[DEBATE] : Re: Forcing Africans to 'adapt' to poverty

[Mandi Smallhorne]

The drastic changes I propose and have proposed for the last five to ten
years are for people who are among the biggest GHG (greenhouse gas)
producers per capita in the world - the comfortably-off in South Africa and
the wealthy in other parts of Africa, who live almost exactly the same kinds
of lives as consumers in the North. (According to the recent Living Planet
report, SA is the lone African country in the upper third of a list ranking
countries according to eco-footprint.)
Your assumption is that I'm one of them. Well, I am in my own view when I
compare myself to my friends living in Lawley and other townships - but I am
by no means among the 'super luxurious', as you blithely assume (most
climate change scoffers seem to assume that those of us who lobby, don't
*do*, how insulting to our commitment and intelligence). I don't need to
have lists on my fridge, as I already do many of the things I suggest in my
articles for other people: I (and my husband) drive a small and economical
car (a Toyota Carri, for your info), I limit my trips (I've arranged my work
in such a way that I only need go out three times a week on average), I use
energy-efficient products in my own home, I neither heat nor cool my house
using power, I'm a vegetarian partly in order to reduce demand for
methane-producing animals who are farmed and slaughtered and transported in
ways that produce GHG, I grow some of my own veggies using my own home-made
compost, I buy local as much as I can (seeking out local veggie farmers eg
in Hekpoort to buy from), I switch off appliances like computers and don't
leave them on standby, I limit my use of electrical appliances as much as
possible, I've 'reduced reused, recycled' for years, I am busy investigating
finance for solar water heating, I even don't have children (although I
would have liked just one, but I've believed for years that those who have
access to the products that create environmental problems should limit their
offspring to limit their footprint)....  Enough? So puhlease, drop the
assumptions. I do have the brains to at least *try* to live the way I
preach.
The idea that Africa, or India, or wherever, should get a blanket free pass
because the majority of its people are poor is, to my mind,
counterproductive. I can just see a whole bunch of wealthy people fleeing a
GHG-regulated Europe and coming to live in sunny South Africa, where they
can have a house at Plett or in Constantia AND continue to use as much GHGs
as they like, because they're now living 'in the 3rd world'. What we have to
come up with is a way to regulate  overconsumption by the world's wealthy,
including those living among the poor... I found George Monbiot's Heat an
interesting contribution to the debate on how to do this, especially his
starting premise that we simply cannot expect people to comply if it means
giving up all that they enjoy.  I have no problem with the kind of
regulatory system he proposes, and would like to hear more concrete  and
substantive proposals for containing GHG production from those who care
about the fate of our agriculture, our wildlife and our comfort enough to
tackle the real issues.

By the way, just to reply to Dominic's comment on agriculture and Kili,
here's a quote from a recent, very well referenced WWF document on Climate
Change Impacts on East Africa:
"High temperatures and less rainfall during already dry months in the
Tanzanian river catchments could affect the annual
flow to the River Pangani by reductions of 6-9% and to the River Ruvu by 10%
(VPO-URT, 2003). The Pangani Basin is also fed by the glaciers of
Kilimanjaro, which have been melting alarmingly fast and are estimated to
disappear completely by 2015 - 2020 (Thompson et al. 2002). *The population
living around the base of Kilimanjaro uses this meltwater and the fog water
from the rainforests that cover the mountain's flanks for drinking,
irrigation, and hydropower*. The Pangani Basin is one of Tanzania's most
agriculturally productive areas and is an important hydropower production
region. Because of this, climate change threatens the productivity and
sustainability of this region's resources, which hosts an estimated 3.7
million people."

Mandi

----- Original Message -----
From: "grinker" <grinker at mweb.co.za>
To: "'debate: SA discussion list '" <debate at lists.kabissa.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2007 7:30 PM
Subject: [DEBATE] : Re: Forcing Africans to 'adapt' to poverty


> Mandi Smallhorne: So those
> regions that have relied on glacier melt for water cannot rely on rain
> (they'll get either none or great dollops which are difficult to harvest -
> we don't have the technology yet, at any rate, and 12 years is a damn
short
> time in which to create it - plus I can't see the political will or
capital
> being there to do it, in Kenya or other countries).
> This 'the great god science will provide' defence against the necessity of
> drastic changes to our way of living is just a rationalisation to avoid
> facing the harsh requirements, I'm afraid.
>
> What 'drastic changes' are you suggesting for people in Africa? Their
lives
> are mostly already pretty harsh. Please also post your suggestions (no
doubt
> there's already a list up on your fridge) for immediate changes to your no
> doubt super-luxurious lifestyle. And who do you propose should impose such
> reductions on those who don't comply?
>
>