature reserves, are not really as fun or as safe to do on your own. I’m a fairly independent traveler, but even I don’t fancy striking out into the desert for a solo hiking trip.

I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me sooner, considering how much I rely on the internet in just about all other facets of my life, to look for friends there. You can find everything on the internet! At any rate, when I stumbled upon a travel forum, I found some girls in Amman, whose story is surprisingly like my own. One is a graduate student doing an internship as well, and the other is a language student doing a summer language study. Both are environmentally and socially interested and inclined, and we had almost identical agendas for places to see, Dana being near the top of the list.

I haven’t written much about Aqaba other then my friendly run-in with the police. Other then being able to snorkel in the Red Sea though, it wasn’t my ideal trip. And once again, it brought home the importance of finding like-minded people to travel with. Even like-minded complete strangers.

As an environmentalist, I am always aware of the impacts of my surroundings, whether I can control them or not. For this reason, resort like hotels in environmentally sensitive areas are particularly uncomfortable for me. On the one hand, I’m a beach bum/water baby at heart. I love swimming pools, palm trees, clean beaches, the works. On the other hand, I’m here to work for environmental improvements, water conservation, and SUSTAINABLE development. And I’m pretty sure the places we went don’t fall into that category.

One huge issue that I have with Jordan is the question of public and private beaches. Now I am all about public institutions, especially recreational places like parks and beaches. Access to nature and the outdoors should be available to every single one of us—rich, poor, temporarily broke students, bums, etc. This sentiment does not seem to be shared here. When I tried to convince my friend (let’s call him Fred) that we could stay in a modest hotel (meaning one without a private beach), he looked a bit scandalized.

“We’re not even going to be there that long,” I justified. “We’ll be spending our time at the beach.”

“But what beach?” he asked.

“There are public beaches” I said; “we can go there.”

“The public beach??” he exclaimed. “The public beach, it’s dirty.”

This, in a country where the road is your trash can. Of course it’s dirty.

“It won’t be that bad,” I insisted. When dirty failed to detour me from my determination to enjoy what I consider to be a common good, he tried a new tact.

“It’s dangerous,” he tried to convince me; “Just ANYONE can go there.”

I was still unconvinced, but in the end, at a whopping 42 degrees C, it was too bloody hot to hang out for long on the beach anyway. The first day we spent at a slightly shabby beach club to appease me; the beach part was public and access to the club (which was little more than a slightly run down club-med looking swimming pool with an island and a bridge over it for that tropical look) was included with our equally run-down hotel.

I say run-down, but by my standard it was actually quite nice. The hotel and club looked like they had seen their glory days in years past; the architecture and design was straight out of the 50s, but in that authentic, accidental retro way—as in the lounge furniture has been sitting in place for fifty years waiting to come back into style. Compared to the places I usually stay when I travel though, this was downright swank.

Fred did not agree.

The next day we checked out, and decided to go to a beach for a bit more sun and water before we headed back to Amman. Fred looked so distraught at the thought of going to another public beach that I acquiesced when he proposed we find the type of beach club he generally prefers.

This brought us to a private, gated community in the very south of the Aqaba region; across the Red Sea was Egypt, and just a few kilometers down would have put us squarely into Saudia Arabia. Fred used the name of a friend who owned an apartment there to get us in, and talked the club into a discounted rate. 10JD got us access to a very swanky pool facility with a private beach that was sufficiently guarded from any riff raff by the fact that it was surrounded by other private beaches.

One of the cons of a private beach was that as we strolled along the shore, after about 100 yards, we were stopped by a guard. Apparently we had wandered a bit too far onto somebody ELSE’S private beach, and we were politely informed that our 10JD did not so much as extend our right to coastal access any further than where we had already wandered. The stretch of our particular private beach meant that a nice stroll along the shore was really a nice pace back and forth over the same 100 yards.

As we wandered back, I expressed my discomfiture with the idea of private beaches again. Fred acknowledged that it was unfortunate that we couldn’t walk as far as we wanted, but insisted that public beaches were dirty and dangerous.

“That’s because you throw trash everywhere and wait for someone else to clean it up!” I burst out, sounding more hysterical than I intended.

Now Fred and I come from COMPLETELY different worlds. That we can be friends at all is a testimony to something…tolerance I suppose. I didn’t blame him, but my frustration was deep seated, and it just kind of overflowed and dribbled out into the Red Sea. The issue of public vs. private beaches was to me at the root of a very complex dilemma that I have when I travel in places like Jordan (read: the developing world). I frequently feel frustrated with two things: 1) the elitism that is deeply set into the culture and 2) the lack of concern that the said elite feel for what I see as pressing environmental and social issues. As far as I was concerned, private beaches just about summed this up.

As an environmentalist from the developed world, I realize the risk of a ‘we know better than you’ approach. It’s not fair, and it’s not true either—we’re not doing so hot on the sustainability front either (we being the so called first world). That said, I can’t help feeling disgusted by the trash everywhere, frustrated by the people who stand on the street and water the sidewalk in one of THE MOST WATER POOR COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD, or despairing when I see children playing in dirt mixed in with broken glass. As a non-religious person frequently bombarded by requests to see the light though, I know how obnoxious and non-effective proselytizing can be on any value based issue. And I increasingly see environmental ethics (or lack thereof) in this light.

I have to remind myself in a taking a deep breath kind of way that if you look at the whole picture, the average Jordanian has a tiny environmental footprint compared to the average American. I think it’s our hankering for SUVs. And houses with a bathroom per person.

