Obama Pushes for More Cleantech, Green Jobs and Training

By Leslie Guevarra

Published June 14, 2011

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More Stories On: Clean Tech, Energy Efficiency, More... Clean Tech, Energy Efficiency, Green Jobs, Retrofits

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Facing heavy criticism for a sluggish economic recovery, U.S. President Barack Obama brought his talk about the importance of growing more green jobs to a thriving LED factory in North Carolina Monday.

"Today, the single most serious economic problem we face is getting people back to work," Obama acknowledged in his address to employees, business leaders and others gathered yesterday afternoon at Cree Inc. in Durham.

But the president also took the opportunity to resound key tenets of his administration -- that clean energy, energy efficiency and the industries and innovations supporting them are key to the country's economic recovery. And he recapped progress that has occurred since he came to office.

Cree manufacturing facility in North Carolina's Research Triangle Park.

"We stabilized the economy," he said. "We prevented a financial meltdown. An economy that was shrinking is now growing.  We've added more than 2 million private sector jobs over the last 15 months alone ... But I'm still not satisfied. I will not be satisfied until everyone who wants a good job that offers some security has a good job that offers security."

Job growth and the economy are vulnerable points for Obama and his administration. The U.S. unemployment rate edged up to 9.1 percent in May from 9 percent in April, having been 8.8 percent in March. While the Bureau of Labor Statistics said the slight shift in May means that the unemployment picture was "essentially unchanged" compared to the prior month, the figures fueled further partisan acrimony. In fact, jobs were the subject of the first question in the televised debate last night among seven Republicans who are vying for the party's nomination in the 2012 presidential race. As expected, the presidential hopefuls slammed the incumbent on the issues of jobs and the economy.

While visiting Cree and Research Triangle Park in North Carolina, Obama talked of what his administration has done to back education opportunities, training and other efforts to create jobs. He also convened his Council on Jobs and Competitiveness at Cree and pointed out the growth that the host firm has experienced in the past three years.

"This company has made amazing progress," said Obama, who first visited Cree during his primary campaign in May 2008. "The technology at this company is growing in leaps and bounds." In the past two years, the manufacturer of energy efficient lighting has filled almost 750 full-time positions, added a new lighting production line and broken ground for a new facility on its campus. The production line expansion project, which boosted capacity and capabilities, was bolstered by $39 million in cleantech manufacturing-related tax credits.

Cree and other businesses in the innovation hub of Research Triangle Park have a rich academic base to draw from for recruits with the University of North Carolina, Duke and North Carolina State University -- the alma mater of Cree's founders -- so nearby, Obama said. As a whole, however, the country is not producing enough talent to fill the high-tech and highly skilled jobs that are available today. "Right now, there are more than four job-seekers for every job opening in America," Obama said. "But when it comes to science and high-tech fields, the opposite is true. The businesses represented here tell me they're having a hard time finding high-skilled workers to fill their job openings."

To that end, Obama said, commitments last week by the private sector, colleges and the National Association of Manufacturers will "make it possible for 500,000 community college students to earn industry-accepted credentials for manufacturing jobs that companies across America are looking to fill."

Also, the president and the jobs council unveiled an "all-hands-on-deck strategy" yesterday that he said will enable 10,000 new American engineers to be trained every year.

"By the way, our Jobs Council, led by Jeff Immelt, they're doing this not counting on a whole bunch of federal funding," Obama said. "Private sector companies are teaming up to help us promote STEM (science technology, engineering and math) education, to offer students incentives to finish those degrees, and then to help universities fund those programs. They're going to double their summer internship hiring."

Immelt, the chairman and CEO of General Electric and chairman of the President's Jobs and Competitiveness Council, and  Ken Chenault, the chairman and CEO of American Express Co., shared a byline on a op-ed piece Monday in the Wall Street Journal that outlines "fast-action steps" to spur job growth. They include:

• Training workers for today's open jobs.
• Streamlining permitting so construction and infrastructure projects can go forward.
• Boosting jobs in travel and tourism.
• Facilitating small-business loans.
• Putting construction workers back to work.

The next step will be developing recommendations for a longer-term strategy, according to Immelt and Chenault, "America needs more growth," their op-ed said. "The economic decisions we make now will determine American job creation and competitiveness in the years to come. Government, business and labor need to work together to get this done."

The aim of the council, formed in January, is to help get the country's "job creation engine running faster," said Obama, and his administration's Better Buildings Initiative, announced in February, is intended to help the hard-hit construction industry while increasing the energy efficiency of the country's existing buildings.

