How I think the Sahara's resources should be dealt with

(Keep in mind I am a business major, so that's the perspective I took on this)

For a along time the arid regions of northern Africa have been some of the poorest countries in the world, and the reason is climatology. Due to the fact that this region is harsh and dry, it’s residents have been left with hardly any land to cultivate and practically no natural resources, it has been the underdog in the race for wealth, until now. Until recently, places like Mali, Niger, and Chad, just to name a few, haven’t had any natural resources to call their own. But then solar power was invented. This website (that I actually found while ‘Stumbling’), explains that just 90k square kilometers could meet and sustain the entire worlds energy needs. While 90,000 square kilometers sound large, compared to 9,000,000 square kilometers that the Sahara covers, it is only 10% of the entire desert.

One of the main concerns is that westerners will seize control of the land, privatize the efforts, and in no way help these people who mostly live on just a $1 a day. But I have a different idea. For any of you who have seen ABC’s ‘Shark Tank,’ you will understand where I am coming from. The governments of these desolate countries need to seek investors. Not like how America borrows money from China, because of the amount of debt these countries are in, no one will simply lend money to the country as a whole. A business needs to be formed, and then that is what will be invested in in. Say Niger forms the company SolPower; they then pitch their company to the western governments asking for an investment of say, $10 million (they can seek other investors if they need more capital). Say France bites and asks in return for 10% of SolPower, Niger accepts and the deal is on. SolPower begins construction and is soon producing energy and selling it to other counties. America, being the greedy country it is, agrees to buy an entire years production of energy from SolPower for $100 million. Now, because SolPower has made a profit, it owes 10% of it to France, which just happens to be $10 million, the amount of its initial investment, and in just one year its investment has paid for itself and France begins to make a profit. Of course things get more complicated when an invested country decides to purchase energy, but for the sake of the example, I kept things easy.

The only foreseeable problem is that these poor countries lack very organized governments. But hey, pipe dreams?

Does every little bit help, or are we wasting our time?

One of the discussions in class this week was talking about how just unplugging a phone charger, or another phantom energy sucker, won’t do much to help combat our energy crisis. On page 3 of Without Hot Air, David MacKay talks about people telling you that unplugging electronics that are in standby mode and every little bit helps is “crazy innumerate codswallop.” He says, “if everyone does a little, we’ll achieve only a little.” I disagree. I think that people like the BBC and its American counterpart, whatever that may be, encourage us to do things as simple as unplugging our phone charger because it makes us think, it gets the ball rolling, it makes us start to think about our decisions. If we get in the habit of unplugging phone chargers, or unplugging you printer, turning off lights, reducing the thermostat by 1º, it could lead people to install low flow shower heads, upgrading to energy efficient appliances, collecting rainwater, and then even to install solar panels or drive a hybrid. I mean I understand what MacKay is saying, just unplugging your phone charger will barely make a difference, so why do it? Because it’s not the act, it’s the practice.

This subject came to mind when I was grocery shopping today. My boyfriend likes to stick to brands he knows, he is your typical ‘man’ when it comes to shopping, and hates accompanying me shopping. But one thing I noticed is that when he tries to put a name brand product in the cart, and I grab it, put it back, and replace it in the cart with a generic item, he always says: “it’s only a couple cents cheaper, what’s the big deal?” I have finally realized that he’s right (he can never know I said that), just a couple cents is not a big deal, but if I do that, choose the cheaper generic instead of the name brand on every item I buy, it adds up; I can usually save 15-20%. MacKay has the same thinking, if all you do is ‘just unplug your phone charger’ (this example is getting old, sorry), then you will only save a couple cents, but if you take that perspective with everything you do, then it will add up! But then again, that’s just my two cents. (hahaha)

MacKay MyHero

So recently in class we have begun reading David JC MacKay's Without Hot Air, a book, if you will, provided to educate the consumer instead of imposing the author's beliefs on the reader. Coming from the book we read at the beginning of the term, Blessed Unrest by Paul Hawken, this book is much less emotional. MacKay uses facts and provides the reader the information need to facilitate the reader to make their own decision; Hawken writes about what he is passionate about and what he believes in. For a person like me who would rather do long division than be forced to be creative, MacKay is much more my style. But it is my belief that both authors need to exist, because not everyone learns or critically thinks in the same fashion. Some people really found Blessed Unrest interesting and informative, where as I hated it, and it was the least favorite part of my week. But both of these books need to exist for people to become educated on what is/has happen(ing/ed) in this world and what they can do to help and prevent things like this in the future. While I like math because everything has a correct answer, some people like to express their feelings, and leave things to interpretation; this is how these two authors differ. I just want to clarify something before I wrap this up: I would still recommend Blessed Unrest to someone, it just depends on who it is and their style.

Simpler times: my latest pipe dream

Last term, for a final project in my SINQ Pop Culture class, we were asked to analyze an animated film; my group chose Pixar’s Wall-E. A main point we discussed in our presentation was corporate America and the role ‘mega-corporations’ would hold on the future. I was constantly reminded of the work I did on this project while reading “The Rights of Business” chapter in Paul Hawken’s Blessed Unrest for this weeks readings. This week in class, we were graced by Professor Brower (the daughter of Jack Brower) who talked to us about her father after we watched the documentary “Monumental” based on his conquests. She mentioned the term “simpler times” throughout her visit to class and it really resonated with me, as well as making think of my previous class project and Hawken’s writings.

On page 60 of his book, Hawken talks about an English group know as ‘Luddites.’ These people tried to fight back as their industry became corporatized and did so in a very physical way. I had no idea that such a seemingly current movement took place over a hundred years ago. Today, more than ever, un-employment rates are at their highest. Progress for progress’ sake should be frowned upon; companies should hire human workers rather than buy machines or robots; mega-corporations should build factories in our homeland rather than outsourcing for cheap labor. Instead of the Industrialization era that caused all these machines to replace the jobs of people like the Luddites, we are in a Technological era and our human workers are being replaced by machine counterparts.

Back to what Professor Brower talked about of simpler times, we are living in such a complex age, and as much as I am grateful that I live in a time where we have healthcare and many other modern commodities, I jealous of those who lived in a simpler time, a much simpler time: no paper money, no bills, no taxes, no materialistic goods, just people doing what they needed to sustain life.