The Carbon Manna(SM) System -- Two Novel Cell-phone-based microfinance Mechanisms -- inter alia (among others)

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Update re the original "micro" economic/finance inventions of The Micro Revolutions Institute(SM) in San Diego

Improved cooking methods Revolutionize Life for "The Bottom 2 Billion" in the Developing World


Here is the updated introductory email for the Carbon Manna(SM) System:


We at Carbon Manna Unlimited in San Diego (a non-profit corporation) have established the "Micro" Revolutions Institute(SM) as a think-tank charged with continually creating novel & SUSTAINABLE micro-economic and micro-financial mechanisms to materially elevate "The Bottom Two Billion" in the Developing World.  Reference:

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

Most notably, beginning 2 years ago in April 2008, we developed two novel, universally-applicable, cell-phone- and NON-debt-based, highly-scalable forms of microfinance that we call the Carbon Manna(sm) System.  They are:

-->> (1) the Carbon Micro-PROFIT-Sharing System -- comprising monetization of 1,000s of aggregated carbon-micro-offsets via the European GS-VER market (Gold Standard - Voluntary Emission Reduction market); and

-->> (2) the Reduced-fuel-expense Micro-SAVINGS Program -- an SMS-based  behavior-modification program that trains families to bank their daily cash savings on fuel of 15 - 40 U.S. cents/day (based on field studies in Kenya, July 2009).

Both mechanisms are based on reduced combustion of non-renewable biomass fuel and employ a highly efficient, low-cost (< US$ 10) cook-stove that we designed ourselves in Kenya, although any efficient cookstove may be used.  Almost all efficient stoves reduce fuel use by 40 - 50 % -- and deforestation by a similar percentage. 

The stoves are serialized and matched uniquely with each family's cell phone number. 

Broadcast SMS messages (short message service) and customized content regarding public health, women & children's rights, nutrition, personal finance, etc., will also be sent to participating families. 

Monetized carbon offsets and cash fuel savings may be banked and converted back to cash as needed using existing MMT (Mobile Money Transfer) systems such as Safaricom's M-Pesa or Zain's ZAP systems in the case of East Africa.  In the absence of an MMT system, families may be paid with cell-phone minutes, either credited to their accounts or in the form of distributed pre-paid calling cards.

The two mechanisms can be implemented sequentially (and then run in tandem) -- the Micro-Savings Program immediately, and the Carbon Micro-PROFIT-Sharing System later as paperwork is completed for the carbon-offset market. 

The Carbon Manna(SM) System is "freeware" and fully open-source. 

Thus, currently, independent for-profit carbon project managers, NGOs and charities are attempting to incorporate Carbon Manna(SM) principles into carbon-offset projects in The Philippines, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Tanzania, Kenya and Indonesia, as well as, most likely, in other countries not known to us.

Most notably, we believe these two novel microfinance mechanisms have a number of advantages over, and will scale much faster than, micro-debt, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.

Finally, in the case of corporate sponsors in the wireless or consumer products industries, Carbon Manna(sm) offers an auditable "ROI on CSR" investments, a rare result in the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) field.

In the case of individuals, donations to Carbon Manna Unlimited in San Diego (a California-incorporated public charity) are 100% tax-deductible through our umbrella 501c3 status with The GlobalGiving Foundation in Washington, DC.

We hope you will support our efforts in Africa and/or some other part of the Developing World of interest to you.  Being cell-phone- and markets-based, Carbon Manna(sm) is universally applicable.

More background about Carbon Manna(sm) may be found by visiting the links below and viewing my Amsterdam presentation (May 2010) available on:

-->> http://www.slideshare.net/dpalella/carbon-manna-amsterdam201005

-->> http://tinyurl.com/23jzrh2


We look forward to hearing from you.

Globally & warmly yours,

David A. Palella
Founder
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
SAN DIEGO, California

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


http://www.carbonmanna.org

http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com

http://twitter.com/CarbonManna

http://www.linkedin.com/e/vgh/1794312/


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

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

http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Carbon-Manna-Unlimited-1065919.html

Carbon Manna Unlimited to Present at Kenyan Business Conference
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Carbon-Manna-Unlimited-1033328.html

"One Cell Phone per Child" Grand Challenge Announced by CarbonManna(C) Unlimited
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Carbon-Manna-Unlimited-1007638.html

Carbon Manna(C) Unlimited Announces Solar Manna(C) & Forest Manna(C),
and Filing of a U.S. Patent Application for the Cell Phone-Based
Carbon Micro-Profit-Sharing System
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Carbon-Manna-Unlimited-991442.html

World's First Cell-Phone-Based Carbon-Micro-Credits Implementation
Progressing in Kenya
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Carbon-Manna-Unlimited-953397.html

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I will be/was a speaker at:
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    2nd Kenya Diaspora Int'l Conference & Investment Forum

               20-22 August 2009, Atlanta, GA

             http://www.kenyaopen4business.com

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            "Microfinance for Institutional Investors"

                 21-23 Sept. 2009, Washington, DC

http://www.hansonwade.com/events/microfinance-for-institutional-investors/index.shtml

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              "Micro Financial Services World"

   10-12 May 2010, Amsterdam City Centre, The Netherlands

                  http://www.mfs-world.com

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             4th Microfinance Investment Summit

            06-07 October 2010, Central London

             http://www.microfinancesummit.com


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"Caution: Inhaling Green House Gases May Be Hazardous to Your Health"

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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)

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CARBON MANNA

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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

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Means Testing for Carbon Credit Originators?

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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

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