BHARRAT SHOULD USE A BICYCLE

Oct 02, 2009 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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I am not certain that the majority of ordinary citizens fully understand all this low-carbon talk. A great many of our citizens simply cannot cut through the chase of the technical paraphernalia associated with the strategy.
In order to sell this strategy to the Guyanese people, the promoter must bring it closer to the people. And the best way for the people to feel a moral obligation to support the strategy is if the government sets the example through changes in the way government is administered and in the lifestyles of our political leaders.
If we wish to bring this strategy closer to the people, then it must challenge them to adopt things in their personal lives which would promote low-carbon substitutes for activities that presently involve carbon usage. And the leaders must set the example so that the people will be inspired to act in the same way.
We should begin with the President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana who is the person spearheading this low-carbon development strategy. I rather suspect that President Bharrat Jagdeo is the most travelled Head of State in the world. He has over the past two years been travelling extensively.
Now that he has taken up this low-carbon business, his travels are likely to increase. However every trip by air means emissions by the plane in which he is travelling. And this is not good for climate change and the low-carbon development.
One of the ironies therefore is that in trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, our President finds himself having to jump regularly on an airplane which in flight emits greenhouse gases.
Now I am not asking that the President’s next overseas mission be by hot air balloon. Rather, I am suggesting that he take note of what the Jamaican Prime Minister is doing. The Jamaican Prime Minister has signaled that there is going to be a reduction in overseas travel by officials. This is something that should be imitated in Guyana.
We need our President to stay more at home. Instead of so much jet travel all over the world, the President of Guyana, in the spirit of his low-carbon development plans, should instead use teleconferencing to achieve his objectives.
A low-carbon economy should also entail low-level travel. I would urge the President to instruct his ministers that for around-the-town travel, they should park their Prados and use bicycles, or better yet walk. A great deal of unnecessary fuel is consumed for travel which could be undertaken by foot or on bicycle, and therefore if the government is serious about a low-carbon economy, it should take steps to reduce energy generated by fossil fuels.
Blackouts are not the way for this to happen. Persons should be encouraged to reduce their own energy use by 10 per cent. Guyanese are very liberal when it comes to the use of electricity and water, and it will not take much for every household to reduce its electricity usage by ten per cent.
Pre-paid meters can help, but many persons are skeptical about switching to pre-paid meters. All the supporters of the President’s low-carbon development strategy, including all the ministers of the government, should switch to pre-paid meters so that they can set an example for others to follow.
I expect that within the next few weeks all the homes of the Ministers of the government would be switched to pre-paid meters.
Bringing the low-carbon development strategy closer to the people means encouraging the use of degradable paper bags. We need to reduce the amount of plastic and styrofoam that is consumed in Guyana and the government should encourage businesses to promote greater use of paper bags rather than plastic.
Today if you go to any market, almost every purchase you make, you are given a plastic bag. Citizens should be encouraged to reduce their use of plastics bags. Some attempt is being made to do so already and these efforts must be intensified.
I have seen public service announcements on television urging citizens to use less plastic. Also a company is producing a study bag which can be used by shoppers to put all their purchases rather than hauling around so many plastic bags.
Finally, this column had proposed household and municipal biodegraders to treat household waste. The increased use to these degraders would help to significantly reduce the pressures on our landfill sites, and the byproducts can be used for fertilizers and fuel in rural communities.
Now these are approaches that would encourage citizens to buy into the low-carbon development strategy and bring it closer to them. Right now it is by far too technical a strategy, concentrating mainly on forest services and not touching the everyday lives of citizens.

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