Showing posts with label waste. Show all posts
Showing posts with label waste. Show all posts

Sunday, September 27, 2009

3 weeks to go! Crazy weeks ahead!




















































Modern technology
Owes ecology
An apology (Alan M. Eddison)

Ain't that true!

Heard Japan has pledged to cut down on their carbon emissions 25% by 2020! Should all other countries follow, we are in for the greenest, lushest, most fantastic half-decade ever! A time-frame which is sure to see us enjoying the fruits of our labour.

15th October, 2009 is Action Blogging Day, and the topic chosen for this year is Climate Change. Furthermore, the Copenhagen international climate conference will be happening in December. Seems like this year is for the Green-ies!

It's a dream. A wonderful dream. Painstakingly achievable, but highly feasible.

So ....!

Have you told your friends and family about the 17th October yet?
Marked it on your calendar already?
Called up your 4-man posse members on prepping for it?
Have you asked your company to attend as part of its Corporate Social Responsibilities ... yet?

If you didn't know ... entry fee is only GH 2.00 cedis.
You come as a 4-member group, its only GH 6.00 cedis.

Reggie's "Take the Mic" ticket will be out soon, and can be bought ahead of time, or at the gate.
That one is going at GH 20.00 cedis for 150 people. So book your ticket ahead of time if you can help it!

The Charity Ball tickets are also out already, and will be available for purchase at the fair grounds on the 17th October as well. I have delivered a few to friends and corporates already, so if you need any, just let me know! It's for 200 people. It will have presentations and short talks from select lead experts, specialists, ground-breaking companies, foreign investors, and financiers - on the evening's programme.

It will have celebrities, famous personalities, achievers in the corporate world, and amazing mavericks who have done the once-thought-of impossible! If you can afford it, DON'T MISS OUT on this ball! I assure you! The networking, financial, investment possibilities are endless.

3 WEEKS TO GO!
I was in Elmina on Founder's Day ... met with the Project Manager for Cyclus Elmina Plastic Waste Recycling Plant in Aburansa-Komenda in Elmina.
Very personable man, and passionate about Sustainable efforts ... a man who had spent 9 years in Cameroon working on wind power projects and water engineering.

I went to see what Cyclus Elmina was all about, and how our fundraising efforts for a Plastic Waste Recycler in Accra could fit into their agenda - for better synergy. Also to learn as much about the process and its inputs as possible.

I didn't regret the trip. All my studies, readings, and research on possible end-products of plastic recycling, both occurring in other parts of Africa, and yet to happen ... were already being tested by Wim and his team in Elmina.
By the end of the meeting, I had had more than enough knowledge on how such a plant worked, and gotten a signed agreement from Cyclus Elmina to support in Accra, in terms of Plastic Waste collection (as totally as possible),education and training (of local inhabitants).

We were worried that they were not getting enough plastic waste to meet the plant's quota in Elmina ... whereas those who claimed to be collecting it in Accra seemed blind to those scattered all over the streets, and every other available space in the capital city! Apparently, deals are struck with hotels, schools, and institutions, and they collect directly from selected sources.

Here at ESF, we intend to give the money-less, homeless teens the opportunity to make 100% of the money paid by Cyclus for this plastic waste .... by hiring them on to actually collect those littering our neighbourhoods, as well as talk to the households living in those communities, so that they pick up directly from them.

Whatever cash is paid by Cyclus Elmina, we pay back 100% to them after weighing. Our focus is to clean up the plastic litter, and make sure Cyclus's plant is being utilised to the max! Cyclus also issues cheques weekly to pay, so is sorta better than most other plastic-using manufacturers in the country, who are less regular (or less reliable about paying).

You can see some of the pictures from my Elmina trip to Cyclus, and also at the guest house, where i stayed overnight.

With 3 weeks to go, I am still working on getting as many sustainable businesses and ideas involved in the Fair and the Ball, as is possible.

Here's to THE GREENFOOT CAMPAIGN!! Hip hip hooorah!

Lol. What a silly goose! I just love it! lol!

See you all soon, guys! Mwah!!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

And ... Halt!!!

Ghana got waste! Ghana got it good ... waste! We got the trash, y'all!
And it's the most unpleasant stink ... shish! But the government's loving it ... oooo yah!

They have to be loving it, because we dont see them doing much about it.

Not even when communities fight with the rubbish-dumpster truck-drivers and people get killed in cold blood. Not even when the people in the community block the roads leading to the landfill sites because they never authorised anybody to make that place a dumpsite, and yet the Metropolitan authorities have made it so ... by force!

The people live WITH the trash ... its like the are living on an island surrounded by millions of cubic metres of trash.The stench is so unbearable ... they have nowhere else to live ... and by right ... it is their home. They say their families are dying, getting odd coughs and respiratory problems all the time ... they killed one person just last month at Masalachi, Mallam in Accra ... no worries ... the dumptrucks kept coming!

How do I know? I live just 2 kilometres shy of the place ... and I can smell the "shizz"! I can see it, and we all suffer for it, one way or the other. It is replicated all over Ghana, and horrible diseases keep coming up!

Government hasnt said a word. The MP for the area hasn't said anything. The NGOs and Civil Societys are oddly absent on the issue.

Whatever happened to creating biogas plants? Whatever happened to the Kumasi biogas pilot plant?

Why is the government allowing precious 100s of 1000s of hectares of agricultural land in the North and Volta regions to be used to cultivate jatropha for biodiesel ... when it is toxic to humans and animals ... when we dont have enough food in Ghana ... when we are generating 18,480,000 cubic metres of waste DAILY in Ghana and 90% of it has nowhere to go!!!!!!!!!!!!Why is the government not saving us?

SO I RECEIVED MY NGO CERTIFICATION from the Registrar-Generals last week. I was elated, at the same time ... stymied.I knew that funding would come due to who I knew, and that it would be a long hard struggle ... I want to focus on the local communities drowning under the waste ... to teach them how to take the waste and turn it into treasure and sources of income ... and therby reduce the volumes coming in as well as make some money of it.

I checked online for UNEP offices in Ghana. There is none. Closest are Kenya and ... I forget. I check UNDP. We do have one here, and they do have Energy and Environment on their agenda, and they are very busy with attaining the Millenium Devt Goals ... I really have to make it a point to go there ... I put them a little lower on my list because of bureacratic issues.I checked on AREED, and they said they funded entrepreneurs ... we are not-for-profit.

They however led me to KITE, and they are also not-for-profit and cannot sponsor another NGO. They have a lot of high-falutin reports on their website on RETs, past present and future research reports - done and ongoing - since 1999/2000 -

But why dont i see this evident in our communities? Where did all the research go? We are still drowning in waste, and they are talking "biomethanation" ... and cutting carbon emissions" ....I am so sad ...
How does Energy Solutions acquire the necessary funding to assist the very people who are dying of the trash?
No sooner had i gotten certified, than I see the barriers ... and I'm gonna go through them!!


Please check out these links:

http://www.wrm.org.uy/subjects/agrofuels/Biofuel_Northern_Ghana.pdf

http://www.actionaidusa.org/news/related/food_rights/women_lose_farms_to_biofuel_production/

And you're gonna help us ...

Please help ENERGY SOLUTIONS any way you can ... material donations, human resources with knowledge in waste engineering, funding ... 50 pesewas ... 1 dollar ... 2 pounds ... 3 GH cedis ... Ghanaians in the country and out of it ... all nationalities who believe in us ... people living in neighbourhoods affected by this problem ... we have a few people helping us with little cash donations so that their communities can enjoy transformation ... please join this march!!