*****
From the Mega Nitrogen Revolution to the Micro Carbon Revolution
The South Beach Diet a la Leningrad
I'll eat my hat if you can guess what this post is about !
If you are lucky enough to be reading this blog, you are most likely a well-fed caloric beneficiary of The Mega Nitrogen Revolution of the 19th and 20th centuries. Courtesy of man-made fertilizers produced from ammonia, natural gas and potash, you and your billion+ peers in America, Japan & Europe are unduly-fortunate recipients of calories and protein beyond the comprehension of most residents of today's Developing World.
Are your pants a touch tight? Your skivvies now a wedgie? Is your dress riding up? Your full-capacitance bra now an electrifying double Jack-in-the-box? Is your face full and are your cheeks rosy ? Praise the Lord ! -- you are very well fed !
Now, do me a favor -- if you are reading this blog on a full stomach, sign off now, don't eat for 18 - 24 hours, and then come back.
......tick tock tick tock tick tock.....
......18 - 24 hours later -- are you hungry now ?
If so, you will definitely think more clearly and rationally. Now your priorities are correct -- now you are in the basement of Maslow's Hierarchy.
Welcome ! -- to the "Bottom of the Pyramid" ! -- where the Poor in the Developing World regularly miss meals and go hungry. Hey ! -- why not miss another meal, just to build up an appetite for the dessert of this post? Come back and read this blog tomorrow -- after fasting again.
......tick tock tick tock tick tock.....
Keep trying this routine for weeks, or months, or years. Now you truly feast in the Dungeon of Alimentary Despair. Now you would even eat a mud pie, like the Poor are doing today in Haiti. Hunger is the First Mother of All Invention. Case in point ?
Thirty years ago when I learned Russian at the Defense Language Institute (DLI) in Monterey, California, one of my teachers was a Russian émigrée who lived through the German Siege of Leningrad during World War II -- "The 900 Days." In fact, fittingly, as a survivor of the Siege, she was chosen in the early 1970s to translate Harrison Salisbury's book of the same title from English into Russian for distribution (surreptitiously) in the Soviet Union.
How did the residents of Leningrad survive almost 3 years of German siege without food imports? I'll eat my hat if you can guess! No, of course not! -- the dogs and cats were first to go. Silly you. They were eaten looooong ago. Then all the wild animals at the Leningrad Zoo. Then tasty leather goods -- purses, belts and seat coverings -- were cut up, cooked and eaten. Then the starchy glue used to apply wallpaper in houses made a dandy soup, and then, then....
Cannibalism. -- Yes, man ate man, woman and children. Woman ate woman, man and child. And how could you tell the man-eaters from the rank & file starving living on bread and water? She told me -- the cannibals had fuller faces and "rosy cheeks".
Uh-oh......go look in the mirror now. How do you look ? Whose protein have you been eating ? OK, only a cow's ? Only a pig's ? Well, still, how lucky you are! And moreover, how BIG your carbon footprint is! Remember, one Big Mac alone generates about 4.7 pounds of CO2.
So, now, after this experiment, do you still begrudge the Poor in the Developing World their daily Carbon Micro Credit (CMC), whether they were able to earn it or not by NOT cooking with biomass? If mentally and physically you were truly at the "Bottom of the Pyramid" when you read this, TODAY you will start supporting our Crusade to help feed the World's hungry via the MARKETS-BASED, SELF-FUNDING mechanism of the cell-phone-based Carbon Micro Credit (CMC). It does not cost you anything, nothing but your Conscience if you do not take action.
The Mega Nitrogen Revolution served you well. Now let the Micro Carbon Revolution set the table well for the next billion, or two or three.
"Divide your portion to seven, or even to eight, for you do not know what misfortune may occur on the earth" -- Ecclesiastes 11:2
"Woe unto you that are full now! for ye shall hunger" -- Luke 6:25
Happily, however, the World will never run out of man-made CO2. So for the next few centuries at least, pull up a chair to the all-you-can-eat carbon buffet. Bone appetit ! [sic].
Hyper-calorically yours,
David A. Palella
Chief Carbon Nutritionist
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
The Laws of Nature and Carbon Footprints -- Grrrr !! Growl !! Hissssss !!
*****
"The Sovereign Individual" as Micro Profit Center
The Right of Eminent Domain versus the Right of Immanent Domain
Carbon Claim Jumpers & Micro Property Rights
The International Micro Social Security Payment
The Carbon-Micro-Offset per diem
"Property Rights are always and everywhere a genetic phenomenon."
Sound familiar? It's a parallel re-statement of Milton Friedman's well-known economic dictum: "Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon." For centuries natural philosophers and economists have debated the origin of property rights. What are they?
-- (1) a Divine Right from Heaven or God ?
-- (2) the Natural Order of Things = a Law of Nature ?
-- (3) a recent Human Artifact of modern society and law ?
-- (4) something else ?
#2 is most likely -- the natural human proclivity for property rights is genetic. In short, it is programmed by genes and is the human gene expression equivalent of territorial instinct in animals.
Ants, which evolved 120 million years ago, know instinctively to kill other species of ants that invade their territory. Male hummingbirds zealously defend their most fragrant flower patch to the far asymptote of neutral net energy gain. Even dogs, domesticated for thousands of years, like land surveyors, still know instinctively to pee in the corners of their yards. The Spartans knew naturally to resist the incursion of the Persians. And a San Diego man this week instinctively fought off two barbarians who tried to pillage his beer at gunpoint, even taking a bullet in the buttocks to preserve his territorial right to get buzzed.
Another way of defining territorial instincts or property rights in animals? -- it is the physical space containing the minimum caloric or minimum energy content needed to support the animal and its mate (or mates) and offspring. Without this minimum caloric content under its control, the animal will starve to death or undergo gene expression changes unfavorable to its reproductive success (e.g., low sex-hormone levels). In sum, animals instinctively know how much property/space they need to successfully avoid genetic death.
In fact, I predict that scientists will soon identify a single human gene coding for territorial instinct. Counter-intuitively, complex behaviors in animals are often monogenic. Many scientists being male, they will christen the gene -- mi6PaK -- and the gene product or protein -- dysBdZ4u. Or, alternatively -- Hu8miKSO ?
A murine gene-deletion model will result in stoner love-prone mice that happily give away all their pot with no expectation of reward. Thus proving that communal "ownership" of property and communes are unnatural territorial constructs of crackpots and potheads. Parenthetically, this gene, or a splice variant of it and its protein product, may already be known to us as a stress-induced hormone or metabolic (hunger-related) hormone.
Regardless, modern economists and rational thinkers agree that private Property Rights are the fundamental basis of all economic activity and wealth creation. But what do we see happening in the Developing World today? -- corporate carbon carpetbaggers & claim-jumpers and well-meaning but over-weaning NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and charities are exercising de facto eminent domain and unjustly taking the carbon footprints of Poor Individuals for a spectrum of misplaced reasons ranging from the "positive" extreme -- for the communal good -- to the very negative extreme -- for corporate profits.
Yet if the Poor slaving at the "Bottom of the Pyramid" knew the true economic value of their abstract and now-offset footprints, their natural instinct to protect their territory or property rights (let us call it "the Right of Immanent Domain") would certainly be aroused -- Grrrr !! -- it's in their genes! Hence, if the Poor knew, they would autonomously say: "Pharaoh! -- Let my carbon offsets go!"
Our Mission at Carbon Manna Unlimited is to reawaken the Poor worldwide, make them aware that their property rights are being violated, and establish each of them as a Micro Profit Center and "Sovereign Individual" free to monetize the value of their own carbon offsets. The cell-phone-based Carbon Micro Credit (CMC) described at length in this blog empowers any Poor Individual in Africa or Asia to benefit directly and solely by selling his or her own carbon offsets to the highest bidder in Europe or America.
Are you skeptical? How nice! -- skepticism is the unnatural luxury of a full stomach and a partially empty mind. Rather than be skeptical, be a Renaissance Man and wholistic problem-solver, which is much harder.
As a natural corollary of the discussion above, what is another way to define the Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC) described in earlier posts here ? -- it is the CO2 released per human-being per day by cooking with biomass the daily caloric content Homo sapiens can gather from their genetically-determined range or territory. Or, from the territory they would normally dominate, ceteris paribus, if Planet Earth were not unnaturally over-crowded, as it is sadly today.
The SICMC in the Developing World is guesstimated in posts below as 2 kgs of CO2/person/day. Individuals who qualify under the means-testing formulas described below in this blog should be paid the full retail value of this daily offset if they cook with solar or a more efficient charcoal stove (instead of biomass) -- even if some days a Cruel Providence prevents them from gathering and cooking their minimum daily-required caloric content.
In short, on some days the SICMC instead becomes a form of International Micro Social Security (IMSS) -- a social micro-transfer payment or a social safety-net for the World's poorest Poor. This logical and daily monetary allowance in the range of only 5 - 10 cents/day/person should also be the Natural Order of Things in a now overcrowded and Unnatural World.
As well, whether the SICMC on any specific day is paid for a produced carbon offset or paid partially as a social welfare payment should not matter to carbon project managers and offset accreditation agencies. They should give the Poor the benefit of the doubt. And allow the Poor to receive a Living Wage as compensation for days they could not find or afford enough food to cook. The Poor can then use that Living Wage to go buy food and make up their caloric deficit. And make up their carbon-offset deficit at the same time.
Another way of describing the latter situation is to instead call the Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC) the Carbon-Micro-Offset per diem.
If you are an American, your state congressmen collect per diems while they are in your state capitol ranging from US$ 60 - 200/day -- whether they actually incur any expenses or not. Are they poor and living on only US$ 1 - 2/day ? No, but they still collect this daily free money from taxpayers. If your well-off congressman merits up to US$ 200/day for free, cannot the Poor merit 5 - 10 cents/day/person "for free" on days they are unable to cook adequate food?
Any rational human-being in America or Europe should instinctively realize the economic equity of the Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC) and the Carbon-Micro-Offset per diem, and likewise recognize the Sanctity of Property Rights in the Developing World, no matter how micro the Property, and no matter how poor the Individual.
Let's all honor micro-property rights worldwide. It's the Law of Nature.
And let's all allow the Poor to eat without being "skeptical". That's the Law of Grace. Can you feel it?
Very territorially yours,
David A. Palella
Chief Carbon Geneticist
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
"The Sovereign Individual" as Micro Profit Center
The Right of Eminent Domain versus the Right of Immanent Domain
Carbon Claim Jumpers & Micro Property Rights
The International Micro Social Security Payment
The Carbon-Micro-Offset per diem
"Property Rights are always and everywhere a genetic phenomenon."
Sound familiar? It's a parallel re-statement of Milton Friedman's well-known economic dictum: "Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon." For centuries natural philosophers and economists have debated the origin of property rights. What are they?
-- (1) a Divine Right from Heaven or God ?
-- (2) the Natural Order of Things = a Law of Nature ?
-- (3) a recent Human Artifact of modern society and law ?
-- (4) something else ?
#2 is most likely -- the natural human proclivity for property rights is genetic. In short, it is programmed by genes and is the human gene expression equivalent of territorial instinct in animals.
Ants, which evolved 120 million years ago, know instinctively to kill other species of ants that invade their territory. Male hummingbirds zealously defend their most fragrant flower patch to the far asymptote of neutral net energy gain. Even dogs, domesticated for thousands of years, like land surveyors, still know instinctively to pee in the corners of their yards. The Spartans knew naturally to resist the incursion of the Persians. And a San Diego man this week instinctively fought off two barbarians who tried to pillage his beer at gunpoint, even taking a bullet in the buttocks to preserve his territorial right to get buzzed.
Another way of defining territorial instincts or property rights in animals? -- it is the physical space containing the minimum caloric or minimum energy content needed to support the animal and its mate (or mates) and offspring. Without this minimum caloric content under its control, the animal will starve to death or undergo gene expression changes unfavorable to its reproductive success (e.g., low sex-hormone levels). In sum, animals instinctively know how much property/space they need to successfully avoid genetic death.
In fact, I predict that scientists will soon identify a single human gene coding for territorial instinct. Counter-intuitively, complex behaviors in animals are often monogenic. Many scientists being male, they will christen the gene -- mi6PaK -- and the gene product or protein -- dysBdZ4u. Or, alternatively -- Hu8miKSO ?
A murine gene-deletion model will result in stoner love-prone mice that happily give away all their pot with no expectation of reward. Thus proving that communal "ownership" of property and communes are unnatural territorial constructs of crackpots and potheads. Parenthetically, this gene, or a splice variant of it and its protein product, may already be known to us as a stress-induced hormone or metabolic (hunger-related) hormone.
Regardless, modern economists and rational thinkers agree that private Property Rights are the fundamental basis of all economic activity and wealth creation. But what do we see happening in the Developing World today? -- corporate carbon carpetbaggers & claim-jumpers and well-meaning but over-weaning NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and charities are exercising de facto eminent domain and unjustly taking the carbon footprints of Poor Individuals for a spectrum of misplaced reasons ranging from the "positive" extreme -- for the communal good -- to the very negative extreme -- for corporate profits.
Yet if the Poor slaving at the "Bottom of the Pyramid" knew the true economic value of their abstract and now-offset footprints, their natural instinct to protect their territory or property rights (let us call it "the Right of Immanent Domain") would certainly be aroused -- Grrrr !! -- it's in their genes! Hence, if the Poor knew, they would autonomously say: "Pharaoh! -- Let my carbon offsets go!"
Our Mission at Carbon Manna Unlimited is to reawaken the Poor worldwide, make them aware that their property rights are being violated, and establish each of them as a Micro Profit Center and "Sovereign Individual" free to monetize the value of their own carbon offsets. The cell-phone-based Carbon Micro Credit (CMC) described at length in this blog empowers any Poor Individual in Africa or Asia to benefit directly and solely by selling his or her own carbon offsets to the highest bidder in Europe or America.
Are you skeptical? How nice! -- skepticism is the unnatural luxury of a full stomach and a partially empty mind. Rather than be skeptical, be a Renaissance Man and wholistic problem-solver, which is much harder.
As a natural corollary of the discussion above, what is another way to define the Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC) described in earlier posts here ? -- it is the CO2 released per human-being per day by cooking with biomass the daily caloric content Homo sapiens can gather from their genetically-determined range or territory. Or, from the territory they would normally dominate, ceteris paribus, if Planet Earth were not unnaturally over-crowded, as it is sadly today.
The SICMC in the Developing World is guesstimated in posts below as 2 kgs of CO2/person/day. Individuals who qualify under the means-testing formulas described below in this blog should be paid the full retail value of this daily offset if they cook with solar or a more efficient charcoal stove (instead of biomass) -- even if some days a Cruel Providence prevents them from gathering and cooking their minimum daily-required caloric content.
In short, on some days the SICMC instead becomes a form of International Micro Social Security (IMSS) -- a social micro-transfer payment or a social safety-net for the World's poorest Poor. This logical and daily monetary allowance in the range of only 5 - 10 cents/day/person should also be the Natural Order of Things in a now overcrowded and Unnatural World.
As well, whether the SICMC on any specific day is paid for a produced carbon offset or paid partially as a social welfare payment should not matter to carbon project managers and offset accreditation agencies. They should give the Poor the benefit of the doubt. And allow the Poor to receive a Living Wage as compensation for days they could not find or afford enough food to cook. The Poor can then use that Living Wage to go buy food and make up their caloric deficit. And make up their carbon-offset deficit at the same time.
Another way of describing the latter situation is to instead call the Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC) the Carbon-Micro-Offset per diem.
If you are an American, your state congressmen collect per diems while they are in your state capitol ranging from US$ 60 - 200/day -- whether they actually incur any expenses or not. Are they poor and living on only US$ 1 - 2/day ? No, but they still collect this daily free money from taxpayers. If your well-off congressman merits up to US$ 200/day for free, cannot the Poor merit 5 - 10 cents/day/person "for free" on days they are unable to cook adequate food?
Any rational human-being in America or Europe should instinctively realize the economic equity of the Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC) and the Carbon-Micro-Offset per diem, and likewise recognize the Sanctity of Property Rights in the Developing World, no matter how micro the Property, and no matter how poor the Individual.
Let's all honor micro-property rights worldwide. It's the Law of Nature.
And let's all allow the Poor to eat without being "skeptical". That's the Law of Grace. Can you feel it?
Very territorially yours,
David A. Palella
Chief Carbon Geneticist
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Global Moral Lipodystrophy & the Micro Revolutions
*****
The World is Fat [ sic ] -- some parts anyway
Would you like flies with that? [ sic ]
Lipodystrophy is maldistribution of an individual's body fat, often caused by disease or treatment of a disease such as AIDS/HIV. But it is also a planetary-wide phenomenon as evidenced by the high obesity rates in America and Europe and the very low body-mass indices that prevail among the poor at the "Bottom of the Pyramid" in the Developing World.
In sum, the world is not flat, but fat. In some parts anyway.
Sadly, the space-time continuum or fabric of Planet Earth is hugely pockmarked and grossly distended by deep gravity wells that mal-accumulate wealth, nutrition and economic opportunity. The deepest of these amoral and unduly wealthy gravity sinks is, of course, Wall Street. At the other extreme, "gravity's rainbow" is almost completely absent on the convex, barren and achromatic plains of Africa.
So what liposuction techniques will equilibrate this global and amoral maldistribution of body fat, dietary protein, caloric intake, income and wealth ? What drastic plastic surgery will dermabrade away the scandalous and hideous stretch marks and cellulite of America and Europe?
As Richard Feynman wrote: "There's plenty of room at the bottom."
The answer to this macro imbalance are the various micro mechanisms and paradigms described in this blog, most of which are based on the ubiquity of the cell phone and the low transaction costs of the fully-electronic networks of mobile carriers. Some of these micro-mechanisms are self-funding and markets-based, requiring no charity but only implementation and moral and political will. These new Micro Revolutions include:
(1) the Carbon Micro Credit (CMC)
(2) the Foreign-Aid Micro Credit (FAMC)
(3) the School-lunch Carbon-Micro-Offset Program
(4) Micro Property Rights / Micro Private-Property Rights
(5) Micro-tithing / Micro-charity
(6) Micro Loans / Micro Finance
(7) International Micro Social Security
(8) Micro Medicine or Micro-telemedicine
(9) Micro Education or Micro tele-education, and
(10) Micro________ ? -->> You fill in the blank.
