Obama's Billions, all smoke and mirrors

In a grand gesture in Copenhagen the U.S. promised to back a fund that would by 2020, supply $100 billion dollars a year in aid for developing countries so they can adapt and mitigate the effects of climate change. Sounds good no?

Well, of course the devil is in the details, the EU had already suggested a fund of 100 billion Euros making the U.S. plan 40% less, that sucks

The plan calls for $100 billion a year by 2020. So speak up Hillary, how much is the U.S. putting in and how much does it expect other, imaginary donors to cough up?

$100 Billion a year is a goodly amount but this is the goal for 10 years down the road, how much is slated for use as Jan1 2010? Is there any money yet?

The statement that the money is for mitigation and adaption is a message to all that we are not going to even try to stop climate change, simply slow down the inevitable die off, or more likely funnel money to compliant governments so they can oppress their own people, and keep resources flowing to the west while the developing world starves, fry's or drowns

Who are these mysterious benefactors who will fund this venture. Canada, hell no!. Our government does not care for the planet, our international image, or the various brown peoples destined to suffer most.

Greece, not likely they are on the verge of civil unrest over internal debt, poor credit, EU demands to commit to austerity plans

Spain, Portugal, Italy, Japan, UK, U.S are all suffering under huge government debts, low gov revenue, and for all but Japan real unemployment in the mid to high teens.

So who is funding this and when if ever will this fund actually get to it's promised $100 billion/year

It's obvious there is no plan on who, how and when , but lets say they do get off their asses and write the cheques; how will this money be used?


My bets include giant hydro dams and irrigation systems. These kinds of projects are rife with corruption, padding and opportunities to reward the usual corporate suspects who feed on the teats of government. Expect billions more of untendered poorly planned projects to be just dropped in Halliburton's lap.

Expect straight handouts to dictators to maintain order and resource deliveries to the west, or at least buy a new palace and Limo

Billions funneled to Monsanto to create new crops that require a great deal of fertilizer, pesticide, unavailable water and will be far beyond the means of the average subsistence farmer to afford.

Solar power plants built in North Africa, of course none of this power will be used to improve the lives of Africans rather it will be sent under the Med so that Europeans will not have to cut back.

I bet a whole bunch of money will be used to bribe poor country A to absorb refugees from poor country B as sea levels displace more people.

What obvious fiascos do you see for this money?

How should this money be used? (if it ever shows up)

First and foremost because of the time lag involved money must be used to promote the preservation of existing forests and jungles while starting massive tree nurseries to begin reforesting the developing world.

Money to eliminate or drastically reduce the use of wood and charcoal for cooking over an open fire. These are not new technologies and for a couple of bucks a person can build or buy a rocket stove or some other form efficient wood stove. A billion dollars could, using local materials and skills take 200 million families from open fires to rocket stoves that use 50%+ less fuel.. Other efficient stoves the the Jiko stove showcased on the BBC World Challenge this year can also lower fuel use by 50% or more and only cost $2-3. Create Solar Oven factories and those people in uber sunny climates can all but eliminate their need for tree fuel, add forestry projects we can move towards net increase in forest cover which will both mitigate local temperature increases, sequester Carbon, supply food and protect habitat and biodiversity.

Spend money to identify, breed and disperse local, open pollinated, drought and heat resistant seeds getting developing world farmers out of the Monsanto debt and reliance trap.

Livestock dido, parts of the developing world have bought into N.A. genetics and now have cattle and sheep that need insane amounts of water to live or produce milk, these breeds will not thrive in warmer or dryer climates.

Training in no till farming and the building of local reservoirs and sealed irrigation systems.

Education and health programs to both lower mortality and birth rates.

Small local power

The clay pot-in-pot evaporative refrigeration. A locally made clay device that allows those in hot dry regions to keep food longer , so even if yields drop from the heat decreased spoilage rates will make up for the difference.

There are many things that can be done with this imaginary $100 billion dollars a year but honestly, does anybody think they will bother?Recommend this Post