I saw a story on CNBC World about nibs and how the the nibs are processed into ingredients for cosmetic products. All of this processing happens in Africa and it used to be done by hand. But a European country needed more. So they gave them some diesel-powered nib processors. Now the women in these poor villages can make more money because they can process more nibs. (I am sorry that I cannot provide more detail, but I can’t find more details online.)
There is also a story in the Economist about how 1 billion people in Africa have no electricity. And that getting them electricity will not be easy. There will be huge infrastructure costs if traditional power plants are used, and with them environmental damage. But as cities grow in Africa, there may not be another solution.
I also read in the Wall Street Journal about a reservoir created in Africa that is generating power, jobs and food. But it has covered millions of dollars of trees. I guess no one thought to cut them down beforehand, or did not have the resources to cut them down. Now someone is trying to figure out how to do it without disrupting the environment underwater that the fish now use for safety and breeding.
So here’s my question:
How did Africa get so poor and how did we ignore 1 billion people for so long? Ok, that is not really my question, because this is not a history site. My real question is: if they ever make it to a more technologically advanced state, how much more energy and overall resources will be needed? How much more pollution will be created? How much more strain will there be on this planet? I cannot, morally, hope that Africa stays poor, undernourished, and medically untreated. So the question becomes how can we help them get to the start of the 21st century without having the horrible polluting footprint that the rest of the world has? Asia has followed in Europe’s and the United States’ footsteps by growing first and asking about sustainability later (Has Asia even asked yet?).
Do we put a windmill at every farm? A solar panel at every home? A solar hot water heater to kill bacteria in their water? Africa, or even any area in Africa could become an experiment in sustainability. If the energy can be used to be productive like the diesel nib processor shown on CNBC World, then there is an incentive and a profit motive for any company to make the investment in an area. When will Africa (which is closer to Europe and the Americas than Asia) become the place where clothes are made? Only when electricity and the technologies it supports are in place. And when will that happen? Only when there are jobs… Africa is stuck in a cycle that can never get started.
