Developing Countries And Green Power

Re: “Bush’s Climate goals marked by bureaucracy” of Friday 28 September: Developing countries like Mexico, India, and China, that are being co-opted by the US into a voluntary approach to global warming, are missing the point.

Following the lead of an already industrialised nation that is as self-serving as the US will not improve the lot of the poor in their countries or other developing nations like Namibia. Instead, developing countries keen to shake off the yoke of ex-imperial powers can come up with innovative and sustainable solutions to their specific problems that are at the cutting edge of development.”…meeting basic human needs” don’t have to be given up in a sustainable development approach.Quite often the sustainable approach is more successful in meeting these needs than that of conventional industrialisation.Compare the number of jobs created in Namibia over the past 10 years by conservation based tourism versus those created by industrialisation in the country.(Ramatex?) We do not need to copy countries that have already damaged their natural resources irreparably, but rather focus on exploiting our own natural resources in an environmentally responsible way.Instead of building more dirty coal-fired power stations, we can concentrate on energy efficiency and reduce our need for power.We can invest in solar power, creating a demand for less expensive technology.We can change from electrical water heating to solar water heating.We can demand our industries start out green.These actions will not just help fight climate change from a global perspective, but immediately improve the lot of the poor in each developing country.Just have a look at the sky over Katatura in the morning – no wonder people living here complain about hay-fever and sinusitis: the smoke from Van Eck Power station spreads out like a blanket covering most of the northwest of the city.This smoke is directly damaging to human health in the short term and indirectly damaging to the environment in the long term.I hope the Ministry of Mines and Energy, Nampower and the City of Windhoek take cognisance of these issues and exercise their responsibility for the environmentally sound and healthy generation of power in the city and the country.Does the City’s Health Department apply their regulations to Nampower? Does Nampower consider improving the filtering systems on Van Eck? Is the Ministry seriously looking at genuine green power generation? N A Maritz, WindhoekInstead, developing countries keen to shake off the yoke of ex-imperial powers can come up with innovative and sustainable solutions to their specific problems that are at the cutting edge of development.”…meeting basic human needs” don’t have to be given up in a sustainable development approach.Quite often the sustainable approach is more successful in meeting these needs than that of conventional industrialisation.Compare the number of jobs created in Namibia over the past 10 years by conservation based tourism versus those created by industrialisation in the country.(Ramatex?) We do not need to copy countries that have already damaged their natural resources irreparably, but rather focus on exploiting our own natural resources in an environmentally responsible way.Instead of building more dirty coal-fired power stations, we can concentrate on energy efficiency and reduce our need for power.We can invest in solar power, creating a demand for less expensive technology.We can change from electrical water heating to solar water heating.We can demand our industries start out green.These actions will not just help fight climate change from a global perspective, but immediately improve the lot of the poor in each developing country.Just have a look at the sky over Katatura in the morning – no wonder people living here complain about hay-fever and sinusitis: the smoke from Van Eck Power station spreads out like a blanket covering most of the northwest of the city.This smoke is directly damaging to human health in the short term and indirectly damaging to the environment in the long term.I hope the Ministry of Mines and Energy, Nampower and the City of Windhoek take cognisance of these issues and exercise their responsibility for the environmentally sound and healthy generation of power in the city and the country.Does the City’s Health Department apply their regulations to Nampower? Does Nampower consider improving the filtering systems on Van Eck? Is the Ministry seriously looking at genuine green power generation? N A Maritz, Windhoek