Micro mechanisms and micro paradigms such as these, again, based mainly on the globally ubiquitous cell-phone network, could eventually liposuction excess economic fat and surplus nutrition from America & Europe and redistribute it equitably, accountably and efficiently to the Poor in the Developing World.
Will you be part of these Micro Revolutions and take the moral high-ground? Or, rather, would you like fries with that ?
"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!"
"I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" -- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -- written December 25th, 1864.
Merry Christmas -- December 25th, 2008
David A. Palella
Chief Carbon Santa
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
The World is Fat [ sic ] -- some parts anyway
Would you like flies with that? [ sic ]
Lipodystrophy is maldistribution of an individual's body fat, often caused by disease or treatment of a disease such as AIDS/HIV. But it is also a planetary-wide phenomenon as evidenced by the high obesity rates in America and Europe and the very low body-mass indices that prevail among the poor at the "Bottom of the Pyramid" in the Developing World.
In sum, the world is not flat, but fat. In some parts anyway.
Sadly, the space-time continuum or fabric of Planet Earth is hugely pockmarked and grossly distended by deep gravity wells that mal-accumulate wealth, nutrition and economic opportunity. The deepest of these amoral and unduly wealthy gravity sinks is, of course, Wall Street. At the other extreme, "gravity's rainbow" is almost completely absent on the convex, barren and achromatic plains of Africa.
So what liposuction techniques will equilibrate this global and amoral maldistribution of body fat, dietary protein, caloric intake, income and wealth ? What drastic plastic surgery will dermabrade away the scandalous and hideous stretch marks and cellulite of America and Europe?
As Richard Feynman wrote: "There's plenty of room at the bottom."
The answer to this macro imbalance are the various micro mechanisms and paradigms described in this blog, most of which are based on the ubiquity of the cell phone and the low transaction costs of the fully-electronic networks of mobile carriers. Some of these micro-mechanisms are self-funding and markets-based, requiring no charity but only implementation and moral and political will. These new Micro Revolutions include:
(1) the Carbon Micro Credit (CMC)
(2) the Foreign-Aid Micro Credit (FAMC)
(3) the School-lunch Carbon-Micro-Offset Program
(4) Micro Property Rights / Micro Private-Property Rights
(5) Micro-tithing / Micro-charity
(6) Micro Loans / Micro Finance
(7) International Micro Social Security
(8) Micro Medicine or Micro-telemedicine
(9) Micro Education or Micro tele-education, and
(10) Micro________ ? -->> You fill in the blank.
Micro mechanisms and micro paradigms such as these, again, based mainly on the globally ubiquitous cell-phone network, could eventually liposuction excess economic fat and surplus nutrition from America & Europe and redistribute it equitably, accountably and efficiently to the Poor in the Developing World.
Will you be part of these Micro Revolutions and take the moral high-ground? Or, rather, would you like fries with that ?
"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!"
"I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" -- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -- written December 25th, 1864.
Merry Christmas -- December 25th, 2008
David A. Palella
Chief Carbon Santa
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
The Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC)
*****
2 kilograms of CO2/person/day -- more or less ?
A New Universal Constant
"Thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting" ? [ Daniel 5:27 ]
In my November 20, 2008 post below I defined the Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC) as approximately 2 kilograms of CO2/person/day -- the amount of CO2 emitted per day per person by cooking with biomass if a human being is to survive at a subsistence level. This equates exactly, of course, to the carbon offset created by instead cooking with solar, for example.
Sadly, this New Universal Constant probably applies only to a protein-poor diet in the Developing World. If the Poor in the Developing World are actually fortunate enough to experience a more "normal" nutritional composition in their diet and a higher caloric intake, then the SICMC could approach 3 - 4 kilograms of CO2/person/day. Whatever, I leave it to environmental and nutrition scientists to debate the fine points and weigh the issues down to the gram.
Once rigorously defined, the Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC) should be accepted by all governments, NGOs, and carbon project originators, managers & auditors without debate and equivocation. The Poor are already hungry. We should immediately respect their Micro Property Rights and let them claim already what is rightfully theirs.
So taking into account the average family size in the Developing World (5 - 6 persons...?), the daily value of the Carbon Micro Credits a family could earn by cooking with solar or an efficient charcoal stove is substantial for people living on US$ 1/day. For details, see the calculation down below from one Indonesian study prepared for submission to the U.N. CDM (Clean Development Mechanism).
The revenue a family could earn might range from US$ 40 - 100/year or more, depending on offset market prices in Europe. So what if millions or 10s of millions of families reduced their emissions and claimed their credits every year? Would excess carbon offsets be produced? Would market prices drop? If so, who will be victimized? The Poor in the Developing World? Or rich corporations gaming the U.N.'s CDM scheme ?
The answer in short ? -- the loooooong discussions on Means Testing in my posts below of 26 & 28 November 2008. Let the Poor sell their offsets first and at a higher price. Let the Rich find another financial game to play.
Can the well-fed and often overweight Rich in America & Europe submit to the Rule of Common Sense and the Divinity of Compassion and share the Manna of carbon-offsets trading? Or, will they be weighed in the balances and found wanting?
Globally & warmly yours,
David A. Palella
Chief Dreamer
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
--------------------------------
Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC) --
CO2 Emission Calculation
Reference:
"Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Solar Cooker Project
Aceh 1, Indonesia", pg. 5, Section 4.
[ authors' full contact info down below ]
An undated PDF document from late 2005 or early 2006...?
This rigorous technical proposal prepared for submission to the U.N. Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) states that the average family not cooking with biomass reduces CO2 emissions by 3.5 tons/year. Very similar figures from JPMorgan's British subsidiary Climate Care echo this amount.
So the value of Carbon Credits from using 1 solar cooker/year/family is:
3.5 tons CO2/device/year X $25/ton or credit = $87.50
Based on December 2008 forward contract price from:
http://www.carboncapitalmarkets.com/home.php
Therefore, let's define a Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC) for a family as the CO2 saved/day by not cooking with biomass =
(3.5 tons/year x 2,000 lbs/ton)
--------------------------------------- = 19.18 lbs/day of CO2/family
365 days/year
This carbon credit calculation is only for CO2 emitted when burning deadwood or other biomass such as dried grass, cow dung, etc. Of course, an assumption about average family size must be made to find the Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC) per person.
<<------------------------------------------------------------>>
Reference Details:
"Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Solar Cooker Project
Aceh 1, Indonesia", pg. 5, Section 4.
Authors:
Herliyani Suharta
Agency for the Assessment & Application of Technology
The Center for Energy Technology
(BPPT-BBTE)
c/o PUSPIPTEK, Serpong
Tangerang, Indonesia
email: herli@iptek.net.id
Dieter Seifert
Advisor
CDM Solar Cooker Project
Development Germany
email: bdiv.seifert@t-online.de
AAM Sayigh
World Renewable Energy Network
Brighton, U.K.
email: asayigh@netcomuk.co.uk
<<------------------------------------------------------------>>
*****
2 kilograms of CO2/person/day -- more or less ?
A New Universal Constant
"Thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting" ? [ Daniel 5:27 ]
In my November 20, 2008 post below I defined the Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC) as approximately 2 kilograms of CO2/person/day -- the amount of CO2 emitted per day per person by cooking with biomass if a human being is to survive at a subsistence level. This equates exactly, of course, to the carbon offset created by instead cooking with solar, for example.
Sadly, this New Universal Constant probably applies only to a protein-poor diet in the Developing World. If the Poor in the Developing World are actually fortunate enough to experience a more "normal" nutritional composition in their diet and a higher caloric intake, then the SICMC could approach 3 - 4 kilograms of CO2/person/day. Whatever, I leave it to environmental and nutrition scientists to debate the fine points and weigh the issues down to the gram.
Once rigorously defined, the Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC) should be accepted by all governments, NGOs, and carbon project originators, managers & auditors without debate and equivocation. The Poor are already hungry. We should immediately respect their Micro Property Rights and let them claim already what is rightfully theirs.
So taking into account the average family size in the Developing World (5 - 6 persons...?), the daily value of the Carbon Micro Credits a family could earn by cooking with solar or an efficient charcoal stove is substantial for people living on US$ 1/day. For details, see the calculation down below from one Indonesian study prepared for submission to the U.N. CDM (Clean Development Mechanism).
The revenue a family could earn might range from US$ 40 - 100/year or more, depending on offset market prices in Europe. So what if millions or 10s of millions of families reduced their emissions and claimed their credits every year? Would excess carbon offsets be produced? Would market prices drop? If so, who will be victimized? The Poor in the Developing World? Or rich corporations gaming the U.N.'s CDM scheme ?
The answer in short ? -- the loooooong discussions on Means Testing in my posts below of 26 & 28 November 2008. Let the Poor sell their offsets first and at a higher price. Let the Rich find another financial game to play.
Can the well-fed and often overweight Rich in America & Europe submit to the Rule of Common Sense and the Divinity of Compassion and share the Manna of carbon-offsets trading? Or, will they be weighed in the balances and found wanting?
Globally & warmly yours,
David A. Palella
Chief Dreamer
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
--------------------------------
Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC) --
CO2 Emission Calculation
Reference:
"Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Solar Cooker Project
Aceh 1, Indonesia", pg. 5, Section 4.
[ authors' full contact info down below ]
An undated PDF document from late 2005 or early 2006...?
This rigorous technical proposal prepared for submission to the U.N. Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) states that the average family not cooking with biomass reduces CO2 emissions by 3.5 tons/year. Very similar figures from JPMorgan's British subsidiary Climate Care echo this amount.
So the value of Carbon Credits from using 1 solar cooker/year/family is:
3.5 tons CO2/device/year X $25/ton or credit = $87.50
Based on December 2008 forward contract price from:
http://www.carboncapitalmarkets.com/home.php
Therefore, let's define a Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC) for a family as the CO2 saved/day by not cooking with biomass =
(3.5 tons/year x 2,000 lbs/ton)
--------------------------------------- = 19.18 lbs/day of CO2/family
365 days/year
This carbon credit calculation is only for CO2 emitted when burning deadwood or other biomass such as dried grass, cow dung, etc. Of course, an assumption about average family size must be made to find the Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC) per person.
<<------------------------------------------------------------>>
Reference Details:
"Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Solar Cooker Project
Aceh 1, Indonesia", pg. 5, Section 4.
Authors:
Herliyani Suharta
Agency for the Assessment & Application of Technology
The Center for Energy Technology
(BPPT-BBTE)
c/o PUSPIPTEK, Serpong
Tangerang, Indonesia
email: herli@iptek.net.id
Dieter Seifert
Advisor
CDM Solar Cooker Project
Development Germany
email: bdiv.seifert@t-online.de
AAM Sayigh
World Renewable Energy Network
Brighton, U.K.
email: asayigh@netcomuk.co.uk
<<------------------------------------------------------------>>
*****
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Carbon Micro Property Rights & the Death of Microfinance
*****
Will Carbon Micro-Property Rights supplant Microfinance?
Will the Death of Microfinance be greatly exaggerated?
A pan-African sushi buffet ?
Over 1 billion dispossessed ! ?
Has anyone ever asked the question: "Is there really a need for micro-charity and/or microfinance?"
Perhaps not. In short, as described at length in this blog, if the carbon micro-property rights of the Poor in the Third World were respected, and if they could indeed monetize their reduced-carbon footprints by cooking with an efficient Uganda stove and selling their earned offsets, for example, would there be such a need for micro-charity and micro-finance? I venture to say, the need for them both would be reduced 50 - 75 %. Or more.
If the world's NGOs and major governments would just embrace the Common Sense of the Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC) described below in detail in my post of November 20, 2008, and engage in a "willing suspension of disbelief" regarding the indisputable fact that human beings do indeed have to eat a certain amount of cooked food every day (or they unwillingly go hungry, in which case the SICMC then becomes a well-merited social-transfer payment), then the need for traditional microcharity and microfinance would be hugely reduced.
Are Africa's one billion people eating sushi every day?
Are they not cooking at home daily with biomass but, rather, dining out at the local McDonald's?
Are they cooking with electric stoves or gas ranges instead of biomass?
Are they fasting 1 or 2 days per week by choice for religious or health reasons?
The answer to all of these foolish questions, of course, is "No!"
But the vast majority of the "intelligentsia" in America & Europe wearing overcoats of subcutaneous body fat doubt the assumption that hyper-low body-mass-index Africans consume food cooked with biomass, and therefore doubt the validity of the Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC). When the topic of Carbon Micro Credits is raised, they repeatedly express "concerns" about "validation" and "fraud", while the Poor in Africa starve, as happened again recently in southern Ethiopia. Lamentably, excessive feeding starves the brain of Common Sense, and the Rich are poor in compassion.
If we respected the Micro-Property Rights of the Poor in the Developing World and enabled them to sell their annual carbon offsets every year for US$ 45 - 100 per family, as well as allowed them to save 20 - 60 % of their daily income by not having to buy expensive cooking fuels or biomass, then they could immediately elevate their standard of living by 25 - 75 %. If so, then the need for both microfinance and micro-charity in the Developing world would be greatly reduced.
If we further compensated Africans at the village-level for reforestation programs, methane-capture projects, and other green house gas-mitigation efforts, the income of the average African could be elevated even further. As written before below, the Rich in the Developed World should let the Poor in the Developing World inherit the carbon markets.
Respecting Carbon Micro Property Rights worldwide would be the beginning of the end for micro-charity, and likewise reduce the role of microfinance. Markets-based solutions are the economic Natural Order of Things. Property Rights are similarly Divine and "self-evident". Remember, "the Poor shall inherit the Earth." Let Rich Stupidity die so they may inherit their rightful Property now.
Warmly & rightfully yours,
David A. Palella
Chief Dreamer
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
Will Carbon Micro-Property Rights supplant Microfinance?
Will the Death of Microfinance be greatly exaggerated?
A pan-African sushi buffet ?
Over 1 billion dispossessed ! ?
Has anyone ever asked the question: "Is there really a need for micro-charity and/or microfinance?"
Perhaps not. In short, as described at length in this blog, if the carbon micro-property rights of the Poor in the Third World were respected, and if they could indeed monetize their reduced-carbon footprints by cooking with an efficient Uganda stove and selling their earned offsets, for example, would there be such a need for micro-charity and micro-finance? I venture to say, the need for them both would be reduced 50 - 75 %. Or more.
If the world's NGOs and major governments would just embrace the Common Sense of the Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC) described below in detail in my post of November 20, 2008, and engage in a "willing suspension of disbelief" regarding the indisputable fact that human beings do indeed have to eat a certain amount of cooked food every day (or they unwillingly go hungry, in which case the SICMC then becomes a well-merited social-transfer payment), then the need for traditional microcharity and microfinance would be hugely reduced.
Are Africa's one billion people eating sushi every day?
Are they not cooking at home daily with biomass but, rather, dining out at the local McDonald's?
Are they cooking with electric stoves or gas ranges instead of biomass?
Are they fasting 1 or 2 days per week by choice for religious or health reasons?
The answer to all of these foolish questions, of course, is "No!"
But the vast majority of the "intelligentsia" in America & Europe wearing overcoats of subcutaneous body fat doubt the assumption that hyper-low body-mass-index Africans consume food cooked with biomass, and therefore doubt the validity of the Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC). When the topic of Carbon Micro Credits is raised, they repeatedly express "concerns" about "validation" and "fraud", while the Poor in Africa starve, as happened again recently in southern Ethiopia. Lamentably, excessive feeding starves the brain of Common Sense, and the Rich are poor in compassion.
If we respected the Micro-Property Rights of the Poor in the Developing World and enabled them to sell their annual carbon offsets every year for US$ 45 - 100 per family, as well as allowed them to save 20 - 60 % of their daily income by not having to buy expensive cooking fuels or biomass, then they could immediately elevate their standard of living by 25 - 75 %. If so, then the need for both microfinance and micro-charity in the Developing world would be greatly reduced.
If we further compensated Africans at the village-level for reforestation programs, methane-capture projects, and other green house gas-mitigation efforts, the income of the average African could be elevated even further. As written before below, the Rich in the Developed World should let the Poor in the Developing World inherit the carbon markets.
Respecting Carbon Micro Property Rights worldwide would be the beginning of the end for micro-charity, and likewise reduce the role of microfinance. Markets-based solutions are the economic Natural Order of Things. Property Rights are similarly Divine and "self-evident". Remember, "the Poor shall inherit the Earth." Let Rich Stupidity die so they may inherit their rightful Property now.
Warmly & rightfully yours,
David A. Palella
Chief Dreamer
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
Friday, December 19, 2008
The Foreign-Aid Micro Credit in a Time of Famine
*****
Over-nighting Foreign Aid to Ethiopia by cell phone?
e-Manna / micro-Manna -->> Photons to Food in a Flash
Directly empowering the "Bottom of the Pyramid" to feed themselves immediately
Many of you may have noticed, sadly, this headline below which did not have to be written, but was due to the heinous obstructionism of farm lobbyists in the U.S.:
"Dead Children Linked to Aid Policy in Africa Favoring Americans"
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&refer=home&sid=aU7BLQWMss2k
http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20081208/pl_bloomberg/au7blqwmss2k_1
In my post below dated December 13, 2008, I first described "The Foreign-Aid Micro Credit" (FAMC), which could have reduced the 6-month aid-shipment process -- lamentably described in the article above -- down to only a few minutes or hours.
How ? -- just have the appropriate U.S.-based government agency or NGO (non-governmental organization) such as USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development) wire a few million dollars to the Central Bank of Ethiopia, which then apportions it among the country's mobile carriers that support SMS-based money transfers. Then transfer the millions of dollars $ 20 at a time directly to cell phones in villages and towns in the famine area, or adjacent areas.
Can starving people eat money or e-money? No, but as written in Ecclesiastes:
"A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things" -- Ecclesiastes 10:19.
In short, even in an area of famine, food can be bought, or it would soon be buyable when regions neighboring the famine area learned that the starving people now had cash or e-cash.
What if you don't trust the Central Bank of Ethiopia nor any intermediaries between the U.S.-based agency and the famished on the ground? Then transfer the cash directly from Washington, DC to any cell phone user/owner registered or living in famine area. This is technologically possible today -- see:
"Vodafone, Safaricom and Western Union Announce Partnership to Deliver International Mobile Money Transfers; Pilot Launched between U.K. and Kenya"
Englewood, Colo., London & Nairobi, Kenya, Dec 08, 2008 (Business Wire)
http://ir.westernunion.com/press/releaseDetail.cfm?releaseid=352835
Let me guess? -- You're worried about graft, fraud and "leakages"? Well, now the same things occur 6 months after the food-aid is shipped -- and after the children are already dead. The greatly delayed food is often stolen by Third-World soldiers, government officials, pirates & brigands just a few miles from the mouths of the despairing.
