Tuesday, January 1, 2013

...
--- As predicted 4 years ago by Carbon Manna Unlimited using the new term "Foreign Aid Micro Credit" (FAMC): “Mobile Money Helps To Address Food Shortages In Malawi” --- Hello Carbon Manna(sm) Friends & Family -- As predicted by me 4 years ago in December 2008 on this very same blog, mobile money transfers are being used today [ finally ] to mitigate the pernicious effects of famine in Africa. Here is my detailed prediction / vision: --- "The Foreign-Aid Micro Credit in a Time of Famine" [ 19 December 2008 ] http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com/2008/12/foreign-aid-micro-credit-revisited.html --- And here is this week's news from Malawi reifying (making concrete) my suppositions from 2008 : --- “Mobile Money Helps To Address Food Shortages In Malawi” December 27, 2012 "The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has joined forces with the Government of Malawi and mobile telecommunications company Airtel to launch an innovative cash transfer programme to help more than 100,000 people affected by food shortages in central and southern Malawi.  Funding for the initiative is being provided by UKAID [ DFID ]." ... http://www.mobilemoneyafrica.com/details.php?post_id=944 ----- In sum & in short, in the coming years History will validate my premature speculations from loooong ago in this 300-page blog of mine many times. So to see the Future, browse my "War and Peace" chronicle of the failings of traditional "microfinance", which means high-interest-rate micro-debt, which means micro-enslavement: -->> http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com And do join and contribute to the analogous LinkedIn group: -->> Carbon Micro Credits / Carbon Manna group: -->> http://www.linkedin.com/e/vgh/1794312/ Globally & warmly yours for the Year of the Snake [ 2013 ], David Palella David A. Palella Founder [ Emeritus, Retired ] CARBON MANNA(sm) UNLIMITED San Diego, California cell: 619-787-5767 email: dpalella@gmail.com http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidpalella [ 9,500+ connections, 900+ endorsements ] web site: http://www.carbonmanna.org blog: http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com Carbon Micro Credits / Carbon Manna group on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/e/vgh/1794312/ Wall Street Journal article: "Power out of Africa" [ cf. pp. 3-4 ] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204346104576638553875004940.html The "Micro" Revolutions Institute(SM) Established by Carbon Manna(SM) http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/04/prweb3908584.htm ---------

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Sharing carbon-offset monetary gains via the cell-phone-based, micro-PROFIT-sharing Carbon Manna(sm) System is the next wave in ...

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Sharing carbon-offset monetary gains via the cell-phone-based, micro-PROFIT-sharing Carbon Manna(sm) System is the next wave in environmental micro-entrepreneurism


Cell-phone-based, Micro-PROFIT-sharing is the moral high ground when implementing carbon-offset projects in the Developing World.

And now, an exemplary project in the news worthy of high praise:


"Barclays, Jaguar Buy Ghanaian CO2 Credits, ClimateCare Says"

Bloomberg.com - Feb 07, 2012


"Barclays Plc and Jaguar Land Rover have bought carbon credits from a Ghanaian project that uses faster-cooking stoves to burn less fuel, according to ClimateCare, an emissions-reduction project developer.

"ClimateCare sold some credits last week at 11 euros ($14.55) a metric ton, Edward Hanrahan, a founder and director of ClimateCare, said in a telephone interview. Barclays, Land Rover and CDC Group Plc, Britain’s development finance unit, are among buyers from the project, he said.

“ClimateCare helped open up carbon funding to cook stoves and we believe this is just the start of what we can achieve in tackling climate change and poverty together through intelligent carbon and development finance,” Hanrahan said in an e-mailed statement. The Oxford, England-based company was taken private in August after a management buyout from JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM)."

...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-07/ghana-stove-project-gets-first-carbon-credits-climatecare-says.html

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http://www.climatecare.org/about/news/GhanaStoves/

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See also:

http://www.environmental-finance.com/news/view/2282

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http://keliseward.blogspot.com/2012/02/ghana-stove-project-gets-first-carbon.html

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Globally & warmly yours,

David A. Palella
Founder [ Emeritus, Retired ]
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED

San Diego, California
cell: 619-787-5767
email: dpalella@gmail.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidpalella

Web site: http://www.carbonmanna.org
Blog: http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/CarbonManna
LinkedIn group: http://www.linkedin.com/e/vgh/1794312/


Wall Street Journal article: "Power out of Africa"

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204346104576638553875004940.html

The "Micro" Revolutions Institute(SM) Established by Carbon Manna(SM)

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/04/prweb3908584.htm


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Khan Academy of Karbon Kapacity Building Needed for Afrika


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Khan Academy of Carbon Capacity Building Needed for Africa

Tele-learning or Distance Education ? -- the solution for Carbon Projects training in Africa ?


