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Carbon Manna Unlimited announces "The Micro Sustainability Prizes©" for Innovations in Markets-based, Self-regenerating Micro-economic and Micro-ecological Paradigms for "The Next Billion" in the Developing World
San Diego, CA (PRweb) January 18, 2010 -- Carbon Manna Unlimited in San Diego, California, a non-profit think-tank and international "micro" standards-setting organization, announced today the Carbon Manna(SM) "Micro Sustainability Prizes©", the world's first awards designed to recognize innovation and creativity in the field of markets-based, self-sustaining, micro-economic or micro-ecological paradigms implementable in the Developing World.
The Micro Sustainability Prizes© will be awarded annually to the most novel open-source ideas in markets-based, sustainable "micro" paradigms, also known as "The Micro Revolutions©". If you have developed or even just conceptualized a self-funding, universally-applicable micro paradigm or wealth-creation system for the Base of the Pyramid (BOP) or "The Next Billion", we encourage you to apply today for this awards program.
"Richard Feynman, the late American physicist, said, 'There's plenty of room at the bottom!', and nowhere is this truer than in the areas of sustainable micro-entrepreneurism, micro-environmentalism and micro-economic initiatives for the Developing World that embrace naturally regenerative mechanisms or self-renewing funding sources, such as Bono's Product (Red)™ campaign," remarked David Palella, Founder of Carbon Manna Unlimited.
And because good ideas come from anywhere, these cash awards are open to all comers worldwide including school children, entrepreneurs, homemakers, refugee camp residents, corporations, professors, sanitation workers, government employees, the homeless and Nobel Prize winners. In particular, student teams from any country are strongly encouraged to apply.
The application process is simple -- submit a 1-page Executive Summary in English via email to Carbon Manna Unlimited by 30 April 2010. All ideas will remain the sole property of the inventors/creators, and Carbon Manna Unlimited will make no attempt to implement nor utilize any of the ideas submitted. On 31 May 2010 we will publish the 3 winning entries on our web site.
Nota bene that absolutely NO debt-based microfinance "solutions" will be considered for these awards as by definition micro debt or micro loans are self-limiting, economically regressive, and no longer an "innovation" in the realm of micro-economic paradigms. Similarly, any "solutions" that include direct governmental involvement are also verboten.
Rather, preference will be given to inventions or novel processes that stress:
(1) disintermediation or elimination of administrative layers and any NGO/NPO/MFI middlemen
(2) direct, documentable and incorruptible conveyance of material or monetary benefits to poor families, e.g., via mobile money transfer (MMT)
(3) technologies appropriate for a Developing-World context, e.g., 2G handsets and SMS (short message service); and
(4) free markets, protection of micro-property rights, open-source or freeware principles, self-governance and self-reliance.
For inspiration, applicants are encouraged to study the various novel and self-funding micro-economic, micro-ecological and micro-environmental paradigms described in detail here:
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com/2009/12/carbon-manna-two-novel-cell-phone-based.html
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com/2008/12/global-moral-lipodystrophy-micro.html
The Micro Sustainability Prizes© are partially funded by a generous donation from Dr. Sergey O. Sablin. Other benefactor inquiries are welcome.
About Carbon Manna Unlimited:
Carbon Manna Unlimited, a public charity, is a "micro" think-tank and international open-source standards-setting organization popularizing two universally-applicable, cell-phone-based, self-funding micro-economic paradigms: (1) the markets-based Carbon-Offset Micro-PROFIT-Sharing System; and (2) the Reduced-fuel-expense Micro-SAVINGS Program. Our pilot project is now in the advanced planning stage in Kogelo, Kenya, the ancestral hometown of U.S. President Barack Obama. Reference:
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Carbon-Manna-Unlimited-1065919.html
For corporate social responsibility (CSR), philanthropic, sponsorship or collaborative opportunities with Carbon Manna Unlimited; or for speaker requests or celebrity inquiries; and to co-opt a sustainable and universally applicable micro-paradigm that can indeed quickly scale to benefit the "Next Billion" at the Base of the Pyramid, please contact:
David A. Palella
Founder
CARBON MANNA UNLIMITED
San Diego, California
tel: 858-793-0741
email: dpalella@san.rr.com
http://www.carbonmanna.org
http://carbonmanna.blogspot.com
http://twitter.com/CarbonManna
http://www.linkedin.com/e/vgh/1794312/
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/david-palella/3/4b6/2b5
See the original news release on-line at:
http://tinyurl.com/y992auy
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/01/prweb3459274.htm
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Showing posts with label sustainability. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sustainability. Show all posts
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Thursday, November 20, 2008
The Carbon Euro of the Developing World
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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
*****
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