So I ask you, what is easier to steal? -- a ton of rice worth $500 on a truck? Or $500 sent wirelessly from Washington, DC or from a bank in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, $ 20 at a time to 25 different cell-phone owners in the Slough of Despair?
I would bet it is mathematically infinitely harder to steal 25 separate packets of photons going to 25 different numeric destinations compared to stealing one physical truck. Now multiply this scenario by 10,000 or 100,000 e-money transfers to the afflicted region. Would a few cell phone owners in the area with full bellies undeservingly receive an e-money transfer? Of course -- but just consider it the price of building goodwill in Africa for the often-maligned United States of America. "Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, for you will find it after many days" -- Ecclesiastes 11:1.
Let me guess? -- you suppose there are no cell phones in southern Ethiopia, especially in an area of famine? But there are, and even more so in the surrounding urbanized areas where food could be bought if money or e-money were in the hands of local church groups, charities or NGOs. Africa is home to almost 300 million cell phones, and the penetration rate is over 30%. In sum, access or coverage is not the problem.
American farm lobbyists are the problem.
Write to your congresswoman or congressman today and demand that America's barbaric farm-aid policy be changed immediately. But while you wait for those hearts of glaciers to melt, tell them also about the cell phone-based Foreign-Aid Micro Credit (FAMC), which could be implemented immediately.
The Foreign-Aid Micro Credit -- another form of e-Manna to feed Mankind -- courtesy of the cell phone.
Globally & telephonically yours,
David A. Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
Over-nighting Foreign Aid to Ethiopia by cell phone?
e-Manna / micro-Manna -->> Photons to Food in a Flash
Directly empowering the "Bottom of the Pyramid" to feed themselves immediately
Many of you may have noticed, sadly, this headline below which did not have to be written, but was due to the heinous obstructionism of farm lobbyists in the U.S.:
"Dead Children Linked to Aid Policy in Africa Favoring Americans"
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&refer=home&sid=aU7BLQWMss2k
http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20081208/pl_bloomberg/au7blqwmss2k_1
In my post below dated December 13, 2008, I first described "The Foreign-Aid Micro Credit" (FAMC), which could have reduced the 6-month aid-shipment process -- lamentably described in the article above -- down to only a few minutes or hours.
How ? -- just have the appropriate U.S.-based government agency or NGO (non-governmental organization) such as USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development) wire a few million dollars to the Central Bank of Ethiopia, which then apportions it among the country's mobile carriers that support SMS-based money transfers. Then transfer the millions of dollars $ 20 at a time directly to cell phones in villages and towns in the famine area, or adjacent areas.
Can starving people eat money or e-money? No, but as written in Ecclesiastes:
"A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things" -- Ecclesiastes 10:19.
In short, even in an area of famine, food can be bought, or it would soon be buyable when regions neighboring the famine area learned that the starving people now had cash or e-cash.
What if you don't trust the Central Bank of Ethiopia nor any intermediaries between the U.S.-based agency and the famished on the ground? Then transfer the cash directly from Washington, DC to any cell phone user/owner registered or living in famine area. This is technologically possible today -- see:
"Vodafone, Safaricom and Western Union Announce Partnership to Deliver International Mobile Money Transfers; Pilot Launched between U.K. and Kenya"
Englewood, Colo., London & Nairobi, Kenya, Dec 08, 2008 (Business Wire)
http://ir.westernunion.com/press/releaseDetail.cfm?releaseid=352835
Let me guess? -- You're worried about graft, fraud and "leakages"? Well, now the same things occur 6 months after the food-aid is shipped -- and after the children are already dead. The greatly delayed food is often stolen by Third-World soldiers, government officials, pirates & brigands just a few miles from the mouths of the despairing.
So I ask you, what is easier to steal? -- a ton of rice worth $500 on a truck? Or $500 sent wirelessly from Washington, DC or from a bank in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, $ 20 at a time to 25 different cell-phone owners in the Slough of Despair?
I would bet it is mathematically infinitely harder to steal 25 separate packets of photons going to 25 different numeric destinations compared to stealing one physical truck. Now multiply this scenario by 10,000 or 100,000 e-money transfers to the afflicted region. Would a few cell phone owners in the area with full bellies undeservingly receive an e-money transfer? Of course -- but just consider it the price of building goodwill in Africa for the often-maligned United States of America. "Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, for you will find it after many days" -- Ecclesiastes 11:1.
Let me guess? -- you suppose there are no cell phones in southern Ethiopia, especially in an area of famine? But there are, and even more so in the surrounding urbanized areas where food could be bought if money or e-money were in the hands of local church groups, charities or NGOs. Africa is home to almost 300 million cell phones, and the penetration rate is over 30%. In sum, access or coverage is not the problem.
American farm lobbyists are the problem.
Write to your congresswoman or congressman today and demand that America's barbaric farm-aid policy be changed immediately. But while you wait for those hearts of glaciers to melt, tell them also about the cell phone-based Foreign-Aid Micro Credit (FAMC), which could be implemented immediately.
The Foreign-Aid Micro Credit -- another form of e-Manna to feed Mankind -- courtesy of the cell phone.
Globally & telephonically yours,
David A. Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Civil Disobedience & Carbon-Market Inequities
*****
A Carbon Manifesto
Will Carbin Hood return to the Poor their rightful Carbon Offsets?
The Carbon Footprint Bill of Rights revisited
The End Justifies the Means Testing
Carbon-offset trading rules under the U.N./Kyoto Protocol "Clean Development Mechanism" (CDM) and other carbon-market regimes have led to a few grossly inequitable projects valued to the tune of US$ 150 - 200+ million/year (no typo) such as the two described in the articles cited below. As written before in this blog, the benefits and monetary rewards of global carbon trading should be pushed down to the "Bottom of the Pyramid" as soon as possible.
Rich companies should not benefit from green-house-gas reduction projects that they should have ethically undertaken anyway for the good of Humankind, as in #1 below. And the carbon-footprint property rights of the Poor in Africa should be respected and not taken without consent, as is happening in #2 below.
Means testing, Fairness testing, Fair Trade Principles and Common Sense must be applied to the U.N. CDM approval process and to other project-monetization regimes to protect the carbon property rights of the Poor, as well as to prevent the unfair flow of more wealth to the already-wealthy.
What Robin Hood-like entities will take back these unjust gains and return them to the Poor? Or what new carbon-market mechanisms will be developed to negate the undue influence of wealthy corporations in the Developed World? Which international NGO or sovereign government will be the first to endorse the Carbon Footprint Bill of Rights written below in the entry of 02 December 2008?
Until these questions are answered resoundingly, I call on all people with Common Sense and a Spirit of Fair Play to resist the implementation of unfair carbon-market mechanisms, and to boycott companies and their products that manipulate the current carbon trading "rules" for unfair gain.
Let the Poor inherit the carbon markets. Let the last now be first, let the "Bottom of the Pyramid" now be the top.
Warmly & fairly yours,
David A. Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
References:
(1) "Rhodia S. Korea Plant Leads World in Carbon Credits"
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/44463/story.htm
"Laughing Gas: How To Game the Carbon Markets"
http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2008/07/23/laughing-gas-how-to-game-the-carbon-markets/
(2) "Cooking up carbon credits: By distributing energy-efficient stoves in Africa, JPMorgan Chase aims to reduce greenhouse gases - and increase profits"
http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/11/technology/jpmorgan_carbon.fortune/
*****
A Carbon Manifesto
Will Carbin Hood return to the Poor their rightful Carbon Offsets?
The Carbon Footprint Bill of Rights revisited
The End Justifies the Means Testing
Carbon-offset trading rules under the U.N./Kyoto Protocol "Clean Development Mechanism" (CDM) and other carbon-market regimes have led to a few grossly inequitable projects valued to the tune of US$ 150 - 200+ million/year (no typo) such as the two described in the articles cited below. As written before in this blog, the benefits and monetary rewards of global carbon trading should be pushed down to the "Bottom of the Pyramid" as soon as possible.
Rich companies should not benefit from green-house-gas reduction projects that they should have ethically undertaken anyway for the good of Humankind, as in #1 below. And the carbon-footprint property rights of the Poor in Africa should be respected and not taken without consent, as is happening in #2 below.
Means testing, Fairness testing, Fair Trade Principles and Common Sense must be applied to the U.N. CDM approval process and to other project-monetization regimes to protect the carbon property rights of the Poor, as well as to prevent the unfair flow of more wealth to the already-wealthy.
What Robin Hood-like entities will take back these unjust gains and return them to the Poor? Or what new carbon-market mechanisms will be developed to negate the undue influence of wealthy corporations in the Developed World? Which international NGO or sovereign government will be the first to endorse the Carbon Footprint Bill of Rights written below in the entry of 02 December 2008?
Until these questions are answered resoundingly, I call on all people with Common Sense and a Spirit of Fair Play to resist the implementation of unfair carbon-market mechanisms, and to boycott companies and their products that manipulate the current carbon trading "rules" for unfair gain.
Let the Poor inherit the carbon markets. Let the last now be first, let the "Bottom of the Pyramid" now be the top.
Warmly & fairly yours,
David A. Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
References:
(1) "Rhodia S. Korea Plant Leads World in Carbon Credits"
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/44463/story.htm
"Laughing Gas: How To Game the Carbon Markets"
http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2008/07/23/laughing-gas-how-to-game-the-carbon-markets/
(2) "Cooking up carbon credits: By distributing energy-efficient stoves in Africa, JPMorgan Chase aims to reduce greenhouse gases - and increase profits"
http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/11/technology/jpmorgan_carbon.fortune/
*****
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
School-Lunch Carbon-Micro-Offset Program
*****
Carbon-Micro-Offset School Lunch Program
Elementary education about carbon offsets
Environmentally programming young minds
A nickel a day keeps Dr. Doom away ?
It takes a classroom to adopt a village
How do we teach our children the importance of daily offsetting of their own carbon footprints and the carbon pawprints of their meat-eating pets too? Shazam ! -- the Carbon-Micro-Offset School Lunch Program !
Every day require children in all elementary, middle and high schools in America to buy a micro or nano carbon offset at lunch time to mitigate the green-house-gas emissions caused by producing their own food -- not to mention the emissions from their own diesel-powered school bus.
How about 5 cents payable per child per day? As noted before below in an earlier post, the carbon footprint of a single Big Mac is almost 5 lbs of carbon -- which today would cost about 5 - 8 cents on the European Climate Exchange.
The 5 cents per day per child could be aggregated by each classroom or each grade level in a school, and then used to buy micro or nano carbon offsets from any of the dozens or hundreds of retail green-house-gas offset providers listed on this very useful and educational web site:
--- http://www.CarbonOffsetREVIEW.com
--- [ Carbon Offset Review ]
Many thanks to fellow blogger Olliegator for pointing this site out to me.
In essence, each classroom or grade level in a school could support a cause or microfinance project somewhere in the world that resonated with the children -- a solar-cooking project in a village in Africa, a reforestation project in Brazil, a methane-capture project in Indonesia, and so on. Whether you believe in global warming or not, this exercise would at least teach all children in America the importance of charity and something more about world geography.
Come January, why not write to the new Secretary of Education in Washington, DC, and why not write now to your own state's and local school district's equivalents, and propose your own statewide or local Carbon-Micro-Offset School Lunch Program ?
Teach your children well, "for they shall inherit the Earth".
Warmly & elementarily yours,
David A. Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
Carbon-Micro-Offset School Lunch Program
Elementary education about carbon offsets
Environmentally programming young minds
A nickel a day keeps Dr. Doom away ?
It takes a classroom to adopt a village
How do we teach our children the importance of daily offsetting of their own carbon footprints and the carbon pawprints of their meat-eating pets too? Shazam ! -- the Carbon-Micro-Offset School Lunch Program !
Every day require children in all elementary, middle and high schools in America to buy a micro or nano carbon offset at lunch time to mitigate the green-house-gas emissions caused by producing their own food -- not to mention the emissions from their own diesel-powered school bus.
How about 5 cents payable per child per day? As noted before below in an earlier post, the carbon footprint of a single Big Mac is almost 5 lbs of carbon -- which today would cost about 5 - 8 cents on the European Climate Exchange.
The 5 cents per day per child could be aggregated by each classroom or each grade level in a school, and then used to buy micro or nano carbon offsets from any of the dozens or hundreds of retail green-house-gas offset providers listed on this very useful and educational web site:
--- http://www.CarbonOffsetREVIEW.com
--- [ Carbon Offset Review ]
Many thanks to fellow blogger Olliegator for pointing this site out to me.
In essence, each classroom or grade level in a school could support a cause or microfinance project somewhere in the world that resonated with the children -- a solar-cooking project in a village in Africa, a reforestation project in Brazil, a methane-capture project in Indonesia, and so on. Whether you believe in global warming or not, this exercise would at least teach all children in America the importance of charity and something more about world geography.
Come January, why not write to the new Secretary of Education in Washington, DC, and why not write now to your own state's and local school district's equivalents, and propose your own statewide or local Carbon-Micro-Offset School Lunch Program ?
Teach your children well, "for they shall inherit the Earth".
Warmly & elementarily yours,
David A. Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Toying with Planet Earth -- Ho! Ho! Ho! -- ??
*****
Honey ! -- I shrunk the Yule Log !
Carbonized Roasts of Christmas Past ?
Toys' carbon footprint: The gift that gives for centuries
In the spirit of the Holidays, let us ask where are the toys that will teach our children and grandchildren to love Planet Earth ?
I suppose they exist, but after a recent trip to the local toy store and after scanning the extensive toy ads from the Sunday paper here in San Diego, I can only assume they rarely escape from Santa's workshop. Or, perhaps Santa's North Pole workshop is now underwater, sadly?
As another climate-insensitive barometer...? -- a recent list of Top-10 toys from a supposedly savvy American nonprofit group, which they judged to be very cool for kids and good buys for parents, contains not a single toy with any global warming- or recycling-related content or meaning. Dumb and dumber.
Hence, to rectify the collective oversight of the American toy industry, here below I list my own Top-20 suggestions for toys, board and video games to teach our children well that carbon footprints are not left in sand, but in concrete -- forever:
(1) Carbie Doll cooks with solar !
(2) Carbon Capture Cowboys corral beef-eaters !
(3) Let's Play Greenhouse Gas !
(4) Grand Theft Carbon Footprint !
(5) Global Warming Sea-level Simulation Kit
(6) Guess that Extinct Species !
(7) Hot Topics in Global Warming !
(8) Name that Carbon Offset Scam !
(9) Cloning around with today's New Dinosaurs
(10) 1st-person Carbon Looter Video Game !
(11) Continental Desertification in 10 easy steps !
(12) Septic tank Methane-capture home-lighting kit !
(13) Whack-a-Coal-fired Power Plant !
(14) Pinocchio Swears he Really Produces Offsets !
(15) Thomas the Tank Engine™ ditches Coal, goes Nuclear !
(16) Curious George™ inhales Nitrous Oxide !
(17) Solar Power Rangers™
(18) Edible carbon-based Beanie Babies™
(19) Winnie the Pooh™ home-brew organic gardening kit, and, finally
(20) Street-legal U.N. Clean Development Mechanism Cashectomy Kit !
Whether you believe in global warming or not, it's probably best to teach our children to leave Planet Earth just like God made it, without modifying His original atmospheric recipe tooooo much. Therefore, all toys sold today should carry labeling describing:
-- (1) the carbon footprint that resulted from their manufacture, and how this was or was not offset (don't buy the latter)
-- (2) the percentage content and origin of recycled materials, and
-- (3) directions for later disposing of or recycling the toy to further minimize its carbon footprint.
Vote with your holiday dollars today by only buying environmentally-sensitive toys. Low carbon-footprint toys will be a gift not just for your children, but for all future generations of children too. Once carbon is released into the atmosphere, it will linger there for centuries. Consider deeply today your environmental legacy 50 - 100 years hence. Will your great grandchildren really enjoy their beach-front home in Gainesville, Florida, or will they wonder why Great Grandpa ate 16-ounce steaks every Sunday and stuffed himself and the atmosphere with CO2 ? Not to mention the @%$&load of methane both he and the cows made along the way.
There's still 11 days left until Christmas. It's not toooo late to change your shopping list -- and your carbon footprint !
Happy holidays ! Ho! Ho! Ho!
David A. Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
Honey ! -- I shrunk the Yule Log !
Carbonized Roasts of Christmas Past ?
Toys' carbon footprint: The gift that gives for centuries
In the spirit of the Holidays, let us ask where are the toys that will teach our children and grandchildren to love Planet Earth ?
I suppose they exist, but after a recent trip to the local toy store and after scanning the extensive toy ads from the Sunday paper here in San Diego, I can only assume they rarely escape from Santa's workshop. Or, perhaps Santa's North Pole workshop is now underwater, sadly?
As another climate-insensitive barometer...? -- a recent list of Top-10 toys from a supposedly savvy American nonprofit group, which they judged to be very cool for kids and good buys for parents, contains not a single toy with any global warming- or recycling-related content or meaning. Dumb and dumber.
Hence, to rectify the collective oversight of the American toy industry, here below I list my own Top-20 suggestions for toys, board and video games to teach our children well that carbon footprints are not left in sand, but in concrete -- forever:
(1) Carbie Doll cooks with solar !
(2) Carbon Capture Cowboys corral beef-eaters !
(3) Let's Play Greenhouse Gas !
(4) Grand Theft Carbon Footprint !
(5) Global Warming Sea-level Simulation Kit
(6) Guess that Extinct Species !
(7) Hot Topics in Global Warming !
(8) Name that Carbon Offset Scam !
(9) Cloning around with today's New Dinosaurs
(10) 1st-person Carbon Looter Video Game !
(11) Continental Desertification in 10 easy steps !
(12) Septic tank Methane-capture home-lighting kit !
(13) Whack-a-Coal-fired Power Plant !
(14) Pinocchio Swears he Really Produces Offsets !
(15) Thomas the Tank Engine™ ditches Coal, goes Nuclear !
(16) Curious George™ inhales Nitrous Oxide !