Ethnocentric WASP (white Anglo-Saxon Protestant) carbon experts in North America and Europe often say that Africans are not yet qualified to accredit and verify / audit carbon-offset projects on their own continent because Africans do not yet have the "capacity" to do so.

This is "development" world speak for: "We're still smarter / better educated than you are."

So the fastest solution ? -- a Khan Academy for carbon projects training in Africa.

The training courses could be available on the internet, on good old-fashioned CD-ROMS, on DVDs, or via satellite TV or iPhone downloads from the Apple iTunes store, or via 99-cent downloads from Amazon.com -- whatever, the distribution method does not matter.

And these major American corporations could / should even provide the downloads / content free to I.P. (internet protocol) addresses in Africa.

The U.S.-based Khan Academy (founded by a 2nd-generation Bangladeshi-American) offers an excellent analog / model for those carbon offset practitioners in Africa wishing to emancipate themselves from the domination of the Western carbon-credit accreditation and auditing organizations -- whether those dominators are NGOs or non-profit or for-profit organizations.

Hey ! -- we're experts too !!

This simple phrase was the initial basis of the founding of every carbon project accreditation and auditing organization in the West. They just faked it until they made it, as a female billionaire entrepreneur in America said 40 years ago (Mary Kay).

For inspiration, reference:

http://www.khanacademy.org

The video channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/khanacademy

On Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khan_Academy

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Globally & warmly yours,

David A. Palella
Founder [ Emeritus, Retired ]
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED

San Diego, California
cell: 619-787-5767
email: dpalella@gmail.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidpalella

Web site: http://www.carbonmanna.org
Blog: http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/CarbonManna
LinkedIn group: http://www.linkedin.com/e/vgh/1794312/


Wall Street Journal article: "Power out of Africa"

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204346104576638553875004940.html


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Saturday, February 4, 2012

An independent Carbon-Projects Accreditation agency in Africa ? -- an idea whose time is past due !


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An Emancipation Proclamation for Control of Carbon Projects Certification by Africans themselves


If you have **sincere** interest in participating in the founding of an independent Carbon-Project Accreditation agency in Africa to break the oligopoly of Europeans & Americans who think they are the only carbon experts in the world, then do contact my friends in Ethiopia organizing this effort first proposed by me 2 - 3 years ago:


Mr. Mika TURPEINEN
CEO
Swan Management Plc &
Senior Advisor for Gaia Consulting Oy
Radio Fana Building, 6th Floor
POB 42448
Addis Ababa
ETHIOPIA

cell (Ethopia): +251 912 603 487
tel (Ethiopia): +251 911 563 209
tel (Finland): +358 400 235 423
email: mika.turpeinen@swanmanagement.net, mika.turpeinen@gaia.fi
web site #1: http://www.gaia.fi
web site #2: http://www.swanmanagement.net
profile: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/mika-turpeinen/2/428/98b


Mr. Moges GORFE
Executive Director
The RATSON HOME
Women, Youth & Children Development Program
Debrezite Town
ETHIOPIA

cell: +251-091 140 0384
office: +251-0114 33 9029
email: mgorfe@yahoo.com
profile #1: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=74104384
profile #2: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/moges-gorfe/20/998/594


Those of you in the U.S. may find it easier to contact:


Mr. Kebede GASHAW
Founder/CEO & Managing Member
EthAmCo & Organics Ethiopia LLC
[ EthAmCo = Ethiopian American Company ] &
Director
Int'l Business Development
The Morning Star Company

9245 Laguna Springs Drive
Suite 200
Elk Grove, CA 95758
[ Sacramento, California area ]

tel: 916.509.7207
cell: 916-801-1736
fax: 916.509.7001

email: kdgashaw@ethamco.com
http://www.ethamco.com
http://www.OrganicsEthiopia.com
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/kebede-gashaw/1a/630/6ab

ETHAMCO, LLC - Ethiopia Branch
P.O. Box 12648
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
tel: +251-912-602-936


So why is the VER (voluntary emission reduction) European carbon-credit market hostage to a few elitist and oligopolist carbon-project review agencies in Europe & America ? Who knows and who cares ?

Africans already have the "capacity" to evaluate and certify their own carbon-offset projects.

It's past-due time for an African "Carbon Spring".

The death this year of the Kyoto Protocol is our / your chance to give Life to a New African-controlled Carbon-credit Certification Mechanism.

NOTA BENE: History will only remember those who smashed carbon pumpkins and stirred up the carbon mud.

