How Access to Information Can Tackle Poverty and Pollution
Written on 01/11 at 06:18 PM by Andy Posner
I wrote this article for the Huffington Post. It can be seen in its original context here
In the Spring of 2007 I had the opportunity to spend a month working with my good friend and colleague T.H. Culhane, the founder of Solar CITIES, an NGO that builds solar water heaters and biogas generators in the slums of Cairo, Egypt. What is most innovative about what Solar CITIES does is that they build the systems almost entirely out of recycled materials and garbage--things like discarded butter tins, plastic barrels and metal. At the same time, they are building a cottage industry, training local residents to design and build affordable renewable energy systems. It is one of the first green job training programs in Egypt, and the only one focusing on slum communities.
T.H. is one of those rare social entrepreneurs whose boundless energy, commitment and intelligence inspires everyone around him and attracts attention to his cause. Yet to me the most striking aspect of the trip was noticing the way in which T.H. leveraged his access to information (he is also a PhD candidate in urban planning at UCLA) to enable Cairenes to see the benefits of his systems, and then to come up with better, more efficient designs themselves. Carrying his iPod around like an instrument for social change, instead of merely a toy for the privileged, he would show videos and drawings of solar thermal systems to carpenters, plumbers and community leaders. Eager to benefit their communities, these individuals quickly saw the upsides of solar hot water. After all, most Cairenes currently heat their home in a way that is dangerous (due to fumes and the possibility of explosion) and expensive, whereas solar hot water is reliable, silent and clean (and if fossil fuels weren’t massively subsidized in Egypt, it would also be the cheapest form of energy in “The City of the Sun"). They immediately began coming up with innovations--finding more durable and affordable materials, refining and even refuting the designs of so-called experts, and inventing brand new manufacturing techniques.
Hey Andy,
I absolutely agree with information being key to liberation but I think before we give out 100 dollar laptops we should spend those hundreds making sure kids have access to ample food and clean drinking water, just my opinion. Anyway
I love your blog, it’s posts, and the great articles that you write for treehugger. I’m currently writing a e-zine callwd punk rock permaculture and would love to have you as a syndicated contributor. Now I know your busy and want to be paid too but this is the DIO (do it ourselves) revolutions and the show must go on!
Keep up the great work.
~permie boi
Posted by
Permie Boi on 01/12 at 10:52 AM
Callwd!
Geeze I hate this 2:00AM typos.
Posted by
Permie Boi on 01/12 at 10:53 AM
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