(17) Solar Power Rangers™
(18) Edible carbon-based Beanie Babies™
(19) Winnie the Pooh™ home-brew organic gardening kit, and, finally
(20) Street-legal U.N. Clean Development Mechanism Cashectomy Kit !
Whether you believe in global warming or not, it's probably best to teach our children to leave Planet Earth just like God made it, without modifying His original atmospheric recipe tooooo much. Therefore, all toys sold today should carry labeling describing:
-- (1) the carbon footprint that resulted from their manufacture, and how this was or was not offset (don't buy the latter)
-- (2) the percentage content and origin of recycled materials, and
-- (3) directions for later disposing of or recycling the toy to further minimize its carbon footprint.
Vote with your holiday dollars today by only buying environmentally-sensitive toys. Low carbon-footprint toys will be a gift not just for your children, but for all future generations of children too. Once carbon is released into the atmosphere, it will linger there for centuries. Consider deeply today your environmental legacy 50 - 100 years hence. Will your great grandchildren really enjoy their beach-front home in Gainesville, Florida, or will they wonder why Great Grandpa ate 16-ounce steaks every Sunday and stuffed himself and the atmosphere with CO2 ? Not to mention the @%$&load of methane both he and the cows made along the way.
There's still 11 days left until Christmas. It's not toooo late to change your shopping list -- and your carbon footprint !
Happy holidays ! Ho! Ho! Ho!
David A. Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
Saturday, December 13, 2008
The Foreign-Aid Micro Credit (FAMC)
*****
Delivering Foreign Aid directly to "The Bottom of the Pyramid" via Cell Phone
A Micro Foreign Aid system to avoid graft, fraud & bribery -- I've been Madoffed !!
While promoting the Carbon Micro Credit (CMC) concept described in detail in the many posts below, I continue to hear foolish rich people in the Developed / First World voice complaints that poor Individuals in the Developing / Third World will game the CMC system to steal 15 or 25 cents a day. The horror !
OK, let's micronize or apply our intellectual electron microscope to another parallel situation -- Foreign Aid -- which is FREE money given by the Developed / First World to the Developing / Third World.
What happens with Foreign Aid so often? -- it disappears into the black holes of graft, fraud, embezzlement and bribery as the money passes through multiple bureaucratic choke-points in foreign governments and NGOs. Moreover, foreign aid is often stolen in amounts of 100s of thousand or millions of dollars at a time -- poof ! -- gone in a few minutes.
So how could these HUGE financial "leakages" be avoided ? And how could donor countries be more sure their funds actually ended up at "The Bottom of the Pyramid"? Again, as with the Carbon Micro Credit, the answer is the cell phone. That is, cell phones in the hands of millions of poor Individuals in 1,000s of villages and cities in the target country.
Let's say Japan, one of the world's top Foreign Aid donors in terms of absolute aid size, but small in terms of its GDP, plans to give U.S.$ 1 billion in untied foreign aid to Tanzania, one of the world's poorest countries. With a population of 40 million, that means each Tanzanian -- man, woman & child -- should receive about US$ 40.00.
As part of the grant, the Japanese cell phone makers Sharp, Kyocera, Panasonic, DoCoMo and Sanyo agree to provide simple cell phones to the program for only US$ 20 each -- their manufacturing cost -- plus in exchange for tax-breaks from the Japanese government. 10 million phones are needed for the 40 million people (assume 4 people/family). That leaves US$ 800 million for the 40 million Tanzanians or about US$ 20 per person or US$ 80/family.
Mobile carriers operating in Tanzania such as Mobitel MIC, Vodacom Tanzania, Celtel and Zantel agree to split up/share the 10 million new phones/accounts and assign telephone numbers to the 10 million phones -- and why not ? -- in one stroke they each gain a few million new customers courtesy of Japanese foreign aid. And new customers with money too.
Next, Japan wires the US$ 800 million to the central bank of Tanzania, which then shares the funds pro-rata with the mobile carriers that assigned the telephone numbers to the phones. The carriers credit each new account with US$ 80 (perhaps less a small set-up fee...?).
The phones are distributed throughout Tanzania by NGOs, charities, church groups and the postal system. Each phone comes "pre-loaded" with US$ 80 (US$ 800 million / 10 million phones = US$ 80), so the most money that could "disappear" at one time is only this small amount. This contrasts with many cases where millions or billions of dollars of foreign aid have suddenly vanished with no trace. E.g., Iraq.
Once the phones are distributed, each individual/family can withdraw the money or transfer it to another party using a cell-phone-based SMS funds-transfer system such as Safaricom's M-PESA network in Kenya.
In sum, this foreign-aid example above rapidly creates 10 million new ATMs in Tanzania and provides 10 million microfinance grants (not loans) to every family in the country. It also provides Tanzania with a new/additional monetary base or money supply of US$ 800 million (or the equivalent amount in Tanzanian Shillings) that should experience an economic multiplier effect as it is invested or spent.
Moreover, the distribution process of the foreign aid funds is very straight-forward and easy to audit. It is highly unlikely in this example that millions of dollars could disappear via graft in a few minutes. Yes, theft rates of cell phones in Tanzania would probably increase, but if each cell phone's account is password-protected, thieves could not also steal the credit/money in the phone's account at the mobile carrier.
For families in Tanzania living on US$ 1 - 2 / day, to suddenly have an additional US$ 80 to invest/spend, plus to suddenly own a cell phone that could also serve the functions of tele-education / microeducation, telemedicine / micromedicine and telecommerce / microcommerce, must certainly spawn a rapid and miraculous transformation of Tanzania's economy and society.
Once again, the cell phone is the Solution.
Globally & warmly yours,
David A. Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
Key words: Foreign Aid Nano Credit / Foreign Aid Nanocredit / Foreign Aid Microcredit / Supersizing Foreign Aid / Homogenizing Foreign Aid / Foreign Aid Democratized / Micro Foreign Aid / Micronizing Foreign Aid / Foreign Aid Direct / TeleMicroFinance / Tele-microfinance / Foreign Aid Inside / Tele-foreign Aid / Foreign Tele-Aid
*****
Delivering Foreign Aid directly to "The Bottom of the Pyramid" via Cell Phone
A Micro Foreign Aid system to avoid graft, fraud & bribery -- I've been Madoffed !!
While promoting the Carbon Micro Credit (CMC) concept described in detail in the many posts below, I continue to hear foolish rich people in the Developed / First World voice complaints that poor Individuals in the Developing / Third World will game the CMC system to steal 15 or 25 cents a day. The horror !
OK, let's micronize or apply our intellectual electron microscope to another parallel situation -- Foreign Aid -- which is FREE money given by the Developed / First World to the Developing / Third World.
What happens with Foreign Aid so often? -- it disappears into the black holes of graft, fraud, embezzlement and bribery as the money passes through multiple bureaucratic choke-points in foreign governments and NGOs. Moreover, foreign aid is often stolen in amounts of 100s of thousand or millions of dollars at a time -- poof ! -- gone in a few minutes.
So how could these HUGE financial "leakages" be avoided ? And how could donor countries be more sure their funds actually ended up at "The Bottom of the Pyramid"? Again, as with the Carbon Micro Credit, the answer is the cell phone. That is, cell phones in the hands of millions of poor Individuals in 1,000s of villages and cities in the target country.
Let's say Japan, one of the world's top Foreign Aid donors in terms of absolute aid size, but small in terms of its GDP, plans to give U.S.$ 1 billion in untied foreign aid to Tanzania, one of the world's poorest countries. With a population of 40 million, that means each Tanzanian -- man, woman & child -- should receive about US$ 40.00.
As part of the grant, the Japanese cell phone makers Sharp, Kyocera, Panasonic, DoCoMo and Sanyo agree to provide simple cell phones to the program for only US$ 20 each -- their manufacturing cost -- plus in exchange for tax-breaks from the Japanese government. 10 million phones are needed for the 40 million people (assume 4 people/family). That leaves US$ 800 million for the 40 million Tanzanians or about US$ 20 per person or US$ 80/family.
Mobile carriers operating in Tanzania such as Mobitel MIC, Vodacom Tanzania, Celtel and Zantel agree to split up/share the 10 million new phones/accounts and assign telephone numbers to the 10 million phones -- and why not ? -- in one stroke they each gain a few million new customers courtesy of Japanese foreign aid. And new customers with money too.
Next, Japan wires the US$ 800 million to the central bank of Tanzania, which then shares the funds pro-rata with the mobile carriers that assigned the telephone numbers to the phones. The carriers credit each new account with US$ 80 (perhaps less a small set-up fee...?).
The phones are distributed throughout Tanzania by NGOs, charities, church groups and the postal system. Each phone comes "pre-loaded" with US$ 80 (US$ 800 million / 10 million phones = US$ 80), so the most money that could "disappear" at one time is only this small amount. This contrasts with many cases where millions or billions of dollars of foreign aid have suddenly vanished with no trace. E.g., Iraq.
Once the phones are distributed, each individual/family can withdraw the money or transfer it to another party using a cell-phone-based SMS funds-transfer system such as Safaricom's M-PESA network in Kenya.
In sum, this foreign-aid example above rapidly creates 10 million new ATMs in Tanzania and provides 10 million microfinance grants (not loans) to every family in the country. It also provides Tanzania with a new/additional monetary base or money supply of US$ 800 million (or the equivalent amount in Tanzanian Shillings) that should experience an economic multiplier effect as it is invested or spent.
Moreover, the distribution process of the foreign aid funds is very straight-forward and easy to audit. It is highly unlikely in this example that millions of dollars could disappear via graft in a few minutes. Yes, theft rates of cell phones in Tanzania would probably increase, but if each cell phone's account is password-protected, thieves could not also steal the credit/money in the phone's account at the mobile carrier.
For families in Tanzania living on US$ 1 - 2 / day, to suddenly have an additional US$ 80 to invest/spend, plus to suddenly own a cell phone that could also serve the functions of tele-education / microeducation, telemedicine / micromedicine and telecommerce / microcommerce, must certainly spawn a rapid and miraculous transformation of Tanzania's economy and society.
Once again, the cell phone is the Solution.
Globally & warmly yours,
David A. Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
Key words: Foreign Aid Nano Credit / Foreign Aid Nanocredit / Foreign Aid Microcredit / Supersizing Foreign Aid / Homogenizing Foreign Aid / Foreign Aid Democratized / Micro Foreign Aid / Micronizing Foreign Aid / Foreign Aid Direct / TeleMicroFinance / Tele-microfinance / Foreign Aid Inside / Tele-foreign Aid / Foreign Tele-Aid
*****
Saturday, December 6, 2008
"Caution: Inhaling Green House Gases May Be Hazardous to Your Health"
*****
The next Surgeon General's warning not to breathe the air?
Warning! Warning! Danger! Danger! -- Carbon approaching! Carbon approaching!
Anyone in their 50s or older will remember when in 1965 the Surgeon General's office issued a warning that tobacco smoking was dangerous. To young children at the time, it sounded quite scary, especially if your parents or older relatives smoked. The proclamation probably prevented 100s of thousands or millions of American children from becoming smokers -- and from emitting 100s of thousands of tons of tobacco-derived green house gases into the atmosphere the past 40+ years (not to mention).
So what government or NGO proclamation about Global Warming will shock the current young generation into action against worldwide climate change? Who or what group will write and issue such a skull & crossbones galvanizer to wake up our children? Where is it? And if it were written, how would it read? Here's suggested wording:
<<<<<< ----- >>>>>> <<<<<< ----- >>>>>> <<<<<< ----- >>>>>>
"Warning! -- Emitting or Inhaling the Green House Gases CO2, CH4, N2O, CF4 and others May Be Hazardous to Your Planet's Atmosphere & Your own Health. Not purchasing carbon offsets to match your carbon footprint, or not actively reducing your carbon footprint, may lead to end-stage global warming, metastatic species extinctions worldwide, and a clinically significant reduction of your own lifespan."
<<<<<< ----- >>>>>> <<<<<< ----- >>>>>> <<<<<< ----- >>>>>>
Well, perhaps we should all contact the Surgeon General's office and suggest such a next-generation warning against this daily health threat to every American child? -- and against every Citizen of the World too. Such a label should be printed on every energy-intensive product whose footprint is not negated by matching offsets. Or, issued in conjunction with the performance of any service with an excessive carbon footprint.
Take action today to make sure your children don't grow up smoking the atmosphere. Just say "No!" to carbon.
Huskily & warmly yours,
David A. Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
Reference: The Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act of 1965 (Public Law 89-92)
*****
The next Surgeon General's warning not to breathe the air?
Warning! Warning! Danger! Danger! -- Carbon approaching! Carbon approaching!
Anyone in their 50s or older will remember when in 1965 the Surgeon General's office issued a warning that tobacco smoking was dangerous. To young children at the time, it sounded quite scary, especially if your parents or older relatives smoked. The proclamation probably prevented 100s of thousands or millions of American children from becoming smokers -- and from emitting 100s of thousands of tons of tobacco-derived green house gases into the atmosphere the past 40+ years (not to mention).
So what government or NGO proclamation about Global Warming will shock the current young generation into action against worldwide climate change? Who or what group will write and issue such a skull & crossbones galvanizer to wake up our children? Where is it? And if it were written, how would it read? Here's suggested wording:
<<<<<< ----- >>>>>> <<<<<< ----- >>>>>> <<<<<< ----- >>>>>>
"Warning! -- Emitting or Inhaling the Green House Gases CO2, CH4, N2O, CF4 and others May Be Hazardous to Your Planet's Atmosphere & Your own Health. Not purchasing carbon offsets to match your carbon footprint, or not actively reducing your carbon footprint, may lead to end-stage global warming, metastatic species extinctions worldwide, and a clinically significant reduction of your own lifespan."
<<<<<< ----- >>>>>> <<<<<< ----- >>>>>> <<<<<< ----- >>>>>>
Well, perhaps we should all contact the Surgeon General's office and suggest such a next-generation warning against this daily health threat to every American child? -- and against every Citizen of the World too. Such a label should be printed on every energy-intensive product whose footprint is not negated by matching offsets. Or, issued in conjunction with the performance of any service with an excessive carbon footprint.
Take action today to make sure your children don't grow up smoking the atmosphere. Just say "No!" to carbon.
Huskily & warmly yours,
David A. Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
Reference: The Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act of 1965 (Public Law 89-92)
*****
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
GRAND CHALLENGES of CARBON MICRO CREDITS
*****
A to-do list for Mankind's Journey to Carbon-Offset Enfranchisement
(1) Low-cost Carbon-Micro-Credit Cell Phone:
Produce a Carbon Micro Credit (CMC) cell phone with all the features described in the post below of 26 November 2008 for a manufacturing cost of less than US$ 20.00.
(2) Determine the Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC):
Quantify exactly the Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC) described in detail in the post below dated 20 November 2008, now guesstimated at 2 kilograms of CO2/person/day, such that rich foolish people in the Developed World no longer believe that Individuals living on less than US$ 2.00/day don't deserve to earn 15 - 25 cents/day for their carbon offsets.
(3) Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC) as physical constant:
Lobby major carbon-credit buyers, project originators, auditors, NGOs and governments to build a consensus to accept the SICMC as a valid universal standard, just as standard as traditional units of measure such as the kilogram or Planck's constant.
(4) The International Carbon Micro Credit Registry:
Develop a global Carbon Micro Credit (CMC) Registry or end-to-end tracking system described in detail in the post below dated 22 November 2008 that permits retail carbon-offset buyers to identify the Individual in the Developing World who produced the offset.
(5) The Carbon Micro Credit (CMC) Operating System (O.S.):
Write the code in Linux or another open-source programming language for a platform-agnostic CMC O.S (Operating System) that easily installs on the computer systems of most mobile carriers worldwide.
(6) Free Trade Zone status or Permanent Tax Holiday for CMCs:
Build universal agreement among all governments worldwide that CMCs shall not be taxed, blocked, confiscated nor otherwise encumbered at all stages of their creation, bundling, marketing, sale or conversion to an alternate currency such as cell-phone minutes, e-currency or cash.
(7) Unified Field Theory of Carbon-Offset Means Testing:
Build worldwide consensus that the carbon offsets of Individuals produced in the Developing World take precedence in valuation and sale over any other offsets.
(8) Breaking Bulk / Getting Granular / Thinking small:
Build consensus among carbon offset retailers and green house gas (GHG) exchanges worldwide to distribute and sell CMCs in any quantity, no matter how small.
(9) Thinking BIG:
Implement the Carbon Micro Credit system in the Developing World to individually empower and enrich at least 50 million people by 2015, 100 million by 2020, and 250 million by 2025.
(10) MicroMedicine and MicroEducation:
Organize and promote the analogous micro-fields of MicroTeleMedicine and MicroTeleEducation that are also immediately enabled by today's existing installed cell-phone base and telecommunications infrastructure.
(11) Carbon Nano Credit & Carbon Pico Credit:
Conceive, build a framework for, and implement the Carbon Nano Credit (CNC) and Carbon Pico Credit (CPC) -- the next generations of carbon micro credits. "There's plenty of room at the bottom" [Richard Feynman].
Grandly & warmly yours,
David A. Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
A to-do list for Mankind's Journey to Carbon-Offset Enfranchisement
(1) Low-cost Carbon-Micro-Credit Cell Phone:
Produce a Carbon Micro Credit (CMC) cell phone with all the features described in the post below of 26 November 2008 for a manufacturing cost of less than US$ 20.00.
(2) Determine the Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC):
Quantify exactly the Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC) described in detail in the post below dated 20 November 2008, now guesstimated at 2 kilograms of CO2/person/day, such that rich foolish people in the Developed World no longer believe that Individuals living on less than US$ 2.00/day don't deserve to earn 15 - 25 cents/day for their carbon offsets.
(3) Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC) as physical constant:
Lobby major carbon-credit buyers, project originators, auditors, NGOs and governments to build a consensus to accept the SICMC as a valid universal standard, just as standard as traditional units of measure such as the kilogram or Planck's constant.
(4) The International Carbon Micro Credit Registry:
Develop a global Carbon Micro Credit (CMC) Registry or end-to-end tracking system described in detail in the post below dated 22 November 2008 that permits retail carbon-offset buyers to identify the Individual in the Developing World who produced the offset.
(5) The Carbon Micro Credit (CMC) Operating System (O.S.):
Write the code in Linux or another open-source programming language for a platform-agnostic CMC O.S (Operating System) that easily installs on the computer systems of most mobile carriers worldwide.
