Congratulations to Melina Janki, but she must ‘get with the program’

Feb 23, 2023 Letters

---

Dear Editor,

I would like to join the fifteen signatories to a letter that saluted Melinda Janki for winning the “Rule of Law” Award (2023) from the Commonwealth Law Association (Stabroek News, 20/2/2023). At the same time, however, I would like to show that Ms. Janki’s overall efforts as an environmental activist is definitively misplaced. I shall insist forthwith that my observations are based on the totality of threats to the global climate stability, and in no way a personal critique of the award recipient.

To date Ms. Janki’s efforts seem to be wholly and fully dedicated against the Oil & Gas sector in Guyana, a small developing nation in the Caribbean. Now, allow me to show that Janki’s efforts on Oil & Gas in Guyana are misdirected. My contention is two-fold. First, rather than critiquing energy development in Guyana because of the associated environmental consequences, she should be directing her attention to the world’s biggest polluters. I will focus on the energy consumption side of the greenhouse emissions equation. The second aspect of my concerns relates to the North-South dimensions of world energy consumption, a situation that speaks to the most horrific inequalities in the world.

Let us begin with coal consumption since it is patently dangerous to human health and to the global ecosystem. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists “[i]n the United States, coal accounts for roughly one-quarter of all energy-related carbon emissions.” Coal contributes about 22% to US electricity supplies. Incidentally, natural gas contributes roughly 38% of US electricity, but Ms. Janki is content on being silent on that, while attacking our Gas to Energy project.

Let us get back to the North-South inequality noted above. Below is a quick glance of coal consumption expressed in per capita cubic feet per annum – Australia 5,343; Czech Republic 4653; Greece 3,587; Poland 3916; Germany 3,132; USA 2,263; Japan 1648; and Canada 1,179. While it is true that the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia are top users, Global South countries in general, are minimal users of coal. Take a look at the comparable figures for – Mexico 182; Pakistan 50; Venezuela 6; and Sri Lanka 109. Coal is not used in Guyana.

How about per capita electricity consumption? The following data (expressed in per capita kilowatt hours) clearly shows North-South disparities. Norway 27,529; Sweden 16,538; Canada 16,405; USA 12,314; Australia 9,531; France 8,545; and still in the Global North, Japan at 7,692. Some of the largest countries in the Third World show significantly lower per capita consumption of electricity. Note for instance, Brazil 3091; India 1218 and Nigeria (indicative of most African countries) 147 kilowatts.  Guyana’s consumption rate, by comparison is at 982 kilowatt.

Gasoline consumption expressed in per capita gallons reveal dramatic North-South disparities. Note the following – Singapore 3679; Luxemburg 1487; Canada 1,047; Netherlands 846;  Japan 480; Germany 444; France 404; UK 366. Guyana’s consumption stands at 278. 61 countries in the world consume less than 100 gallons (per capita) per annum, and as you might guess all are in the Third World.

Editor, natural gas is known to be a transition energy source in so far as its greenhouse effects are less damaging compared to coal or gasoline. Yet many of the letter writers who support Ms. Janki are protesting our Gas to Energy (NGL) projects being developed at Wales on the West Bank Demerara. But even here, Editor, the critics are misguided. Excepting for the Gulf States, the biggest consumers of natural gas are in fact in the Global North. Canada, where some of the critics live, is among the very highest consumer of natural gas with a mammoth per capita of 112.5 cubic feet. I specifically wish to remind Dr. Bulkan that every Canadian contributed 18.58 tons (per capita) of CO2 emissions. The comparable figure for Guyana is 4.22 tons per capita.

The data above clearly indicate that there is widespread bullying taking place in the global climate change space. Powerful countries that are among the worst polluters are the very ones who have control over multilateral institutions, including development financing. Those same countries have powerful NGOs that though guided by the right convictions on many issues of human rights, broadly defined, are ideologically fixated on the proposition that the rich countries should protect their standard of living as the first and most important goal.

Those same NGOs recruit elites from the Third World to join their cause. If those same NGOs were truly democratic where global governance is concerned, they would focus on life-style changes in the Global North which has produced 79% of the greenhouse gases since the industrial revolution. I must also insist that the militaries in many of these countries are also the most significant polluters.

Ms. Janki is a known quantity and she can very well use her intellectual and professional energies to call for greater justice in the relations between Global North and South. Why not revive the spirit of Bandung, rather than stand with the political and economic interests in countries that are already in an era of excessive consumption?

Sincerely,

Dr. Randolph Persaud

---

• Commonwealth Law Association, Congratulations, Dr. Randolph Persaud, Guyana, Melinda Janki, Rule of Law” Award

---