A report released yesterday (pdf) by The Real Estate Roundtable, the U.S. Green Building Council and the Natural Resources Defense Council said the initiative could create more than 114,000 new jobs. Most would be in the construction industry and more than half -- 77,000 -- would result from a redesigned tax deduction for energy efficiency upgrades of buildings, the groups said. The organizations commissioned the Political Economy Research Institute of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to conduct the analysis.

"The main thing I want to communicate to all of you here at Cree ... and all across the country is we're going to get there," Obama said, expressing confidence about the future. "I know that because I've seen it here at this company, where you're helping to lead the clean energy revolution. I've seen it across the Midwest ... I've seen it from coast to coast, where men and women are testing new ideas and starting new businesses and bringing new products to market and helping America come back stronger than before."

--
--

Join the Green Teams Initiative ...and be a part of the Simple Solutions that resolve the Global Complex Ecological Challenges

..........
Emmanuel Dennis Ngongo
YES Kenya/Green Teams Initiative
3rd Floor, Revlon Proffessional Plaza
Biashara Street, City Center
P.O. Box 8799, 00200
Nairobi Kenya
Cell: +254722619005
http://emmanuel-ed.blogspot.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Emmanueldennis
Website: www.thegreenteams.org, www.yeskenya.org

National Youth Council Elections and the Politick of deceit

Dear Friends---

I have had a chance to listen to many opinions about the Court Injunction against the NYC Elections. I have come to a conclusion given the pieces of information I have gathered around. The following are my observations believing that there is more than meets the eye in the court injunction;

1.       The NYC elections and the impending process had a challenge in terms legal process.

2.       A good number of youth asked many questions which were in one way or the other answered through various channels.

3.       We asked the Ministry through the relevant office to give the youth a listening ear which we they did.

4.       We challenged the Ministry to give the youth more time to register at the time when the numbers were very low.  The Ministry responded positively.

5.       A couple of politicians have not been happy about the whole process and have vowed to kill the NYC from the word go.

6.       Indeed some Politicians it is reported have paid candidates of their own to vie.

7.       While in other reports Politicians have paid some individuals to make sure the process does not go on.

8.       Up to around 2 million young Kenyans turned out and registered as voters and initiated the elections at the grassroots.

9.       Many candidates have spent a remarkable amount of time and resources to make sure they make good of an opportunity that has evaded the youth sector for the longest time.

10.   Some of the enjoined organizations in the injunction participated in civic education and voter registration drive. This amounts to vomiting on owns shoes and eating the vomit at the end. It is a betrayal of the work and resources they have put in the process.

A couple of realities need to be drawn.

·         In Kenya, a presidential election in 2007 attracted about 4 million votes or there abouts.

·         No single MP can garner that kind of a voter turn out.

·         Half that number has legitimized the NYC elections and turned out in large numbers to vote for their preferred candidates at the grassroots.

·         It is disappointing that the Election Injunction came at such a time that the grassroots elections had neared their end. And now we have a lot of youth having been voted, waiting pensively for the election injunction through the court proceedings.

·         The timing of the hearing has a lot to be desired, that after which, the budget will have been read and there is nothing we can do to have the Exchequer set aside a budget to help set up the council.

·         In other words we all need to forget about NYC until the next financial year being 2012/2013.

·         Someone somewhere is keen not to see this NYC installed to help coordinate the affairs of the Kenyan youth.

REALITY CHECK

The NYC Act precludes that the Council after being set up shall decide the stature and nature of the operations across the country. In my opinion, the first responsibility the council was going to and MUST have is to set up its structures and define its operational mandate, that of the devolved system of government notwithstanding. NOTE that the devolved system of government shall come into effect after the first election following the constitutional referendum as was in August of last year whose election now comes in 2012.

We now have up to 2 million registered voters who had their faith in the process and believed that they could change the system once given the mandate. That is a very dangerous population if left at the mercy of the court injunction.

ACTION POINTS MOVING FORWARD

1.       The 2 million voters in the National Youth Council Deserve a hearing from the individuals who have proceeded to court with the injunction.

2.       The 2 million Kenyan Youths deserve a hearing and have a right to have their voices heard and will be proceeding to court to sue the individuals who have ensued the court injunctions for damages towards the expenses that have gone to this process.

3.       The 2 million Kenyan youth elected their representative at the grassroots will be suing the individuals who have spoilt the party.

4.       On Thursday this week, we would like to have a public forum to hear the story from the injectors of the court injunction. Details will be announced in the course of the day.