(6) Free Trade Zone status or Permanent Tax Holiday for CMCs:
Build universal agreement among all governments worldwide that CMCs shall not be taxed, blocked, confiscated nor otherwise encumbered at all stages of their creation, bundling, marketing, sale or conversion to an alternate currency such as cell-phone minutes, e-currency or cash.
(7) Unified Field Theory of Carbon-Offset Means Testing:
Build worldwide consensus that the carbon offsets of Individuals produced in the Developing World take precedence in valuation and sale over any other offsets.
(8) Breaking Bulk / Getting Granular / Thinking small:
Build consensus among carbon offset retailers and green house gas (GHG) exchanges worldwide to distribute and sell CMCs in any quantity, no matter how small.
(9) Thinking BIG:
Implement the Carbon Micro Credit system in the Developing World to individually empower and enrich at least 50 million people by 2015, 100 million by 2020, and 250 million by 2025.
(10) MicroMedicine and MicroEducation:
Organize and promote the analogous micro-fields of MicroTeleMedicine and MicroTeleEducation that are also immediately enabled by today's existing installed cell-phone base and telecommunications infrastructure.
(11) Carbon Nano Credit & Carbon Pico Credit:
Conceive, build a framework for, and implement the Carbon Nano Credit (CNC) and Carbon Pico Credit (CPC) -- the next generations of carbon micro credits. "There's plenty of room at the bottom" [Richard Feynman].
Grandly & warmly yours,
David A. Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
The CARBON FOOTPRINT BILL of RIGHTS
*****
Carbon Offset Magna Carta Libertatum
Hammurabi's Carbon Code of Conduct
Today in the Developing World the carbon offsets of poor individuals are often wrongly appropriated and sold at a profit by corporations or others purporting to operate for the Common Good, or just for their own Uncommon Greed. But even in the 1200s common sense and fair play were obvious to the writers of the Magna Carta in these clauses dealing with:
"Anti-corruption and fair trade:
Clauses 28 to 32 state that no royal officer may take any commodity such as grain, wood or transport without payment or consent...
Clause 35 sets out a list of standard measures..." [Wikipedia.org]
So how is it that almost 800 years later the same basic tenets of fairness are being violated again?
Carbon offsets are a new commodity such as the grain and wood mentioned above, apparently free for the taking by avaricious companies until a new carbon Magna Carta is written to stop them.
As well, a new 21st century "list of standard measures" must be writ to include The Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC) described in the post down below of 20 November 2008.
And a new carbon proclamation must be made to protect the Rights of the Poor, to wit:
---------- The CARBON FOOTPRINT BILL of RIGHTS ----------
(1) Individuals in the Developing World are sovereign and own their carbon footprint, which shall not be appropriated without due process, written consent and markets-based compensation.
(2) The carbon footprint of Individuals shall not be appropriated by NGOs (non-governmental organizations), charities, governments, corporations or other individuals claiming to operate for the Common Good or Greater Good.
(3) Individuals who reduce their carbon footprint shall have the right to monetize the reduction amount for at least 5 years.
(4) In the family setting, Women shall have an equal say in the monetization and disposition of the family's carbon offsets.
(5) Likewise, the proceeds of offset monetization shall benefit all members of the family equally, including Children & Women.
(6) Parents are responsible for protecting and monetizing the carbon offsets of their minor children.
(7) Where multiple options exist, Individuals shall have the freedom to monetize their carbon offsets in a manner of their own choosing.
(8) When an Individual's carbon offsets have been wrongly taken, the international courts of law shall rectify the taking and make whole the Individual's lost benefit, with interest.
(9) Individuals shall have precedence in the sale of their carbon offsets in markets worldwide, ranking above the interests of corporations, NGOs, governments and charities.
(10) The principles and spirit of "Fair Trade" and a "Living Wage" shall apply to the marketing and sale of the offsets of Individuals.
(11) The production and sale of offsets of Individuals shall be more highly valued by Society than entities having greater means, including charities, NGOs, governments and corporations.
(12) Individuals shall be free to convert their carbon offsets to any equivalent "coin of the realm" or international or electronic currency, or currency proxy. Such conversions, and the original carbon offsets earned, shall not be taxed nor otherwise encumbered by governments.
(13) Individuals, with the unanimous consent of their family members above the age of majority, shall be free to transfer their carbon offsets, or the corresponding monetary benefit, to any third party of their choosing.
(14) The monetary benefits of carbon-reduction projects targeting the Public Commons shall be shared equally with Individuals living in or near The Commons.
(15) Individuals shall not be allowed to offset their carbon footprints if the net result is a systems-level increase in greenhouse gases.
(16) More advantaged Individuals in the Developed World shall not unduly seek compensation for their carbon offsets to the economic detriment of Individuals in the Developing World.
(17) Individuals of means in the Developed World have a moral obligation to reduce their carbon footprint for the benefit of Mankind and their own children without seeking compensation.
---------- End of The CARBON FOOTPRINT BILL of RIGHTS ----------
The Carbon Micro Credit monetization concepts documented in this blog along with existing cell-phone technology completely empower and enfranchise the Sovereign Individual in the Developing World to directly benefit from their own carbon offsets. Hence, let the Age of Carbon Offset Property Rights begin.
Magnanimously & warmly yours,
David A. Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
Carbon Offset Magna Carta Libertatum
Hammurabi's Carbon Code of Conduct
Today in the Developing World the carbon offsets of poor individuals are often wrongly appropriated and sold at a profit by corporations or others purporting to operate for the Common Good, or just for their own Uncommon Greed. But even in the 1200s common sense and fair play were obvious to the writers of the Magna Carta in these clauses dealing with:
"Anti-corruption and fair trade:
Clauses 28 to 32 state that no royal officer may take any commodity such as grain, wood or transport without payment or consent...
Clause 35 sets out a list of standard measures..." [Wikipedia.org]
So how is it that almost 800 years later the same basic tenets of fairness are being violated again?
Carbon offsets are a new commodity such as the grain and wood mentioned above, apparently free for the taking by avaricious companies until a new carbon Magna Carta is written to stop them.
As well, a new 21st century "list of standard measures" must be writ to include The Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC) described in the post down below of 20 November 2008.
And a new carbon proclamation must be made to protect the Rights of the Poor, to wit:
---------- The CARBON FOOTPRINT BILL of RIGHTS ----------
(1) Individuals in the Developing World are sovereign and own their carbon footprint, which shall not be appropriated without due process, written consent and markets-based compensation.
(2) The carbon footprint of Individuals shall not be appropriated by NGOs (non-governmental organizations), charities, governments, corporations or other individuals claiming to operate for the Common Good or Greater Good.
(3) Individuals who reduce their carbon footprint shall have the right to monetize the reduction amount for at least 5 years.
(4) In the family setting, Women shall have an equal say in the monetization and disposition of the family's carbon offsets.
(5) Likewise, the proceeds of offset monetization shall benefit all members of the family equally, including Children & Women.
(6) Parents are responsible for protecting and monetizing the carbon offsets of their minor children.
(7) Where multiple options exist, Individuals shall have the freedom to monetize their carbon offsets in a manner of their own choosing.
(8) When an Individual's carbon offsets have been wrongly taken, the international courts of law shall rectify the taking and make whole the Individual's lost benefit, with interest.
(9) Individuals shall have precedence in the sale of their carbon offsets in markets worldwide, ranking above the interests of corporations, NGOs, governments and charities.
(10) The principles and spirit of "Fair Trade" and a "Living Wage" shall apply to the marketing and sale of the offsets of Individuals.
(11) The production and sale of offsets of Individuals shall be more highly valued by Society than entities having greater means, including charities, NGOs, governments and corporations.
(12) Individuals shall be free to convert their carbon offsets to any equivalent "coin of the realm" or international or electronic currency, or currency proxy. Such conversions, and the original carbon offsets earned, shall not be taxed nor otherwise encumbered by governments.
(13) Individuals, with the unanimous consent of their family members above the age of majority, shall be free to transfer their carbon offsets, or the corresponding monetary benefit, to any third party of their choosing.
(14) The monetary benefits of carbon-reduction projects targeting the Public Commons shall be shared equally with Individuals living in or near The Commons.
(15) Individuals shall not be allowed to offset their carbon footprints if the net result is a systems-level increase in greenhouse gases.
(16) More advantaged Individuals in the Developed World shall not unduly seek compensation for their carbon offsets to the economic detriment of Individuals in the Developing World.
(17) Individuals of means in the Developed World have a moral obligation to reduce their carbon footprint for the benefit of Mankind and their own children without seeking compensation.
---------- End of The CARBON FOOTPRINT BILL of RIGHTS ----------
The Carbon Micro Credit monetization concepts documented in this blog along with existing cell-phone technology completely empower and enfranchise the Sovereign Individual in the Developing World to directly benefit from their own carbon offsets. Hence, let the Age of Carbon Offset Property Rights begin.
Magnanimously & warmly yours,
David A. Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
CARBON MANNA
*****
Carbon Micro Credits -- the Daily Bread of the Developing World
Some people have asked why is the URL for this blog CarbonManna ?
"Manna is the name of a food which, according to the Bible, was eaten by the Israelites during their travels in the desert until they reached Canaan" [Wikipedia]. Manna fell from the sky every evening or night and was deposited on the the rocks and vegetation. It was scrapped off every morning for 40 years while the Israelites wandered in the desert seeking the Promised Land.
Likewise, daily Carbon Micro Credits (CMCs) will be the manna that helps feed the Poor while wandering in the Desert of the Developing World. And even so, their ascension from living in Poverty on less than US$ 2 per day will most likely also take 40 years, sadly.
Some biblical scholars have speculated that manna was a carbo-hydrate that formed each evening due to special atmospheric conditions in the Sinai Desert during the time of Moses, just as rice, bread, potatoes or corn are carbon-based foods or carbohydrates. If so, it is ironic then that the non-emission of other carbon-based compounds -- the green house gases CO2 and CH4 (methane) -- may now once again be the daily gift that will feed the world's Poor.
Carbon Micro Credits -- the Daily Bread of the Developing World.
Globally & warmly yours,
David A. Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
P.S.: You can read more about manna here:
---------- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manna
*****
Carbon Micro Credits -- the Daily Bread of the Developing World
Some people have asked why is the URL for this blog CarbonManna ?
"Manna is the name of a food which, according to the Bible, was eaten by the Israelites during their travels in the desert until they reached Canaan" [Wikipedia]. Manna fell from the sky every evening or night and was deposited on the the rocks and vegetation. It was scrapped off every morning for 40 years while the Israelites wandered in the desert seeking the Promised Land.
Likewise, daily Carbon Micro Credits (CMCs) will be the manna that helps feed the Poor while wandering in the Desert of the Developing World. And even so, their ascension from living in Poverty on less than US$ 2 per day will most likely also take 40 years, sadly.
Some biblical scholars have speculated that manna was a carbo-hydrate that formed each evening due to special atmospheric conditions in the Sinai Desert during the time of Moses, just as rice, bread, potatoes or corn are carbon-based foods or carbohydrates. If so, it is ironic then that the non-emission of other carbon-based compounds -- the green house gases CO2 and CH4 (methane) -- may now once again be the daily gift that will feed the world's Poor.
Carbon Micro Credits -- the Daily Bread of the Developing World.
Globally & warmly yours,
David A. Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
P.S.: You can read more about manna here:
---------- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manna
*****
Sunday, November 30, 2008
The Carbo or Karbo -- the First Global Hard Currency?
*****
The Carbon Micro Credit -- The Gold Standard of the Developing World
CARBON SAVINGS & LOAN
The PEOPLE'S CENTRAL CARBON BANK
The CARBON TRUST BANK -- In Carbon We Trust
"This Carbon is Legal Tender for All Debts, Public & Private"
Carbon Micro Credits, transmutable into e-gold, e-money, local currency, or cell phone minutes, could become the Euro of Africa and other regions of the Developing World. Unlike paper fiat currencies that governments invariably inflate to blow away state debts, cell phone-based Carbon Micro Credits are not inflatable for several reasons: First, they can only be produced and earned daily in a fixed quantity. Second, the participating mobile carriers would never inflate minute allocations and thereby overload their networks. Third, the original buyer of the bundled Carbon Micro Credits has only paid for the issuance of a fixed amount of credits, which likewise fixes the minutes allocated.
Through these checks & balances, Carbon Micro Credits (CMCs) and their equivalent value in cell phone minutes (or other e-currencies) will serve as a fungible store of value and trade that transcends national boundaries. These non-governmental non-debaseable electronic doubloons will form a non-inflatable currency pool that renews itself daily.
Moreover, through cell phone-based money transfer systems such as Safaricom's M-PESA or Obopay.com, CMCs/cell minutes could be converted to a cash equivalent and withdrawn at any participating store or bank in Africa. There is no reason why not, seen as the bundled CMCs were originally pre-sold and a portion of the cash paid to the mobile carrier performing the back-office accounting and conversion -- refer to the 2nd post at the bottom of this Blog entitled "Carbon Micro Credit (CMC) Flow of Funds" (26 Oct 2008).
A few African countries such as Zimbabwe are now experiencing inflation or hyperinflation due to currency debasement -- or "printing their way to prosperity". Many other countries rely on circulating off-shore stores of U.S. dollars as a "hard" currency; however, the US$ is projected to experience its own collapse or severe depreciation in 2009 - 2010 due to excessive U.S. Government deficit spending. Therefore, Africa needs its own pan-continental currency as a long-term store of value, and to facilitate cross-border trade.
As well, the African people need their own People's Central Bank that issues and stores a currency that cannot be corrupted by government -- Carbon Micro Credits issued and stored at transnational mobile carriers such as MTN and Safaricom would be a synthetic equivalent -- a virtual African Carbon Savings & Loan, and the Carbon Micro Credit could be its Roman denarius or Greek decadrachma, to name two universal stores of value and trade that served Mankind well for centuries.
Gold has a universal value or readily identifiable market price anywhere on planet Earth. In view of global warming, likewise, a carbon-based currency should have universal value in any land. Eventually the disparate cap & trade, carbon tax regimes, and green house gas trading exchanges worldwide will coalesce, and the market price of a carbon offset or carbon permit (one metric ton of CO2 emissions) will, like gold, have a specific recognized market price anywhere.
In short, a global carbon offset-backed currency could appear -- let us call it the Carbo or Karbo, or Crbo or Krbo -- and a Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC = 2 kilograms of CO2/day/person) would just be 1/500th of this universal currency.
The Carbo / Karbo would transcend all national borders in its electronic forms -- the e-Carbo / e-Karbo, and be "Legal Tender for All Debts, Public & Private" worldwide.
Finally, because emission reductions efforts will take decades and because reduction of absolute concentrations of anthropogenic CO2 in the atmosphere will take centuries, and because the supply of CO2 credits/emissions will be constrained, just as the supply of gold is constrained, the Carbo / Karbo should be a store of value for 100s of years.
Caesar would be proud.
Globally & warmly yours,
David A. Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
The Carbon Micro Credit -- The Gold Standard of the Developing World
CARBON SAVINGS & LOAN
The PEOPLE'S CENTRAL CARBON BANK
The CARBON TRUST BANK -- In Carbon We Trust
"This Carbon is Legal Tender for All Debts, Public & Private"
Carbon Micro Credits, transmutable into e-gold, e-money, local currency, or cell phone minutes, could become the Euro of Africa and other regions of the Developing World. Unlike paper fiat currencies that governments invariably inflate to blow away state debts, cell phone-based Carbon Micro Credits are not inflatable for several reasons: First, they can only be produced and earned daily in a fixed quantity. Second, the participating mobile carriers would never inflate minute allocations and thereby overload their networks. Third, the original buyer of the bundled Carbon Micro Credits has only paid for the issuance of a fixed amount of credits, which likewise fixes the minutes allocated.
Through these checks & balances, Carbon Micro Credits (CMCs) and their equivalent value in cell phone minutes (or other e-currencies) will serve as a fungible store of value and trade that transcends national boundaries. These non-governmental non-debaseable electronic doubloons will form a non-inflatable currency pool that renews itself daily.
Moreover, through cell phone-based money transfer systems such as Safaricom's M-PESA or Obopay.com, CMCs/cell minutes could be converted to a cash equivalent and withdrawn at any participating store or bank in Africa. There is no reason why not, seen as the bundled CMCs were originally pre-sold and a portion of the cash paid to the mobile carrier performing the back-office accounting and conversion -- refer to the 2nd post at the bottom of this Blog entitled "Carbon Micro Credit (CMC) Flow of Funds" (26 Oct 2008).
A few African countries such as Zimbabwe are now experiencing inflation or hyperinflation due to currency debasement -- or "printing their way to prosperity". Many other countries rely on circulating off-shore stores of U.S. dollars as a "hard" currency; however, the US$ is projected to experience its own collapse or severe depreciation in 2009 - 2010 due to excessive U.S. Government deficit spending. Therefore, Africa needs its own pan-continental currency as a long-term store of value, and to facilitate cross-border trade.
As well, the African people need their own People's Central Bank that issues and stores a currency that cannot be corrupted by government -- Carbon Micro Credits issued and stored at transnational mobile carriers such as MTN and Safaricom would be a synthetic equivalent -- a virtual African Carbon Savings & Loan, and the Carbon Micro Credit could be its Roman denarius or Greek decadrachma, to name two universal stores of value and trade that served Mankind well for centuries.
Gold has a universal value or readily identifiable market price anywhere on planet Earth. In view of global warming, likewise, a carbon-based currency should have universal value in any land. Eventually the disparate cap & trade, carbon tax regimes, and green house gas trading exchanges worldwide will coalesce, and the market price of a carbon offset or carbon permit (one metric ton of CO2 emissions) will, like gold, have a specific recognized market price anywhere.
In short, a global carbon offset-backed currency could appear -- let us call it the Carbo or Karbo, or Crbo or Krbo -- and a Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC = 2 kilograms of CO2/day/person) would just be 1/500th of this universal currency.
The Carbo / Karbo would transcend all national borders in its electronic forms -- the e-Carbo / e-Karbo, and be "Legal Tender for All Debts, Public & Private" worldwide.
Finally, because emission reductions efforts will take decades and because reduction of absolute concentrations of anthropogenic CO2 in the atmosphere will take centuries, and because the supply of CO2 credits/emissions will be constrained, just as the supply of gold is constrained, the Carbo / Karbo should be a store of value for 100s of years.
Caesar would be proud.