Globally & warmly yours,

David Palella
Founder [ Emeritus, Retired ]
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED

San Diego, California
cell: 619-787-5767
email: dpalella@gmail.com

Web site: http://www.carbonmanna.org
Blog: http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/CarbonManna
LinkedIn group: http://www.linkedin.com/e/vgh/1794312/


Wall Street Journal article profiling Carbon Manna(sm): "Power out of Africa"

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204346104576638553875004940.html

The "Micro" Revolutions Institute(SM) Established by Carbon Manna(SM)
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/04/prweb3908584.htm

Carbon Manna(SM) announces The Micro Sustainability Prizes(SM)
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/01/prweb3459274.htm


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When will Africans take control of their own Carbon-Credit Rating Future ?


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Is Europe's 100 years of servitude to American credit-rating agencies an object lesson for Africa?

Here is a sorry allegory and analogy from a lazy Europe:


For almost 100 (one hundred) years Europeans have passively and willingly subjected themselves to the authority of the Triumvirate of American credit-rating agencies -- Standard & Poor's, Moody's, and Fitch -- without, apparently, having the common sense and will-power to take control of their own credit Destiny. Dumb and dumber ?

Now, finally, after almost a century, Europeans are finally taking action to control their own ability to borrow (or steal?) from the Future. Read down below.

So will Africans delay as long to take responsibility for, and control of, rating and auditing their own carbon credits & projects ? Let's hope not !!

Hence my proposal 2+ years ago to establish an independent carbon project accreditation & validation agency in Africa called The Uhuru Green Standards Foundation in Nairobi. But call it whatever you want, and locate it wherever you want in Africa. Who cares ?

But if you are African -- just take control of your own Future.

Now, to the very very 100-years late development from Europe:


"European rating agency could launch in 2012"

January 21, 2012 -- Thomson Reuters


"MILAN (Reuters) - Plans to launch a European ratings agency to compete with S&P, Moody's and Fitch are at an advanced stage and a new private institution could start business as soon as the first half of this year, German businessman Roland Berger told an Italian newspaper.

"The founder of consultancy Roland Berger said he hoped a new private, non-profit organization, in the form of a foundation, could be ready in "the first half or the first nine months of the year," according to Saturday's Corriere della Sera.

"Berger, who has been lobbying European governments and companies to gather support and financing for a new agency, hopes to have raised the 300 million euros of capital needed from European investors by that time, the paper said.

"The proposed model is of an agency where the service is paid by the clients, who have an interest in having reliable and objective results," Berger said.

"Roland Berger partner Markus Krall, who is largely tasked with setting up the agency, told Germany's Euro am Sonntag weekly that it would differentiate itself from competitors by accepting liability for its analysis.

"This would mean customers could potentially claim damages from the agency, which Krall said provides a "strong incentive" to provide accurate analysis.

"Currently ratings are legally speaking purely opinion and are not subject to any product liability (laws)," Krall told the paper in comments published on Saturday.

"European policymakers have criticised agencies Standard & Poor's, Moody's and Fitch during the euro zone debt crisis, saying they have been too quick to downgrade the credit ratings of indebted EU states despite bailouts and austerity programmes.

"Earlier this month, S&P downgraded the credit ratings of nine euro-zone countries, stripping France and Austria of their coveted triple-A status but not EU paymaster Germany.

"Berger's plan for the new agency, which would be incorporated in the Netherlands, has received signals of support from the European Commission and governments in Europe but also in China and among some Arab states, the paper said.

http://ca.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idCATRE80K0GL20120121

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Globally & warmly yours,

David Palella
Founder [ Emeritus, Retired ]
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED

San Diego, California
cell: 619-787-5767
email: dpalella@gmail.com

Web site: http://www.carbonmanna.org
Blog: http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/CarbonManna
LinkedIn group: http://www.linkedin.com/e/vgh/1794312/


Wall Street Journal article profiling Carbon Manna(sm): "Power out of Africa"

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204346104576638553875004940.html


The "Micro" Revolutions Institute(SM) Established by Carbon Manna(SM)
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/04/prweb3908584.htm


Carbon Manna(SM) announces The Micro Sustainability Prizes(SM)
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/01/prweb3459274.htm


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Sunday, December 25, 2011

"Global Moral Lipodystrophy & the Micro Revolutions" -- Revisited again, sadly -- on Christmas Day 2011


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Since my first post on this topic -- Christmas Day three years ago -- not much has changed -- the Developed World is still fat [ sic ] -- not "flat" -- and the Undeveloped or Developing World is still skinny and asymmetrically calorie-deprived versus the 10s of millions of Europeans & Americans who should be more grossly concerned about their ethical cellulite, intellectual stretch marks, and moral lives liposuctioned of essential Meaning.

So have you personally made a difference yet in rectifying the maldistribution of calories and economic opportunities across the space-time continuum or fabric of Planet Earth ?

If not, spend less time on Christmas Day eating and watching football -- and more time Thinking about and doing something concrete to nourish the Future of Humankind.


"Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!"

[ From: "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" -- by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -- written December 25th, 1864 in Cambridge, Massachusetts during the later days of the American Civil War ]

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Merry Christmas ! -- December 25th, 2011

Peace on Earth & good will to Thinking Women & Men.

Written 25 December 2011 by:

David A. Palella
Founder [ Emeritus, Retired ]
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED

San Diego, California
cell: 619-787-5767
email: dpalella@gmail.com

Web site: http://www.carbonmanna.org
Blog: http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/CarbonManna
LinkedIn group: http://www.linkedin.com/e/vgh/1794312/

Wall Street Journal article profiling Carbon Manna(sm): "Power out of Africa"

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204346104576638553875004940.html


The "Micro" Revolutions Institute(SM) Established by Carbon Manna
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/04/prweb3908584.htm

Carbon Manna announces The Micro Sustainability Prizes(SM)
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/01/prweb3459274.htm

-----

And here are the historical Christmas references:


December 25, 2008

Global Moral Lipodystrophy & the Micro Revolutions

http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com/2008/12/global-moral-lipodystrophy-micro.html

The World is Fat [ sic ] -- some parts anyway

Would you like flies with that? [ sic ]

...

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December 25, 2009

Global Moral Lipodystrophy & the Micro Revolutions -- Volume II

http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com/2009/12/global-moral-lipodystrophy-micro.html

Population expands to eat the food available

By 2050, another 2 billion astronauts on Spaceship Earth ?

Norman Borlaug -- Father of the "Green Revolution" dies at 95

Monkeys with shotguns awarded laureate for marksmanship.

New Nobel Prizes ? -- for Meteorology, Agronomy, Ecology, Oceanography, Atmospheric Sciences, Forestry, Astronomy, Family Planning, Micro Economic Paradigms and ...... Gastronomy ?

...

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Sunday, December 11, 2011

When will an "African Carbon Spring" erupt to break the dominance of the White Man in the African carbon-offsets market ?


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Who will be the Martin Luther King of the African carbon-projects standards-setting and auditing industries ?


Here I re-post my seminal and still-resonate post and tweets from 18 - 25 months ago:

http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com/2010/05/when-will-africa-establish-its-own.html


"When will Africa establish its own carbon-projects Standards-Setting Organization and break the dominance of the Carbon White Man?"

24 May 2010

"A good name for it ? -- the Uhuru Green Standards Foundation!"

"Uhuru" can mean "freedom from dependence on white men" -- Bravo!


"I tweeted about this topic back in November 2009, and some web site indexed my ideas and preferred name for this proposed non-profit organization without attribution (see down at the bottom here). So to set the record straight, just below here I re-post my tweets from November 2009 about the Uhuru Green Standards Foundation.

"Ideally some university in Africa will establish an independent non-profit institute or entity on their campus to write carbon-project standards custom tailored for African offset projects.

"All non-profit and for-profit carbon-project standards-setting organizations in the U.S., Europe and Australia are just self-appointed self-anointed "experts" with no legal authorization for their existence. They merely said: "Hey ! -- we're experts, and we make the rules!" -- and everyone kisses their carbon-fiber rings.

"But why ? Can only whities write carbon standards ? Patently no. Africans have the capacity now to write world-class carbon-project standards. They're experts too."

Globally & warmly yours,

David A. Palella
Founder
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED

San Diego, California
cell: 619-787-5767
skype: dpalella17
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
email (backup): dpalella@gmail.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidpalella


http://www.carbonmanna.org
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
http://twitter.com/CarbonManna
http://www.linkedin.com/e/vgh/1794312/

The "Micro" Revolutions Institute(SM) Established by Carbon Manna
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/04/prweb3908584.htm

Carbon Manna announces The Micro Sustainability Prizes(SM)
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/01/prweb3459274.htm

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REFERENCES -- My 3 Tweets themselves from November 2009:

Can only whities in Europe & America write carbon standards? Duh ! Carbon Manna Unlimited will break the WASP monopoly on GHG standards !

Nov 13th, 2009

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The Uhuru Green Standards Foundation in Nairobi will write its own open-source standards for carbon-offsets production -- nyah nyah !

Nov 13th, 2009

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"Uhuru" can mean "freedom from dependence on white men" -- Africans can also write VER carbon standards! Hey ! -- They're experts too !

Nov 13th, 2009

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May 2010 Google search results [finding my own earlier ideas] for:

"Uhuru Green Standards Foundation"


1. The Uhuru Green Standards Foundation in Nairobi will write its own ...

2. Nov 13, 2009 ... The Uhuru Green Standards Foundation in Nairobi will write its own open-source standards for carbon-offsets production -- nyah nyah !


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http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com/2010/05/when-will-africa-establish-its-own.html


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