Me, the sincere messanger,

Emmanuel Dennis Ngongo

Listening to the voices of the 2 million NYC registered Kenyan  Youth.

On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 8:43 AM, peter shambi <petershambi@yahoo.com> wrote:

Dear all,

I wish to applaud all those who contributed their resources and time to make this possible. It is true that these crucial elections were marred with immeasurable irregularitie and therefore they had lost merit. I personally took time through my organisation to conduct monitoring for this exercise in the entire Coast region and i witnessed these irregularities. Kindly keep us posted.

 

Peter Shambi

Muslims for human rights (MUHURI)

Mombasa.

---

From: Lydia Mathia <mathia.lydia@youthagenda.org>
To: nysa1@googlegroups.com

Sent: Wed, May 25, 2011 5:08:47 PM
Subject: RE: [NYSA:6594] National Youth Council Elections Halted

Here is Youth Agenda's statement on the issue.

Best.

Lydia Mathia
Communications Officer
The Youth Agenda
Adams Arcade, Woodlands Court, Kirichwa Lane
Off Ngong Rd
PO. Box: 10174-00100 Nairobi, Kenya
Phone  : 254 020 2022026
Fax        : 254 020 3559212
Cell      : 254717 222 653
Email    : mathia.lydia@youthagenda.org
Website: www.youthagenda.org

-----Original Message-----
From: nysa1@googlegroups.com [mailto:nysa1@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of
Emmanuel Dennis
Sent: 25 May 2011 16:44
To: nysa1@googlegroups.com

Subject: Re: [NYSA:6591] National Youth Council Elections Halted

Dear Friends---
The news about the court action is not shocking. This was expected.
The Artoney General Misadviced the Ministry of Youth Affairs to go on
with the process the ilegalities notwithstanding. We have done quite
allot and alot of gains had been achieved. I know it is dissapointing
especially to the youth who had registered and participated in the
preliminary stages of the elections.

This is a good opportunity for us to go back on the drawing board,
rework the NYC Act to reflect the wishes of young People and follow
the spirit and word of the New Constitution. The court gives us an
opportunity to engage with the Ministry and make sure the Council as
will be constituted is not an illegality.

The National Youth Sector Alliance in partnership with other key
stakeholders will be co-hosting a meeting (dates to be announced so
that we can explore and examine the illegalities in Act with the view
to engage the youth on the next course of Action. NYSA is also
planning a couple of meetings around the country specifically on the
NYC Act so that young people can be engaged in the process.

Let us use this as a legal space not to stop the process, but to get
it right the first time. History will judge us harshly if we install
yet another NYC that will be at the whims and control of state
machinery that is not interested in the good welfare of the young
people.

A credible, Independent and responsible National Youth Council is a
duty that we must take up and deliver a gift to the generations of
many young people who will be affected by the decisions we make today.

We will communicate from the NYSA Coordination Hub on what we should
start doing as the court process goes on.

Kind regards,

Emmanuel Dennis

On 5/25/11, VICTOR IJAIKA <vijaika@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hi Lydia
>
>
> Its so unfortunate although I truly support the petitioners. The exercise
as
> much as I wanted to let it go ahead and be run, the approach here in
Vihiga
> leaves so many gaps ( here in Vihiga the Sub location Elections were done
> last
> week  and we are also asking why this happened, shouldn't we standardize
the
> whole exercise in the whole country?)
>  . How do people who were registering the youth end up running for the
> positions, istn that double standards? The awareness creation on the
> exercise
> leaves a lot to be desired. I really do not understand why the government
is
> in
> such a rush yet it was sleeping on the policy before the YES we can
> initiative
> was launched? I know many of us are not seeing this but we need to try and
> read
> between the lines.
>
>
> We need the Council to be in place, but the strategies should be clear and
> the
> law should be followed. We could have manourvered the political
interference
> but
> the governments high handedness shouldn't also kill this great initiative.
> Let
> the youth and by so saying I mean majority of the youth be mobilised. We
> need to
> know how many had registered so that we can see if that really represents
> the
> young people of this Country
>
> Its is with this that i propose that as you make your statement, be guided
> by
> the fact that the whole exercise has been messed up by the government and
> all
> efforts should be made to ensure that things are put in order
>
> Regards
> Victor Ijaika
> Vihiga County
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Lydia Mathia <mathia.lydia@youthagenda.org>
> To: nysa1@googlegroups.com; nysa.kenya@gmail.com
> Sent: Wed, May 25, 2011 11:51:23 AM
> Subject: [NYSA:6585] National Youth Council Elections Halted
>
>
> Greetings,
>
> The High court has stopped the National Youth Council Elections through an
> injunction order issued on the 24th May 2011, (a copy of which is here
with
> attached) on two grounds;
> 1.      Article 13 of the elections guidelines which states that persons
> involved in the operationalisation exercise should not be candidates and
> 2.      Article 14 of the same guidelines which stipulates that the
> election
> register shall be closed 2 days before the date of the elections.
>
> The hearing is set for the 29th of June 2011. It is an unfortunate
> circumstance.
> Youth Agenda is working on a comprehensive statement which we shall issue
in
> a
> short while.
> In the mean time, you may share your thought on this situation.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Lydia Mathia
> Communications Officer
> The Youth Agenda
> Adams Arcade, Woodlands Court, Kirichwa Lane
> Off Ngong Rd
> PO. Box: 10174-00100 Nairobi, Kenya
> Phone  : 254 020 2022026
> Fax        : 254 020 3559212
> Cell      : 254717 222 653
> Email    : mathia.lydia@youthagenda.org
> Website: www.youthagenda.org