Globally & warmly yours,
David A. Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
Saturday, November 29, 2008
The Coming Carbon-Credits Cambrian Explosion
*****
The Imminent Carbon Offsets Bubble
"Would you like a carbon credit with your fries?"
With the incoming Obama administration, with an impoverished Wall Street desperately seeking bonuses in the Dust Bowl of The Great Credit Crunch, and with a global-warming tipping point looming in the offing, we will soon experience a Carbon-Credits Cambrian Explosion of unimaginable scale.
How BIG will the Carbon Credit Bubble become ?
So BIG that Hollywood stars living in Santa Barbara will agree to CO2 sequestration projects in their backyards and claim carbon credits. So BIG that mid-west farmers will tape vibration-activated ignition devices to the butts of their cows to flare methane emissions and then claim carbon credits. So BIG, restaurant chains will stop serving baked beans and file claims for green-house-gas emission reductions.
So BIG, crematorium owners will shut down, become total deadbeats and live off their claimed carbon offsets. So BIG, Detroit auto execs will fly first-class instead of using private corporate jets and then claim carbon credits. So BIG, fast-food chains will offer you uncooked fries and the opportunity to buy a matching nano carbon offset.
So BIG your stockbroker, who by definition makes you broker, and your insurance agent will be calling to sell you:
-- (1) Carbon-backed Securities
-- (2) Carbon Default Swaps
-- (3) Collateralized Carbon Obligations
-- (4) Carbon Sequestration Annuities
-- (5) Individual Carbon Retirement Accounts
-- (6) Carbon Cancer Insurance
-- (7) Carbon Burial Insurance
-- (8) Catastrophic Global Warming Insurance
-- (9) Methane Explosion Liability Insurance
-- (10) Carbon offset hedge funds, and, it follows logically:
-- (11) Carbon offset hedge funds of funds.
So BIG.......well, you get the picture.
And in the face of this menagerie of beastly offsets from the Rich Countries of the World, how will Carbon Micro Credits from Africa and Asia fare ? Will they find a market at a living wage ? Is there indeed a Carbon Santa Claus for the deserving Poor in the Developing World ? Or will the Rich in the Developed World game the system to make the lease payments on their Jaguars and Escalades ?
The answer really depends on YOU. Spread the Word today about cell-phone-based Carbon Micro Credits and the superior merit of carbon offsets produced by poor INDIVIDUALS and FAMILIES in the Developing World living on less that US$ 1 - 2 per day. Carbon Micro Credits are daily manna from Heaven for the Poor. Make sure they stand at the front of the line wherever carbon offsets are sold.
Globally & warmly yours,
David A. Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
The Imminent Carbon Offsets Bubble
"Would you like a carbon credit with your fries?"
With the incoming Obama administration, with an impoverished Wall Street desperately seeking bonuses in the Dust Bowl of The Great Credit Crunch, and with a global-warming tipping point looming in the offing, we will soon experience a Carbon-Credits Cambrian Explosion of unimaginable scale.
How BIG will the Carbon Credit Bubble become ?
So BIG that Hollywood stars living in Santa Barbara will agree to CO2 sequestration projects in their backyards and claim carbon credits. So BIG that mid-west farmers will tape vibration-activated ignition devices to the butts of their cows to flare methane emissions and then claim carbon credits. So BIG, restaurant chains will stop serving baked beans and file claims for green-house-gas emission reductions.
So BIG, crematorium owners will shut down, become total deadbeats and live off their claimed carbon offsets. So BIG, Detroit auto execs will fly first-class instead of using private corporate jets and then claim carbon credits. So BIG, fast-food chains will offer you uncooked fries and the opportunity to buy a matching nano carbon offset.
So BIG your stockbroker, who by definition makes you broker, and your insurance agent will be calling to sell you:
-- (1) Carbon-backed Securities
-- (2) Carbon Default Swaps
-- (3) Collateralized Carbon Obligations
-- (4) Carbon Sequestration Annuities
-- (5) Individual Carbon Retirement Accounts
-- (6) Carbon Cancer Insurance
-- (7) Carbon Burial Insurance
-- (8) Catastrophic Global Warming Insurance
-- (9) Methane Explosion Liability Insurance
-- (10) Carbon offset hedge funds, and, it follows logically:
-- (11) Carbon offset hedge funds of funds.
So BIG.......well, you get the picture.
And in the face of this menagerie of beastly offsets from the Rich Countries of the World, how will Carbon Micro Credits from Africa and Asia fare ? Will they find a market at a living wage ? Is there indeed a Carbon Santa Claus for the deserving Poor in the Developing World ? Or will the Rich in the Developed World game the system to make the lease payments on their Jaguars and Escalades ?
The answer really depends on YOU. Spread the Word today about cell-phone-based Carbon Micro Credits and the superior merit of carbon offsets produced by poor INDIVIDUALS and FAMILIES in the Developing World living on less that US$ 1 - 2 per day. Carbon Micro Credits are daily manna from Heaven for the Poor. Make sure they stand at the front of the line wherever carbon offsets are sold.
Globally & warmly yours,
David A. Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
Friday, November 28, 2008
Flipping over Pharaoh's Pyramid
*****
"But many who are first will be last, and the last, first" [Matthew 19:30]
Shortening the Long Tail ?
Means Testing for Carbon Credit Originators -- Vol. II
"Let them eat carbon!"
As implementation of the Carbon Micro Credit system approaches mega scale, the worldwide supply of carbon credits may grow faster than demand. What happens then ? Will a supply glut reduce price below marginal production cost, leading to no material gains for micro-originators? Will the Poor at the "Bottom of the Pyramid" be told there is no market for their laboriously-produced Carbon Micro Credits (CMCs) ?
No, rather, Means Testing should be applied to all producers or originators of carbon credits worldwide, and their produced credits graded or assigned a relative valuation according to social merit and redeeming value to Mankind. And the largest relative economic gains should flow to the most needy.
In short, the last should be first, and the first, last. The bottom shall become the top, and the top, the bottom. Or, to quote Karl Marx: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need". Let the better educated in Developed Countries, or those in more developed "Developing Countries" fend for themselves. Rich pharaoh's pyramid shall be flipped over.
Hence, the current dichotomy under the Kyoto Protocol of "Developed" country versus "Developing" country-of-origin should be expanded to multiple levels of development and relative valuation, such as, from the most-valuable carbon credits to least:
-- (i) DevelopING Credits - Platinum -- relative valuation = 1.0
-- (ii) DevelopING Credits - Gold -- relative valuation = 0.9
-- (iii) DevelopING Credits - Silver -- relative valuation = 0.8
------------------
-- (iv) DevelopED Credits - Nickel -- relative valuation = 0.4
-- (v) DevelopED Credits - Copper-- relative valuation = 0.3
-- (vi) DevelopED Credits - Zinc-- relative valuation = 0.2
Such a hierarchy of rankings could be applied to countries as a whole, or to specific projects from within any country. The Relative Valuations would deflate or discount excessive supply from Developed Countries or large corporations in any country whose projects perhaps border on failing a test of Additionality anyway.
The Carbon Micro Credit Registry (CMC Registry) described in detail in an earlier post below will allow for end-to-end tracing of Carbon Micro Credits and ensure that like credits are bundled together, or, analogously -- that Champagne really is made from grapes from Champagne -- and not from Normandy or Brittany. Or, that AAA-rated mortgages are not bundled with sub-prime loans.
As Greenland becomes a big Bermuda, as the Northwest Passage becomes the Northwest Ocean, as Antarctica's ice shelves break off and float to The Falklands -- suddenly raising sea levels 1 - 3 inches in few years -- the entire world will get religion and start producing 100s of millions of tons of carbon credits via 1,000s of different programs.
A Carbon Cambrian Explosion will result courtesy of Wall Street and carbon gold diggers worldwide. Supply will exceed demand, including both voluntary and legislated demand. Who then should be first in line to sell their carbon credits, and at what price? Will the Poor eat carbon, like the mud pies in Haiti?
"But many who are first will be last, and the last, first" [Matthew 19:30]
Globally & warmly yours,
David Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
"But many who are first will be last, and the last, first" [Matthew 19:30]
Shortening the Long Tail ?
Means Testing for Carbon Credit Originators -- Vol. II
"Let them eat carbon!"
As implementation of the Carbon Micro Credit system approaches mega scale, the worldwide supply of carbon credits may grow faster than demand. What happens then ? Will a supply glut reduce price below marginal production cost, leading to no material gains for micro-originators? Will the Poor at the "Bottom of the Pyramid" be told there is no market for their laboriously-produced Carbon Micro Credits (CMCs) ?
No, rather, Means Testing should be applied to all producers or originators of carbon credits worldwide, and their produced credits graded or assigned a relative valuation according to social merit and redeeming value to Mankind. And the largest relative economic gains should flow to the most needy.
In short, the last should be first, and the first, last. The bottom shall become the top, and the top, the bottom. Or, to quote Karl Marx: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need". Let the better educated in Developed Countries, or those in more developed "Developing Countries" fend for themselves. Rich pharaoh's pyramid shall be flipped over.
Hence, the current dichotomy under the Kyoto Protocol of "Developed" country versus "Developing" country-of-origin should be expanded to multiple levels of development and relative valuation, such as, from the most-valuable carbon credits to least:
-- (i) DevelopING Credits - Platinum -- relative valuation = 1.0
-- (ii) DevelopING Credits - Gold -- relative valuation = 0.9
-- (iii) DevelopING Credits - Silver -- relative valuation = 0.8
------------------
-- (iv) DevelopED Credits - Nickel -- relative valuation = 0.4
-- (v) DevelopED Credits - Copper-- relative valuation = 0.3
-- (vi) DevelopED Credits - Zinc-- relative valuation = 0.2
Such a hierarchy of rankings could be applied to countries as a whole, or to specific projects from within any country. The Relative Valuations would deflate or discount excessive supply from Developed Countries or large corporations in any country whose projects perhaps border on failing a test of Additionality anyway.
The Carbon Micro Credit Registry (CMC Registry) described in detail in an earlier post below will allow for end-to-end tracing of Carbon Micro Credits and ensure that like credits are bundled together, or, analogously -- that Champagne really is made from grapes from Champagne -- and not from Normandy or Brittany. Or, that AAA-rated mortgages are not bundled with sub-prime loans.
As Greenland becomes a big Bermuda, as the Northwest Passage becomes the Northwest Ocean, as Antarctica's ice shelves break off and float to The Falklands -- suddenly raising sea levels 1 - 3 inches in few years -- the entire world will get religion and start producing 100s of millions of tons of carbon credits via 1,000s of different programs.
A Carbon Cambrian Explosion will result courtesy of Wall Street and carbon gold diggers worldwide. Supply will exceed demand, including both voluntary and legislated demand. Who then should be first in line to sell their carbon credits, and at what price? Will the Poor eat carbon, like the mud pies in Haiti?
"But many who are first will be last, and the last, first" [Matthew 19:30]
Globally & warmly yours,
David Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Microfinance X.0 -- An Extreme Makeover
*****
Generation X Microfinance
The Linux O.S. for Microfinance
Super-sizing Microfinance -- "Over 1 billion served" ?
Strategic Microfinance Initiative
The cell phone is THE Solution
How can microfinance rapidly address the immediate needs of "the Next Billion"? Rather thank just a few million people?
The Next Generation of Microfinance must embrace for-profit Free Enterprise, as well as Star Wars-caliber thinking a la Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative. Therefore, the main characteristics of Microfinance X.0 will be:
(1) Scales RAPIDLY to 10,000s or 100,000s of families in the Developing World due to consistent SOPs (standard operating procedures), accepted international standards (e.g., the Standard International Carbon Micro Credit & Carbon Micro Credit Registry described in earlier posts below), and parsimony / simplicity
(2) Self-funding, self-regenerating and markets-based via Carbon Micro Credits or another perpetual funding mechanism; No charity is required
(3) It must be based on an inexpensive device or technology platform that ALREADY exists in situ (in place) in the 100s of millions or billions of units. This means the cell phone or mobile. There's no other "solution"
(4) Open source code and completely public domain -- no proprietary systems, software nor equipment, no secret sauce or know-how, no control by any single company, bank, NGO or charity -- in short, the Linux operating system (O.S.) of Microfinance
(5) The only control or referee ? -- one small, non-profit standards-setting group/body that RAPIDLY defines the the SOPs, measures and international standards described below in this blog
(6) Accomplishes multiple goals at once including:
-- (i) MicroEducation
-- (ii) MicroMedicine or public health, and
-- (iii) mitigating global warming.
The current focus is mainly on poverty elimination only; and, finally
(7) No egos involved, no looooong self-laudatory bio's and no "Donate Now" buttons on web sites, no CPU-intensive flash routines on web sites targeting viewers in the Developing World, and no resourceless non-profit minds with zero-sum thinking.
Microfinance X.0 is the roadmap for enfranchising the "Next Billion". Let's free microfinance from the shackles of charity and a poverty of imagination.
Globally & warmly yours,
David Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
Generation X Microfinance
The Linux O.S. for Microfinance
Super-sizing Microfinance -- "Over 1 billion served" ?
Strategic Microfinance Initiative
The cell phone is THE Solution
How can microfinance rapidly address the immediate needs of "the Next Billion"? Rather thank just a few million people?
The Next Generation of Microfinance must embrace for-profit Free Enterprise, as well as Star Wars-caliber thinking a la Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative. Therefore, the main characteristics of Microfinance X.0 will be:
(1) Scales RAPIDLY to 10,000s or 100,000s of families in the Developing World due to consistent SOPs (standard operating procedures), accepted international standards (e.g., the Standard International Carbon Micro Credit & Carbon Micro Credit Registry described in earlier posts below), and parsimony / simplicity
(2) Self-funding, self-regenerating and markets-based via Carbon Micro Credits or another perpetual funding mechanism; No charity is required
(3) It must be based on an inexpensive device or technology platform that ALREADY exists in situ (in place) in the 100s of millions or billions of units. This means the cell phone or mobile. There's no other "solution"
(4) Open source code and completely public domain -- no proprietary systems, software nor equipment, no secret sauce or know-how, no control by any single company, bank, NGO or charity -- in short, the Linux operating system (O.S.) of Microfinance
(5) The only control or referee ? -- one small, non-profit standards-setting group/body that RAPIDLY defines the the SOPs, measures and international standards described below in this blog
(6) Accomplishes multiple goals at once including:
-- (i) MicroEducation
-- (ii) MicroMedicine or public health, and
-- (iii) mitigating global warming.
The current focus is mainly on poverty elimination only; and, finally
(7) No egos involved, no looooong self-laudatory bio's and no "Donate Now" buttons on web sites, no CPU-intensive flash routines on web sites targeting viewers in the Developing World, and no resourceless non-profit minds with zero-sum thinking.
Microfinance X.0 is the roadmap for enfranchising the "Next Billion". Let's free microfinance from the shackles of charity and a poverty of imagination.
Globally & warmly yours,
David Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Means Testing for Carbon Credit Originators?
*****
Means Testing for Carbon Offset Originators ?
The Carbon Micro Credit (CMC) as widow's mite ?
Can carbon offsets roll downhill ?
Carbon Trading -- a USD/US$ 100 billion market by 2010
Out of Africa ? And back into Africa ?
"The World Bank estimates that the size of the carbon market was USD 11 billion in 2005, USD 30 billion in 2006, and USD 64 billion in 2007" [Wikipedia.org]. Various sources estimate the global carbon trading market to reach the nice-round number of USD 100 billion by the nice-round date of 2010.
No wonder this carbon honey-pot has attracted 100s of carbon carpetbaggers, carbon gold diggers and financial opportunists from the rich nations of our Developed World. So how long before we see these gems of Wall Street engineering appear on the carbon trading scene ?
(1) CBS = Carbon-backed Securities ?
(2) CDS = Carbon Default Swaps ?
(3) CCO = Collateralized Carbon Obligations ? -- and
(4) Carbon offset hedge funds ?
They're coming to a brokerage near you sometime soon, sadly.
In great contrast, the cell-phone-based Carbon Micro Credits (CMCs) described in this blog, which are produced on the ground in the Developing World by solar cooking or by other real activities of poor individuals, are the pennies saved in a child's piggybank and the widow's mites given at the temple.
Such offsets should have greater market value than those produced by major corporations in China, India and South Korea by means of stretching the bounds of the United Nations' Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), e.g., by reducing NO2 emissions at a chemical plant, which should have been done ethically anyway with no reward at all of CDM carbon credits.
In short, the entire carbon credit / offset field should implement means testing, such that carbon credits are awarded from the Bottom of the Pyramid upwards. Now, carbon credits are given to the rich or middle-class at the Top or Middle of the Pyramid. But the Bottom has the greatest need, and ethically their offsets should be sold first and at higher rates/ton.
But how do we make carbon credits roll downhill -- and reliably identify their origin ? Consistent and broad implementation of the cell-phone-based Carbon Micro Credit (CMC) system will eventually pull carbon credits downward to their rightful resting place in the hands of the world's most deserving people. In parallel, however, major nations, leagues of nations, NGOs, charities and influential opinion leaders worldwide should lobby for this transformative reallocation of the rewards of the carbon-trading industry.
The cell-phone-based Carbon Micro Credit system described here makes it all possible today.
USD 100 billion for Wall Street bonuses ?
Or USD 100 each for 1 billion needy people in Africa ?
You decide.
Globally & warmly yours,
David Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
Means Testing for Carbon Offset Originators ?
The Carbon Micro Credit (CMC) as widow's mite ?
Can carbon offsets roll downhill ?
Carbon Trading -- a USD/US$ 100 billion market by 2010
Out of Africa ? And back into Africa ?
"The World Bank estimates that the size of the carbon market was USD 11 billion in 2005, USD 30 billion in 2006, and USD 64 billion in 2007" [Wikipedia.org]. Various sources estimate the global carbon trading market to reach the nice-round number of USD 100 billion by the nice-round date of 2010.
No wonder this carbon honey-pot has attracted 100s of carbon carpetbaggers, carbon gold diggers and financial opportunists from the rich nations of our Developed World. So how long before we see these gems of Wall Street engineering appear on the carbon trading scene ?
(1) CBS = Carbon-backed Securities ?
(2) CDS = Carbon Default Swaps ?
(3) CCO = Collateralized Carbon Obligations ? -- and
(4) Carbon offset hedge funds ?
They're coming to a brokerage near you sometime soon, sadly.
