A Billion People Face a Fork in the Road
A BILLION PEOPLE FACE A FORK IN THE ROAD
Our plan to provide both feed and fuel for SubSaharan Africa (which we call G.E.M.P.A.L.A.)* has stalled for lack of support, especially a lack of government support. Please spread the word among your friends, (especially government elected officials and their economic advisors) that this kind of massive support (which like the original Marshall Plan has as much or more economic benefit for the exporting countries than the beneficiaries) which also had versions of a Marshall Plan for Africa supported by UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and the head of the African Development Bank, is one of the most important steps that must be taken in the next few years to protect the earth from overwhelming global climate change in the following decade as Africa industrializes on fossil sources of carbon fuel when it could all be renewable sources, especially algae. Just take a minute to write your congressman/woman, your senator, your governor or any personal contact to be sure that they are aware of the great benefits of algae cultivation for food and fuel. The economics change substantially when labour costs drop dramatically as they do in African, Latin American and Asian countries. Labor based alternatives make the expensive parts of algae cultivation go away at the same time that local employment surges. Winners all around, including companies exporting equipment and expertise from all the more highly industrialized nations of the world.
African nations (and most of Latin America too) face the choice of cheap but mostly imported fossil carbon fuels of coal and petroleum or the greener alternative of domestically grown renewable energy sources. They need our help in getting that industry started. They need our help but especially they also need financing. Believe it or not, financing algae production as a major industry will be profitable for the financial industry too. It is risky, until and unless the field is proven, which is one reason why government loan guarantees and other government policies are needed to support this very important startup industry segment. Green renewable sources are the only way we can assure that we do not continue to add fossil carbon to the air that took the earth millions of years to sequester underground.
If you will indulge me an imperfect analogy for a moment, it is like seeing that your brother has the choice of marching down the well-worn path into a deep dark pit of fossil carbon, or turning to the other fork in the road that leads to a peaceful green pond where food and fuel flow in abundance. When we already have the "map" isn't it time to share that with our brothers in Africa?
* Green Energy Marshall Plan for Africa and Latin America
In the interest of full disclosure, the author has a financial interest in algae cultivation through his partial ownership of Source Integration Inc.