Tcktcktck – 5 days until Copenhagen. And the global warmer deniers continue to be hot and bothered. They persist in their focus on the hacked emails from the University of East Anglia which I wrote about on Monday. Senator James Inhofe is one of the people leading U.S.’s denial lobby; and he also happens to be the U.S. senator who receives the most money from the oil and gas industries. Inhofe thinks that “global warming is debunked everytime he drinks a slushie and gets a brain freeze” (Jon Stewart).
As Copenhagen gets closer, if you are anything like me, you might be feeling the need for a dose of encouragement. Here’s some:
William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer’s book The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind has made it to Amazon’s top 10 Best Books of 2009, as well as Publisher Weekly’s Best Book of the Year. It tells about how Kamkwamba, “a simple farmer in a country of poor farmers” built a windmill about of bicycle parts and other scrap pieces when he was 14, after being forced to drop out of school because of a severe drought in Malawi. He built his windmill to pump water and generate electricity for his home. Now every home in Wimbe, Kamkwamba’s hometown, has a solar panel and a battery to store power. His message to “all the people out there – to the Africans, and to poor people” is to never give up.
“Trust yourself, and believe. Whatever happens, don’t ever give up.”
Click here view a video of Mr. Kamkwamba speaking at the TED Global Conference this past July.
The situation that we are in is too important to let the deniers sidetrack us. Let’s take Mr. Kamkwamba’s words to heart, and keep up the good fight for a real, fair and binding treaty on global warming. Check out the links on my blogroll and take action.
Encouraging story. The optimism of the poorest of the poor in African countries is amazing. It almost makes me feel that it would be easier to live simply and happily (and more environmentally responsible) in a Malawian village than in a Canadian urban centre.