In great contrast, the cell-phone-based Carbon Micro Credits (CMCs) described in this blog, which are produced on the ground in the Developing World by solar cooking or by other real activities of poor individuals, are the pennies saved in a child's piggybank and the widow's mites given at the temple.
Such offsets should have greater market value than those produced by major corporations in China, India and South Korea by means of stretching the bounds of the United Nations' Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), e.g., by reducing NO2 emissions at a chemical plant, which should have been done ethically anyway with no reward at all of CDM carbon credits.
In short, the entire carbon credit / offset field should implement means testing, such that carbon credits are awarded from the Bottom of the Pyramid upwards. Now, carbon credits are given to the rich or middle-class at the Top or Middle of the Pyramid. But the Bottom has the greatest need, and ethically their offsets should be sold first and at higher rates/ton.
But how do we make carbon credits roll downhill -- and reliably identify their origin ? Consistent and broad implementation of the cell-phone-based Carbon Micro Credit (CMC) system will eventually pull carbon credits downward to their rightful resting place in the hands of the world's most deserving people. In parallel, however, major nations, leagues of nations, NGOs, charities and influential opinion leaders worldwide should lobby for this transformative reallocation of the rewards of the carbon-trading industry.
The cell-phone-based Carbon Micro Credit system described here makes it all possible today.
USD 100 billion for Wall Street bonuses ?
Or USD 100 each for 1 billion needy people in Africa ?
You decide.
Globally & warmly yours,
David Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
The Carbon Micro Credit (CMC) Cell Phone
*****
The Carbon Micro Credit (CMC) Cell Phone
Supersizing Micro-finance, Micro-medicine & Micro-education
The Carbon Phone / CO2phone / CO2fon for "The Long Tail"
The Carbon Mobile / Carbon mobi / CO2mobi for "The Bottom of the Pyramid"
What features would the perfect cell phone or CO2fon have to permit easy monetization of the carbon footprints of the Poor in the Developing World? That is, to supersize microfinance to the scale of "Over 1 billion served"?
Plus, what features should it have to fulfill the ancillary objectives of:
(A) Telemedicine
(B) Tele-education and
(C) an Emergency Broadcast System for national disasters?
In short, to supersize the analogous fields of micromedicine and microeducation?
Such a carbon mobile would have:
(1) One-button dialing to send an SMS message (Short Message Service) to the local mobile carrier to claim one's daily Carbon Micro Credit (CMC)
(2) One-button access to see one's daily balance (credit or debit) of CMCs or equivalent cell-phone minutes or equivalent cash/local currency or non-inflatable e-gold
(3) the GSMA / ETSI-endorsed Single-Wire Protocol to allow an embedded NFC (Near Field Communication) chipset to communicate with wireless / no-contact readers to enable a variety of e-credit & e-debit transactions to access cash, make deposits or buy goods at local stores
(4) SMS reception capability that cannot be blocked to allow broadcast of public health messages, such as upcoming vaccine campaigns or outbreaks of infectious diseases such as Marburg, Ebola, dengue, malaria, hanta or Yersinia pestis (the plague).
(5) a built-in FM radio for the same reason in #4 above. Many Nokia phones have such built-in FM radios, thus making a cell phone-radio combo the ultimate "push" device for objectives A - C above -- telemedicine, tele-education and national emergencies
(6) a large, multi-script-capable, versatile screen/display to allow children to type text in various languages/alphabets including the Roman alphabet, Chinese characters or Japanese kanji, the Cyrillic alphabet and Arabic script
(7) high-level calculator and mathematical functions, routines and lessons to allow children to teach themselves math, algebra and calculus -- the universal languages
(8) Key-board icons that are globally intuitive and not overly-stylized nor trendy
(9) GPS and caller ID capability to locate lost or missing children
(10) an attached winder or crank to charge the battery manually, and/or solar-cell-covered surfaces for passive charging; and
(11) rugged and water-proof construction to survive life in the Developing World for many years.
Including all the features above is not absolutely necessary. Keeping manufacturing costs low is critical. A minimalist cell phone can be made "almost for nothing", one executive at NXP Semiconductors told me recently.
Design for Functionality in an environment where many adults are illiterate is most important. Another design tenet should be "Design for Compliance", so every head-of-household religiously claims their allocated Carbon Micro Credits every day. Design simplicity will boost adoption rates and facilitate monetization of a billion carbon footprints.
In sum, the Carbon Micro Credits Cell Phone is the savings account of the Poor; the bank and the ATM; the doctor and the nurse; their children's teacher and the school; and finally -- the Poor's business partner and carbon-footprint defender.
Globally & warmly yours,
David Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
The Carbon Micro Credit (CMC) Cell Phone
Supersizing Micro-finance, Micro-medicine & Micro-education
The Carbon Phone / CO2phone / CO2fon for "The Long Tail"
The Carbon Mobile / Carbon mobi / CO2mobi for "The Bottom of the Pyramid"
What features would the perfect cell phone or CO2fon have to permit easy monetization of the carbon footprints of the Poor in the Developing World? That is, to supersize microfinance to the scale of "Over 1 billion served"?
Plus, what features should it have to fulfill the ancillary objectives of:
(A) Telemedicine
(B) Tele-education and
(C) an Emergency Broadcast System for national disasters?
In short, to supersize the analogous fields of micromedicine and microeducation?
Such a carbon mobile would have:
(1) One-button dialing to send an SMS message (Short Message Service) to the local mobile carrier to claim one's daily Carbon Micro Credit (CMC)
(2) One-button access to see one's daily balance (credit or debit) of CMCs or equivalent cell-phone minutes or equivalent cash/local currency or non-inflatable e-gold
(3) the GSMA / ETSI-endorsed Single-Wire Protocol to allow an embedded NFC (Near Field Communication) chipset to communicate with wireless / no-contact readers to enable a variety of e-credit & e-debit transactions to access cash, make deposits or buy goods at local stores
(4) SMS reception capability that cannot be blocked to allow broadcast of public health messages, such as upcoming vaccine campaigns or outbreaks of infectious diseases such as Marburg, Ebola, dengue, malaria, hanta or Yersinia pestis (the plague).
(5) a built-in FM radio for the same reason in #4 above. Many Nokia phones have such built-in FM radios, thus making a cell phone-radio combo the ultimate "push" device for objectives A - C above -- telemedicine, tele-education and national emergencies
(6) a large, multi-script-capable, versatile screen/display to allow children to type text in various languages/alphabets including the Roman alphabet, Chinese characters or Japanese kanji, the Cyrillic alphabet and Arabic script
(7) high-level calculator and mathematical functions, routines and lessons to allow children to teach themselves math, algebra and calculus -- the universal languages
(8) Key-board icons that are globally intuitive and not overly-stylized nor trendy
(9) GPS and caller ID capability to locate lost or missing children
(10) an attached winder or crank to charge the battery manually, and/or solar-cell-covered surfaces for passive charging; and
(11) rugged and water-proof construction to survive life in the Developing World for many years.
Including all the features above is not absolutely necessary. Keeping manufacturing costs low is critical. A minimalist cell phone can be made "almost for nothing", one executive at NXP Semiconductors told me recently.
Design for Functionality in an environment where many adults are illiterate is most important. Another design tenet should be "Design for Compliance", so every head-of-household religiously claims their allocated Carbon Micro Credits every day. Design simplicity will boost adoption rates and facilitate monetization of a billion carbon footprints.
In sum, the Carbon Micro Credits Cell Phone is the savings account of the Poor; the bank and the ATM; the doctor and the nurse; their children's teacher and the school; and finally -- the Poor's business partner and carbon-footprint defender.
Globally & warmly yours,
David Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Super-sizing Micro-finance
*****
SUPERSIZING MICROFINANCE / Super-sizing Micro-finance
The McDonald's of Microfinancing ?
Various ambitious charitable or NGO initiatives exist to connect a "billion" people in the Developing World to the internet, the telecom grid, or an electronic banking system. However, they all rely to a degree (or totally) on charity or microfinance funding mechanisms that are self-limiting. In contrast, the cell-phone-based, self-funding Carbon Micro Credit (CMC) system described in this blog has no such limitations, and allows for the first time the supersizing of microfinance.
The World of Micro-Financing would benefit greatly by emulating the business model of McDonald's -- applying consistent standards worldwide in every location, while permitting small customization at the local level. Hence the other entries in this blog describing:
(1) a Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC) = 2 kilograms of CO2/person/day in the Developing World
(2) a Universal Carbon-Micro-Credit (CMC) Registry; and
(3) a CMC Operating System or CMC software architecture for cell phone-based accounting, trading and monetization of Carbon Micro Credits.
International agreement on such standards would permit the rapid implementation of Carbon Micro Credit projects anywhere worldwide in a few weeks or months. In contrast, some of the "billion" initiatives described on internet sites talk about timelines measured in decades, sadly.
With consistent standards, Carbon Micro Credits could rapidly become the Big Macs, frequent-flyer miles, or carbon Euros of the Developing World -- a uniform measure, store of value and versatile currency for the world's poorest people.
Globally & warmly yours,
David Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
SUPERSIZING MICROFINANCE / Super-sizing Micro-finance
The McDonald's of Microfinancing ?
Various ambitious charitable or NGO initiatives exist to connect a "billion" people in the Developing World to the internet, the telecom grid, or an electronic banking system. However, they all rely to a degree (or totally) on charity or microfinance funding mechanisms that are self-limiting. In contrast, the cell-phone-based, self-funding Carbon Micro Credit (CMC) system described in this blog has no such limitations, and allows for the first time the supersizing of microfinance.
The World of Micro-Financing would benefit greatly by emulating the business model of McDonald's -- applying consistent standards worldwide in every location, while permitting small customization at the local level. Hence the other entries in this blog describing:
(1) a Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC) = 2 kilograms of CO2/person/day in the Developing World
(2) a Universal Carbon-Micro-Credit (CMC) Registry; and
(3) a CMC Operating System or CMC software architecture for cell phone-based accounting, trading and monetization of Carbon Micro Credits.
International agreement on such standards would permit the rapid implementation of Carbon Micro Credit projects anywhere worldwide in a few weeks or months. In contrast, some of the "billion" initiatives described on internet sites talk about timelines measured in decades, sadly.
With consistent standards, Carbon Micro Credits could rapidly become the Big Macs, frequent-flyer miles, or carbon Euros of the Developing World -- a uniform measure, store of value and versatile currency for the world's poorest people.
Globally & warmly yours,
David Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Carbon-Micro-Credit (CMC) Registry
*****
Universal Carbon-Micro-Credit (CMC) Registry
Caller ID or Radio-tagging for Carbon Credits ?
Fingerprinting Carbon Credits for Traceability ?
Social Security Numbers for Carbon Offsets ?
Do you know what your carbon offsets are doing today ?
Carbon Credit ankle bracelets ?
Do you know from where your purchased carbon-offsets came ? From a factory in a Developing Country violating child-labor laws ? From a cement plant polluting the local water table ? From a nuclear power plant that received excessive credits under an ill-conceived cap & trade system ? Who knows ?
And for the sake of corporate image enhancement, shouldn't you buy carbon offsets or carbon micro offsets from individuals, families, villages, cities, regions and countries where you do business ? Or from such places where your customers do business, live, vacation, or about which your stakeholders care ?
For these reasons and the others explained below, end-to-end traceability of carbon offsets will eventually happen.
In the case of Carbon Micro Credits (CMCs), to facilitate their faster adoption, a Universal Carbon Micro Credit (CMC) Registry is needed. The Registry will be a look-up database of unique alphanumeric serial numbers that will be assigned to any device or small-scale project worldwide that generates Carbon Micro Credits, to include small methane-capture or reforestation / sustainability projects, conversion of 2-stroke motorcycles to direct fuel injection, or the use of solar cookers or more efficient charcoal cookers (e.g., a Uganda stove).
Groups or batches of sequential serial numbers would be created, assigned and either sold or donated to specific Carbon Micro Credit (CMC) projects worldwide. The serial numbers would contain fields designating these values or variables, among others:
(1) This device/project may generate only X Carbon Micro Credits/day
(2) This serial No. is valid for only X months or Y years
(3) The CMC's country of origin
(4) A unique portion of the No. to be used when claiming CMCs by cell phone
(5) The type/nature of the device or project generating the CMCs; and
(6) Other values / variables ?
So after X months or Y years the serial No. will expire and the user will no longer receive CMCs for that device or project.
Such a Universal Carbon Micro Credit (CMC) Registry with uniform serial No.s will allow development of a standardized CMC O.S. -- a CMC Operating System or CMC software architecture -- for mobile carriers, which will be outlined in a future post.
As well, for carbon offset buyers who care about the origin or provenance of the credits they are buying, the Registry will allow "radio tagging", fingerprinting or bar coding of every carbon credit or microcredit produced worldwide. Thus, every CMC produced will have a personality and local flavor that can be positioned and marketed to the most interested buyer willing to pay the highest price. In sum, the Registry will allow personalized marketing, perfect price discrimination, and revenue maximization for micro carbon credit producers.
Globally & warmly yours,
David Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
Universal Carbon-Micro-Credit (CMC) Registry
Caller ID or Radio-tagging for Carbon Credits ?
Fingerprinting Carbon Credits for Traceability ?
Social Security Numbers for Carbon Offsets ?
Do you know what your carbon offsets are doing today ?
Carbon Credit ankle bracelets ?
Do you know from where your purchased carbon-offsets came ? From a factory in a Developing Country violating child-labor laws ? From a cement plant polluting the local water table ? From a nuclear power plant that received excessive credits under an ill-conceived cap & trade system ? Who knows ?
And for the sake of corporate image enhancement, shouldn't you buy carbon offsets or carbon micro offsets from individuals, families, villages, cities, regions and countries where you do business ? Or from such places where your customers do business, live, vacation, or about which your stakeholders care ?
For these reasons and the others explained below, end-to-end traceability of carbon offsets will eventually happen.
In the case of Carbon Micro Credits (CMCs), to facilitate their faster adoption, a Universal Carbon Micro Credit (CMC) Registry is needed. The Registry will be a look-up database of unique alphanumeric serial numbers that will be assigned to any device or small-scale project worldwide that generates Carbon Micro Credits, to include small methane-capture or reforestation / sustainability projects, conversion of 2-stroke motorcycles to direct fuel injection, or the use of solar cookers or more efficient charcoal cookers (e.g., a Uganda stove).
Groups or batches of sequential serial numbers would be created, assigned and either sold or donated to specific Carbon Micro Credit (CMC) projects worldwide. The serial numbers would contain fields designating these values or variables, among others:
(1) This device/project may generate only X Carbon Micro Credits/day
(2) This serial No. is valid for only X months or Y years
(3) The CMC's country of origin
(4) A unique portion of the No. to be used when claiming CMCs by cell phone
(5) The type/nature of the device or project generating the CMCs; and
(6) Other values / variables ?
So after X months or Y years the serial No. will expire and the user will no longer receive CMCs for that device or project.
Such a Universal Carbon Micro Credit (CMC) Registry with uniform serial No.s will allow development of a standardized CMC O.S. -- a CMC Operating System or CMC software architecture -- for mobile carriers, which will be outlined in a future post.
As well, for carbon offset buyers who care about the origin or provenance of the credits they are buying, the Registry will allow "radio tagging", fingerprinting or bar coding of every carbon credit or microcredit produced worldwide. Thus, every CMC produced will have a personality and local flavor that can be positioned and marketed to the most interested buyer willing to pay the highest price. In sum, the Registry will allow personalized marketing, perfect price discrimination, and revenue maximization for micro carbon credit producers.
Globally & warmly yours,
David Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
Thursday, November 20, 2008
The Carbon Euro of the Developing World
*****
Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC) = 2 kilograms of CO2
SICMC = MicroCO2 = mCO2 = myCO2 = myCO
The Carbon Euro of the Developing World
International NGOs should agree to an international standard for Carbon Micro Credits (CMCs) and promulgate it for uniform worldwide use. A SICMC could be defined as follows, for example:
For normal sustenance in the Developing World the average human being requires 1,100 food calories, which requires XYZ BTUs (British Thermal Units) to cook with biomass, which if offset by cooking with solar means NM kilograms of CO2 are not emitted into the atmosphere because XY kilograms of biomass were not burnt.
NM kilograms of CO2 would then be the unit of measurement used to quantify produced CMCs worldwide. I guesstimate a SICMC would be around 1,800 - 2,000 grams/day of CO2 -- so let's say exactly 2 kilograms.
A recent article in WIRED magazine said producing a Big Mac (540 calories) results in the emission of 4.7 lbs of green house gases (GHG), or very close to 2 kilograms again. Diets in the Developing World are obviously not so energy intensive as beefy Big Macs, but the SICMC rule of thumb above is probably close to the true figure.
Once a SICMC was defined and agreed to worldwide by accreditation and auditing agencies/companies and NGOs, then auditing of solar cooking-based or Uganda stove-based CMC projects would be greatly streamlined. It would be highly ridiculous to try to quantify and audit the CMCs produced person by person, or family by family, or project by project in the Developing World.
Depending on the market price of a ton of carbon, a CMC is worth only about 3 - 5 cents. For a family of 5 in the Developing World it adds up to 15 - 25 cents/day. Us rich folks in the Developed World should let the Poor living on a dollar a day make an extra 15 - 25 cents per day without auditing them excessively. People have to eat and have to cook. They won't not cook and not eat to scam the system.
Moreover, in many parts of the Developing World the landscape has been denuded of natural biomass, leading to cooking with dried cow dung, among other highly-polluting carbon sources. The scarcity of naturally-occurring and easily available carbon/fuel sources means the average family spends 20 - 50 % of their daily income on imported manufactured fuel such as charcoal or propane. Hence, again, participants in a CMC program are highly financially incentivized to follow the rules and cook with solar or their Uganda stove.
In sum, I call here for NGOs worldwide to take action to define, standardize, promulgate and support the SICMC. Such NGOs would include the:
United Nations / UNICEF
International Monetary Fund (IMF)
OECD
World Bank
European Commission / European Union
ASEAN
Asian Development Bank
World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
National Wildlife Federation
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and
many others.
Once a Standard International Carbon Micro-Credit (SICMC) is defined as 2 kgs (for example), then it is simple to calculate the market value of 2 kgs of CO2 (3-5 cents), and then convert this to equivalent cell phone minutes (1 - 5 minutes..?).