So what does this have to do with a private beach in Aqaba, you may ask. There’s a connection here, I swear—and if it’s not a clear one it’s because I’m still working through it in my head. But I think it’s a self perpetuating cycle. The elite have bought up the beaches and sold them to foreign interests. The government has concessioned 90+% of the public sea front property to foreign developers. The tiny public beaches left become crowded with those who can’t afford to pay 20+JD to lounge by the resort swimming pool, and filthy with the trash that everyone throws everywhere, waiting for someone else to pick it up. So the beach is either a crowded, hot, messy experience at the public beach, or a sterilized, generic, catered experience at a private beach. Either way, nobody really has the chance to connect to nature--the beach the way I think of it, with long walks, sandcastles and sand between your toes.

All in all, nature, natural nature (and I realize this statement is a whole philosophical conversation waiting to happen), is short on the ground in Jordan. There are a handful of parks and reserves (including one that I am working on expanding—more on this project later); I am going to visit a very prominent one tonight (Digression: I know I am assimilating just a tiny bit into Arab culture when after a statement about the future I chant ‘in shah allah’ inside my head. This means ‘god willing’ and it’s a way of saying that while you have every intention of carrying out the said action in the future, it’s really all up to god and whether he decides to humor you with that future or not.). But it seems to me that the reserves are mostly for the much sought after eco-tourists (like me!) who are willing to pay good money to look at…trees and shit.

Which brings me back to the conviction that education is key—without it, nobody understands what there even is worth saving, let alone how to do it.

Sitting on the shore of the Red Sea with Fred, I tried to verbalize a little bit of my frustration with the world and everything that we are continuously destroying. I of course tried to do this in a non-hysterical, conversational kind of way. After I said my bit, he sighed, and turned to me.

“I just don’t know anything about this,” he said. “They don’t teach us this in school here. So I just don’t really care. How do I learn how to care?”

]]> http://cafod.wordpress.com/?p=425 Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:54:02 +0000 annafield http://cafod.wordpress.com/?p=425 [/caption]

Panic over, we did indeed find four people to share our dinner with, but more about them later...

The opening Mass at Barangaroo, an old dock area which has been rejevenated for WYD, was quite a special experience.

For all those WYD first-timers, it gave a taste of what was to come when 150,000 young people descended from all parts of Sydney and gathered to celebrate the official opening of WYD.

It was quite a spectacle - office workers on their lunchbreaks watched with bemusement, entertainment or just consternation as roads through the centre of Sydney were closed and groups large and small made their way to Barangaroo.

Flags from all over the world were waving, drums, guitars and voices joined together in songs both joyful and spiritual - and a sea of orange and red (the colour of this year's pilgrim backpacks) slowly wound its way past some of Sydney's most recognisable landmarks.

The Mass started with a traditional welcome from the Aboringinal people from the area, a spine-tingling display of ancient culture.

It is fascinating to witness the growing integration and respect for the different cultures within Australia, and fantastic to have Aboriginal traditions given such prominence after being oppressed for so long.

It didn't stop there, with groups from the Torres Strait and Maoris from Aotorea New Zealand, as well as readers from lots of countries and language groups leading parts of the Mass.

We sat with the group from the Brentwood diocese and were surrounded by groups from Korea, Italy, Germany, and even a small group from Belize (I recognised the flag from travelling there!)

After the long, impressive celebration, we had to have dinner.

Both lunch and dinner for all pilgrims was served at the Barangaroo, a massive achievement in logistics and nutrition!

Huge tents dotted the site, staffed by hoards of volunteers who operated the vast banks of microwaves installed to ensure we all had a hot meal.

We managed to find a few other people who were not already in groups of six - Gary, Kevin and Jennifer from the US, and Joseph from Papua New Guinea.

Gary took the six tickets and got in the queue while the rest of us got to know each other - we found out that Kevin had proposed to Jennifer that very day, so we were sharing their engagement dinner! 

Joseph's reflections on Sydney were amazing. Never having left his country before, and having English as his third language, he described seeing skyscrapers for the first time by saying "We don't have permanent buildings where I come from".

He talked about only having kerosene lamps and no running water, which explained his awe at the festival-style lighting pylons, giant screens projecting the live feed from the altar and the abundance of food and drink for everyone.

Even we were surprised at the quality of the festival toilets - they were fully plumbed in with a proper flush!

Speaking to Joseph not only helped us really experience the global Church, but also to reaffirm why we are participating in WYD - to bring about change for a fairer world.

This means a chance for all to have access to the basics for life but, more than that, making sure everyone can reach their full potential.

Caritas Australia's exhibition on the Millennium Development Goals couldn't have been more pertinent, as we had met someone who shared the same faith as us and yet came from a seemingly different world.

In Joseph's country, access to health, education and other building blocks for true development were not available. He kept saying to us "How will PNG move forward to be like this?"

We honestly couldn't answer, but share his hope that one day it could.

Posted by AnnaF

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July 16, 2008

To: Girdwood Land Use Committee, Girdwood Board of Supervisors

Cc: Girdwood 2020, Girdwood Chamber of Commerce, MOA Assembly Representative – Chris Birch, MOA Assembly Representative – Jennifer Johnston, MOA Planning Department, Heritage Land Bank, AWWU, MOA Mayor Mark Begich, UAA Chancellor Fran Ulmer, Dean Rob Lang, Alyeska Resort

Girdwood Board of Supervisors Land Use Committee:

Girdwood Renewable Energy & Sustainable Development [GRESD] seeks your endorsement of the concept of Girdwood as a model sustainable community. As such, Girdwood will lead other Alaskan communities to be internationally recognized as a leader in renewable energy and sustainable development. GRESD is working to develop relationships and dialogue among stakeholders towards this end.