An excellent article by Roy Innis illustrates the true cost of being environmentally supercilious - people in poor countries die. Ghana is trying to build a power plant to bring the blessings of electricity to its citizens. When it turned to its U.S. agency "partner" for help with financing, though, the answer was a resounding "no" because President Obama had signed an executive order requiring all Federal agencies to reduce "greenhouse emissions" by 30% and this was a natural gas-fired plant. As Innis points out:
"Today, almost half of Ghanaians never have access to electricity, or get it only a few hours a week, leaving their futures bleak.
Most people in Ghana are forced to cook and heat with wood, crop wastes or dung, says Franklin Cudjoe, director of the Imani (Hope) Center for Policy and Education, in Accra. The indoor air pollution from these fires causes blindness, asthma and severe lung infections that kill a million women and young children every year. Countless more Africans die from intestinal diseases caused by eating unrefrigerated, spoiled food.
Out of sight, out of mind I guess, but darn we can feel green!townhall.com/columnists/RoyInnis/2010/03/25/bringing_light,_health_and_prosperity_to_africa
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