The number of cell phone minutes will vary by carrier and depend on local economics, but this is fine. Most people in the developing world transact business or call locally. But the SICMC could become the financial lingua franca or the Carbon Euro of of the Developing World, especially in Africa where most mobile carriers transact business in multiple countries.
Globally & warmly yours,
David Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
Standard International Carbon Micro Credit (SICMC) = 2 kilograms of CO2
SICMC = MicroCO2 = mCO2 = myCO2 = myCO
The Carbon Euro of the Developing World
International NGOs should agree to an international standard for Carbon Micro Credits (CMCs) and promulgate it for uniform worldwide use. A SICMC could be defined as follows, for example:
For normal sustenance in the Developing World the average human being requires 1,100 food calories, which requires XYZ BTUs (British Thermal Units) to cook with biomass, which if offset by cooking with solar means NM kilograms of CO2 are not emitted into the atmosphere because XY kilograms of biomass were not burnt.
NM kilograms of CO2 would then be the unit of measurement used to quantify produced CMCs worldwide. I guesstimate a SICMC would be around 1,800 - 2,000 grams/day of CO2 -- so let's say exactly 2 kilograms.
A recent article in WIRED magazine said producing a Big Mac (540 calories) results in the emission of 4.7 lbs of green house gases (GHG), or very close to 2 kilograms again. Diets in the Developing World are obviously not so energy intensive as beefy Big Macs, but the SICMC rule of thumb above is probably close to the true figure.
Once a SICMC was defined and agreed to worldwide by accreditation and auditing agencies/companies and NGOs, then auditing of solar cooking-based or Uganda stove-based CMC projects would be greatly streamlined. It would be highly ridiculous to try to quantify and audit the CMCs produced person by person, or family by family, or project by project in the Developing World.
Depending on the market price of a ton of carbon, a CMC is worth only about 3 - 5 cents. For a family of 5 in the Developing World it adds up to 15 - 25 cents/day. Us rich folks in the Developed World should let the Poor living on a dollar a day make an extra 15 - 25 cents per day without auditing them excessively. People have to eat and have to cook. They won't not cook and not eat to scam the system.
Moreover, in many parts of the Developing World the landscape has been denuded of natural biomass, leading to cooking with dried cow dung, among other highly-polluting carbon sources. The scarcity of naturally-occurring and easily available carbon/fuel sources means the average family spends 20 - 50 % of their daily income on imported manufactured fuel such as charcoal or propane. Hence, again, participants in a CMC program are highly financially incentivized to follow the rules and cook with solar or their Uganda stove.
In sum, I call here for NGOs worldwide to take action to define, standardize, promulgate and support the SICMC. Such NGOs would include the:
United Nations / UNICEF
International Monetary Fund (IMF)
OECD
World Bank
European Commission / European Union
ASEAN
Asian Development Bank
World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
National Wildlife Federation
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and
many others.
Once a Standard International Carbon Micro-Credit (SICMC) is defined as 2 kgs (for example), then it is simple to calculate the market value of 2 kgs of CO2 (3-5 cents), and then convert this to equivalent cell phone minutes (1 - 5 minutes..?).
The number of cell phone minutes will vary by carrier and depend on local economics, but this is fine. Most people in the developing world transact business or call locally. But the SICMC could become the financial lingua franca or the Carbon Euro of of the Developing World, especially in Africa where most mobile carriers transact business in multiple countries.
Globally & warmly yours,
David Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
Sunday, November 16, 2008
ONE CELL PHONE per CHILD / The Cell Phone is the School
*****
ONE CELL PHONE per CHILD / 1 Cell Phone per Child
ONE CELL PHONE per WOMAN / 1 Cell Phone per Woman
The Cell Phone is the School
It takes a cell phone to raise a child
Back in August or September 2007 I registered these domain names:
http://www.onecellphoneperchild.com
http://www.1cellphoneperchild.com
Why? -- because the slow adoption rate of the "One Laptop per Child" program made it clear that a lower cost structure was needed to wire the Children of the Developing World. The direct manufacturing cost of a cell phone is only US$ 5 - 10. But the "One Laptop per Child" laptop still has a manufacturing cost of at least US$ 50++.
Until silicon and intellectual property become free, which will take another 10 - 15 years, the One Laptop per Child program will be severely cost constrained.
Moreover, a cell phone is the ultimate personal "pull" device, and a radio the ultimate push device. In the latter case, think of Voice of America or Radio Free Europe, which helped catalyze the rot and fall of the Soviet Union.
Nokia now produces many cell phones with built-in FM radios. The broadcast networks and the telecom networks are now accessible in the same low-cost personal device. Once a person in the Developing World has bought a cell phone by redeeming their Carbon Micro Credits (CMCs), they not only have a portable ATM, but the same device can also immediately serve other value-added functions in the Developing World such as:
(1) tele-education of children -- a very attainable “One Cell Phone per Child” goal, versus the now unrealistic “one laptop per child program”
(2) dissemination of public-health messages to parents and patients; and
(3) timely notification of national emergencies such as typhoons or tsunamis.
In the case of tele-education, a child can use a cell phone to learn how to type, spell, text-message, do mathematics & calculations, and download information from the internet (if accessible). All for only a US$ 5 - 10 investment. With a built-in FM radio as well, the entire world bows at the child's feet -- the child can hear and learn foreign languages, stay current with national & international news, and learn the meaning of Freedom and Free Will.
In the case of public health, both text and FM radio messages can be pushed/broadcast to remote populations advising them of:
* Infectious disease outbreaks (e.g. Ebola, Marburg, Malaria, Dengue) and precautionary counter-measures
* Upcoming vaccine campaigns and incentives to participate -- "Get your child vaccinated for polio and receive 60 free cell phone minutes!"
* Reminders to individual patients to take medications such as for drug-resistant tuberculosis -- already done in Central America via an MIT-sponsored project; and
* Repetitive public health announcements regarding family planning and avoidance of sexually-transmitted diseases such as HIV, HCV, herpes, syphilis, and others.
Regarding the concept of "One Cell Phone per Woman", in the Carbon Micro Credit (CMC) system outlined in the other posts below, the cell phone is already in the woman's hands, as the woman of the house does the cooking and has the greatest control over the family's carbon footprint. Of course, mother and child can share the same handset. But a separate, low-cost cell phone with computing functions, combined with a built-in FM radio will save the children faster.
In these Dark Times, radicals in many countries of the Developing World burn down school buildings to prevent children, especially female children, from being exposed to Western Knowledge, and to prevent the children from learning the meaning and feeling of Free Will and Freedom. However, if the cell phone becomes the school and the library, and if Education & Knowledge can be accessed in any small corner of the home or village, who could silence the Voice of Freedom ? Who could imprison Knowledge then ?
Globally & warmly yours,
David Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
ONE CELL PHONE per CHILD / 1 Cell Phone per Child
ONE CELL PHONE per WOMAN / 1 Cell Phone per Woman
The Cell Phone is the School
It takes a cell phone to raise a child
Back in August or September 2007 I registered these domain names:
http://www.onecellphoneperchild.com
http://www.1cellphoneperchild.com
Why? -- because the slow adoption rate of the "One Laptop per Child" program made it clear that a lower cost structure was needed to wire the Children of the Developing World. The direct manufacturing cost of a cell phone is only US$ 5 - 10. But the "One Laptop per Child" laptop still has a manufacturing cost of at least US$ 50++.
Until silicon and intellectual property become free, which will take another 10 - 15 years, the One Laptop per Child program will be severely cost constrained.
Moreover, a cell phone is the ultimate personal "pull" device, and a radio the ultimate push device. In the latter case, think of Voice of America or Radio Free Europe, which helped catalyze the rot and fall of the Soviet Union.
Nokia now produces many cell phones with built-in FM radios. The broadcast networks and the telecom networks are now accessible in the same low-cost personal device. Once a person in the Developing World has bought a cell phone by redeeming their Carbon Micro Credits (CMCs), they not only have a portable ATM, but the same device can also immediately serve other value-added functions in the Developing World such as:
(1) tele-education of children -- a very attainable “One Cell Phone per Child” goal, versus the now unrealistic “one laptop per child program”
(2) dissemination of public-health messages to parents and patients; and
(3) timely notification of national emergencies such as typhoons or tsunamis.
In the case of tele-education, a child can use a cell phone to learn how to type, spell, text-message, do mathematics & calculations, and download information from the internet (if accessible). All for only a US$ 5 - 10 investment. With a built-in FM radio as well, the entire world bows at the child's feet -- the child can hear and learn foreign languages, stay current with national & international news, and learn the meaning of Freedom and Free Will.
In the case of public health, both text and FM radio messages can be pushed/broadcast to remote populations advising them of:
* Infectious disease outbreaks (e.g. Ebola, Marburg, Malaria, Dengue) and precautionary counter-measures
* Upcoming vaccine campaigns and incentives to participate -- "Get your child vaccinated for polio and receive 60 free cell phone minutes!"
* Reminders to individual patients to take medications such as for drug-resistant tuberculosis -- already done in Central America via an MIT-sponsored project; and
* Repetitive public health announcements regarding family planning and avoidance of sexually-transmitted diseases such as HIV, HCV, herpes, syphilis, and others.
Regarding the concept of "One Cell Phone per Woman", in the Carbon Micro Credit (CMC) system outlined in the other posts below, the cell phone is already in the woman's hands, as the woman of the house does the cooking and has the greatest control over the family's carbon footprint. Of course, mother and child can share the same handset. But a separate, low-cost cell phone with computing functions, combined with a built-in FM radio will save the children faster.
In these Dark Times, radicals in many countries of the Developing World burn down school buildings to prevent children, especially female children, from being exposed to Western Knowledge, and to prevent the children from learning the meaning and feeling of Free Will and Freedom. However, if the cell phone becomes the school and the library, and if Education & Knowledge can be accessed in any small corner of the home or village, who could silence the Voice of Freedom ? Who could imprison Knowledge then ?
Globally & warmly yours,
David Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
Thursday, November 13, 2008
The CARBON FOOTPRINT BILL of RIGHTS
*****
The CARBON FOOTPRINT BILL of RIGHTS
A Billion cell phones = a Billion ATMs
Carbon Micro Credits (CMCs) = Cell phone minutes = Cash
Every human being should own his or her own carbon footprint. If they offset their footprint, they should realize all the gains from the carbon savings they create.
However, one prominent American company, a member of the Dow Jones Industrials (or "Dow 30") sees it another way. Their subsidiary in Africa buys efficient charcoal stoves for less than $ 10 each, distributes them to the poor in Africa, and then claims about 2 tons / year of carbon offsets per distributed stove. Today 2 tons of carbon sell for about $ 40 in Europe See:
http://www.europeanclimateexchange.com/
An excellent business -- for the unnamed Company! But in essence they are wrongfully appropriating the property of the poor in Africa to book US$ 100 - 200 million of profit per year for their rich American company. This is a great injustice -- they are carbon-footprint squatters, or carbon-credit carpetbaggers.
A Carbon Footprint Bill of Rights (or Carbon Offset Bill of Rights) is needed, and it should be endorsed by all governments and international NGOs (non-governmental organizations) such the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the OECD, and by all major corporations.
My cellphone-based system for claiming and monetizing Carbon Micro Credits -- CMCs -- (or Micro Carbon Credits or Carbon Micro Offsets) described in my first post down below would allow the Poor to buy their own stoves with their own Carbon Micro Credits in only 3 months. After that, the Poor would be able to keep and spend all the money that now unjustly goes into this American company's pockets.
Carbon Micro Credits will become the frequent flyer miles of the Developing World -- or the Green Stamps that every American housewife used to accumulate during the 1950s - 1960s. All are or were very successful and widespread forms of micro-financing that drive the profit motive down to the level of the individual.
Many experts and charities talk about enabling billions of the Poor to open bank accounts, but they all have no enabling electronic system and/or no renewable funding mechanism to seed the billion new bank accounts. All the schemes to date rely on charity, and/or require a physical bank facility to accept and distribute cash. These limitations will greatly retard any expansion of the banking system in the Developing World.
However, a cellphone-based Carbon Micro Credit (CMC) system could rapidly become ubiquitous and fund itself via ongoing monetization of carbon offsets. Cell-phone penetration rates in even the poorest countries of Africa are already high.
Simple accounting program/software changes at African cellphone carriers could equate X CMCs to Y cellphone minutes to Z amount of cash, which could then be withdrawn at any store in Africa using a cellphone-based text/SSM banking system such as that of Obopay.com.
Cellphone minutes are already an accepted, widespread, easily fungible and non-inflatable form of currency in India, China and Africa. Carbon Micro Credits could be the underlying funding mechanism for their creation.
In sum, there are already a billion cell phones in the Developing World, why not make each one an ATM ? And why not fund these billion ATMs with Carbon Micro Credits, rather than charity ? The right answer ? -- there's not enough charity in the entire world to elevate the Poor in our lifetimes. But CMCs could at least start the process on a massive scale.
Globally & warmly yours,
David Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
The CARBON FOOTPRINT BILL of RIGHTS
A Billion cell phones = a Billion ATMs
Carbon Micro Credits (CMCs) = Cell phone minutes = Cash
Every human being should own his or her own carbon footprint. If they offset their footprint, they should realize all the gains from the carbon savings they create.
However, one prominent American company, a member of the Dow Jones Industrials (or "Dow 30") sees it another way. Their subsidiary in Africa buys efficient charcoal stoves for less than $ 10 each, distributes them to the poor in Africa, and then claims about 2 tons / year of carbon offsets per distributed stove. Today 2 tons of carbon sell for about $ 40 in Europe See:
http://www.europeanclimateexchange.com/
An excellent business -- for the unnamed Company! But in essence they are wrongfully appropriating the property of the poor in Africa to book US$ 100 - 200 million of profit per year for their rich American company. This is a great injustice -- they are carbon-footprint squatters, or carbon-credit carpetbaggers.
A Carbon Footprint Bill of Rights (or Carbon Offset Bill of Rights) is needed, and it should be endorsed by all governments and international NGOs (non-governmental organizations) such the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the OECD, and by all major corporations.
My cellphone-based system for claiming and monetizing Carbon Micro Credits -- CMCs -- (or Micro Carbon Credits or Carbon Micro Offsets) described in my first post down below would allow the Poor to buy their own stoves with their own Carbon Micro Credits in only 3 months. After that, the Poor would be able to keep and spend all the money that now unjustly goes into this American company's pockets.
Carbon Micro Credits will become the frequent flyer miles of the Developing World -- or the Green Stamps that every American housewife used to accumulate during the 1950s - 1960s. All are or were very successful and widespread forms of micro-financing that drive the profit motive down to the level of the individual.
Many experts and charities talk about enabling billions of the Poor to open bank accounts, but they all have no enabling electronic system and/or no renewable funding mechanism to seed the billion new bank accounts. All the schemes to date rely on charity, and/or require a physical bank facility to accept and distribute cash. These limitations will greatly retard any expansion of the banking system in the Developing World.
However, a cellphone-based Carbon Micro Credit (CMC) system could rapidly become ubiquitous and fund itself via ongoing monetization of carbon offsets. Cell-phone penetration rates in even the poorest countries of Africa are already high.
Simple accounting program/software changes at African cellphone carriers could equate X CMCs to Y cellphone minutes to Z amount of cash, which could then be withdrawn at any store in Africa using a cellphone-based text/SSM banking system such as that of Obopay.com.
Cellphone minutes are already an accepted, widespread, easily fungible and non-inflatable form of currency in India, China and Africa. Carbon Micro Credits could be the underlying funding mechanism for their creation.
In sum, there are already a billion cell phones in the Developing World, why not make each one an ATM ? And why not fund these billion ATMs with Carbon Micro Credits, rather than charity ? The right answer ? -- there's not enough charity in the entire world to elevate the Poor in our lifetimes. But CMCs could at least start the process on a massive scale.
Globally & warmly yours,
David Palella
Caped Carbon Crusader
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, CA
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://community.keithferrazzi.com/profile/DavidPalella
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
*****
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Micro Carbon Credit / Nano Carbon Credit / Pico Carbon Credit ?
*****
Where will the fractionalization of Carbon Credits end ?
This innovative company below is "breaking bulk" down to the level of 1 gram of carbon or CO2 -- bravo !
VERcert
http://www.vercert.org/
VER = Voluntary Emission Reduction credit.
To quote from the company's web site:
"VERcert is the first solution that offers consumers the ability to truly offset their carbon footprint when making purchases online. Each VERcert is in fact a 100 % guaranteed & verifiable micro carbon offset credit certificate, linked via a traceable serial number, to a macro, Voluntary Emission Reduction certificate, provided by one of our carbon credit supply partners.
VERcert is the world’s first micro VER certificate issuing, & certificate authentication authority, providing enablement technology to consumers and merchants alike in the area of carbon footprint offsetting."
Simply stated, VERcert is most likely buying validated carbon offsets in multi-ton quantities from the European Climate Exchange (ECX) or the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) and breaking them down into gram or kilogram quantities for re-sale. This business model is the complement on the consumer side to my own idea for Carbon Micro Credits (CMCs) on the producer side on the ground in the Developing World.
Green house gas-associated micro-financing is now accessible to both the consumer and the producer anywhere on Planet Earth. I compliment VERcert for their world-changing business model.
*****
Where will the fractionalization of Carbon Credits end ?
This innovative company below is "breaking bulk" down to the level of 1 gram of carbon or CO2 -- bravo !
VERcert
http://www.vercert.org/
VER = Voluntary Emission Reduction credit.
To quote from the company's web site:
"VERcert is the first solution that offers consumers the ability to truly offset their carbon footprint when making purchases online. Each VERcert is in fact a 100 % guaranteed & verifiable micro carbon offset credit certificate, linked via a traceable serial number, to a macro, Voluntary Emission Reduction certificate, provided by one of our carbon credit supply partners.
VERcert is the world’s first micro VER certificate issuing, & certificate authentication authority, providing enablement technology to consumers and merchants alike in the area of carbon footprint offsetting."
Simply stated, VERcert is most likely buying validated carbon offsets in multi-ton quantities from the European Climate Exchange (ECX) or the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) and breaking them down into gram or kilogram quantities for re-sale. This business model is the complement on the consumer side to my own idea for Carbon Micro Credits (CMCs) on the producer side on the ground in the Developing World.
Green house gas-associated micro-financing is now accessible to both the consumer and the producer anywhere on Planet Earth. I compliment VERcert for their world-changing business model.
*****
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)