THE GREEN REVOLUTION

Oct 11, 2015 AFC Column, Features / Columnists

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GREEN is the catchword of this millennium.  Throughout most of the developed and developing world, a drive is on to reduce every country’s carbon footprint.  These terminologies mean different things to different governments, to lobbyists, and to the authors of short and long term strategic plans.
In the simplest terms, “green energy” mean generating electrical power (mainly) from sources other than petroleum, this ‘black gold’ that has been ruling the world’s socio-economic well being for as long as we could remember.  “Green” energy could be derived from wind farms that are powered by the force of wind by means of ‘windmills’ sited on land or out in the sea or ocean.  It is commonly believed that the Dutch perfected this technology many millennia ago when their towns and hamlets were powered by the ever-present wind mills.  We first learnt about these in fictional stories and children’s tales, many of which were written since the 17th Century.
Green energy in this era of rapidly advancing technologies and hundreds of thousands of new innovations also entails generation of electrical power from water sources with which Guyana is abundantly blessed.  Our Guyanese catch phrase of this millennium is ‘Hydro-power’ and our diplomatic, developmental and funding partners in North America, Europe and Asia, have recognized that this nation would do itself a world of good if we succeeded in harnessing specific free-flowing waterways and building/installing the equipment and facilities that would generate electrical power with water as the main raw material.
Once again we could hark back to three centuries ago when water wheels were built and used widely for converting the energy of free-flowing or free-falling water into various forms of power.  They were used as well as a ‘water plant’ or a ‘watermill’.  A water wheel consisted of a large wooden or metal wheel with a number of blades or buckets arranged on the outside rim.  This rim formed the driving surface. Most commonly, the wheel was mounted vertically on a horizontal axle, but the tub or Norse wheel was mounted horizontally on a vertical shaft.
We are not sure when the device was invented, but in the 17th Century water wheels were used to mill flour in gristmills, and to grind wood into pulp for papermaking.  Other uses included mechnanical hammering of wrought iron, machining, ore crushing, and for pounding fiber for use in the manufacture of cloth. (Wikipedia)
Water wheels were still in commercial use in the North American south, the English, Irish and Scottish countryside boroughs, parishes and districts, and in quite a few European countries well into the 20th century.  But industrialization took over first and machines powered with petroleum products largely replaced the simpler ones of old.  Then High Technology came and made most of those machines more efficient, but the raw ingredient – petroleum fuel – was still required in copious amounts.
The Government strategy to dramatically decrease Guyana dependence on imported fuel is multi-pronged.  Feasibility studies are continuing on the viability of Wind Farms to supply some energy to the national grid.  One initial unofficial report has earlier stated that the force of wind hitting Guyana’s shores near Georgetown and East Coast Demerara, but another study will shortly commence to assess its viability on the Essequibo Coast.
Simultaneously, the over-priced Amaila Falls Hydro-power project that was crafted by the previous administration is in the process of review.  This government fully intends to harness our water resources but at several locations to provide hydro-power to our citizens in the Essequibo regions at first.  Until we are able to power the entire nation from alternative sources (including biomass), the main power provider, GPL will be subjected to an intensive review aimed at rectifying the decades old problems of lost power from the transmission and distribution lines, inefficient fuel consumption, and a disproportionate management structure.

GREENING THE ENVIRONMENT
In the last century, Scientists detected a hole in the ozone layer which protects the Earth from the harshest effects of direct sunshine.  This hole, they say, is growing larger as a result of atmospheric pollution from industrial plants, from household products such as aerosols, (note the perennial presence of heavy smog in highly industrial and populated places like Manhattan NY and Beijing, China), and from the degradation of forests all over the world.
Forests, Trees, shrubs, plants and most if not all sprouts from Mother Earth act as the lungs of the earth.  Primarily they absorb carbon dioxide and other toxins in the atmosphere.  Now, with a large quantity of the world’s forests severely depleted, our most natural layer of protection has diminished.   Today there are hardly any trees left standing in many islands of the South Pacific.   All around the world centuries-old trees, some with trunks of 40-foot circumference, were cut down to make room for new concrete structures.  Certain sections of the densest parts of the Amazon Rainforest have been completely depleted as were many forests on the African continent.
Enter 2006 and the sights of hungry international logging conglomerates fell upon Guyana, this land of ours that used to be able to boast of 70 percent pristine forest coverage.  Unexplainably, these logging concerns have been allowed to strip our forests of one of Guyana’s most valuable resources.  This resource is so valuable to the world that the United Nations a few years ago dubbed this country “The Lungs of the World”.  Around that time the Government of Norway sought to encourage Guyana to keep our forests intact by paying a large sum of money to the national coffers.  This compensation was, among other things, to encourage us to avoid degrading the thick forest canopy with mining and logging industries.
The previous government committed some blatant breaches of the commitments they made to Norway.  One of the breached commitments involved replanting sapling in areas where trees were cut down.  Now this government has to find the way to restoring Guyana’s greenery for the children of the world.
H.E. President Brigadier David Granger recently launched “Guyana’s Green Revolution”.  The aptly chosen location to kick off the initiative was Bartica, the community that is being transformed into Guyana’s model Green town and green economy.  A symbolic tree was planted and watered in the Bartica Community Center Ground and President Granger announced that every year the nation will observe National Tree Planting Day.  All national agencies and NGO’s are on board and will play their own roles in this endeavour to promote sustainable environmental practices and implement sustainable energy generation and responsible usage.
As a general policy, the “Green Revolution” has the potential to improve Guyana’s food security, reduce poverty, improve nutritional and health education, create jobs in rural areas, reduce the pressures on the environment (e.g. soil erosion), and best of all, take care of the health of our people who would not be affected by pollutants in the air.
The Department of Natural Resources and the Environment (DNRE) joined the movement earlier this month and planted 20 flambouyant trees in the Botanical Gardens.  The Ministry of Tourism will follow suit in the Camp St. Avenue this week and will shortly officially adopt a section of this Avenue and assume responsibility for its general care and beautification.

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