The hype versus the reality of carbon markets -- Economic Justice

AfricaFiles

Title: The hype versus the reality of carbon markets
Author: Shefali Sharma
Category: Economic Justice
Date: 5/11/2011
Source: Pambazuka News, Issue 529
Source Website: http://www.pambazuka.org/

African Charter Article# 21: All peoples shall freely dispose of their wealth and natural resources for their exclusive interest, eliminating all forms of foreign economic exploitation.

Summary & Comment: This in-depth article examines the recently launched Africa Carbon Exchange. The author warns that carbon credit markets have a checkered past at best and cites examples from the US, Europe and Australia that should temper optimism about African efforts to implement their own markets. Also, the author suggests alternatives that could be more effective. JP

---

The hype versus the reality of carbon markets

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/73132

The Africa Carbon Exchange (ACX) was launched in Nairobi on March 24; yet only two days before, Bloomberg headlines announced: 'Global Carbon Credits Die as Smart Money Backs Indian RECs (Renewable Energy Certificates).'[1]

While the ACX is positioning itself to be the hub of 'climate change business and sustainable development in the African continent,' existing and attempted carbon emissions exchanges in Europe and the United States have suffered one blow after another - fraud, carbon credit theft, poor legislative design, even profits for some major polluters - all at the expense of ordinary citizens and the environment.

Moreover, these exchanges have not led to a decrease in global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Rather, they threaten to directly increase emissions by diverting capital to the carbon-market casino that could have otherwise gone toward reducing pollution at its source.

The Bloomberg article contends:

'Today, carbon trading remains a backwater of the global commodities market, and it's not even included in the benchmark Dow Jones UBS Commodity Index. Without demand from institutional investors spurred by global limits on emissions, the price of carbon has languished compared with the fossil fuels that policy makers are aiming to marginalize.'

There has been a 16 per cent decline in the membership of the Geneva-based International Emissions Trading Associations (IETA) since the climate talks reached deadlock in Copenhagen in 2009 and carbon-trading platforms such as Intercontinental Exchange Inc. folded up when the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) itself collapsed at the end of 2010.

What happened and what lessons can be learned from these debacles?

Carbon 'offsets' - the backbone of the Kenyan ACX - are supposed to work like this: a series of projects are implemented to take planet-warming carbon out of the atmosphere, which are then subjected to a complex set of measurement, reporting and verifying (MRV) procedures. These projects would receive 'carbon credits' that would be sold to polluters who could neutralise or 'offset' their own pollution by buying these credits.

The creation of carbon-offset projects can include a large number of players. The project can be 'owned' by an organisation, company or individuals. Local communities will be impacted if the project depends on utilising their time, resources or land. Several other entities will also be involved, such as project design consultants who ensure that the project follows an acceptable MRV methodology, project validators who ensure that the MRV is valid and meets a certain accepted standard, and project verifiers to ensure that the MRV methodology is being followed properly. The project then either receives 'certified emissions reduction' credits (CERs) or 'voluntary emissions reduction' credits (VERs), depending on whether the project is meant to meet mandatory 'compliance' targets of the UN climate treaty or feed into the voluntary carbon market. The cost of setting up such projects can therefore be substantial.

A polluter in an industrialised country can buy these CER credits to offset emissions, and hence continue polluting. In reality, however, these credits can be bought and resold in poorly regulated carbon exchanges as much as a hundred times through complex financial instruments called 'derivatives'. A buyer without any obligations to reduce emissions can buy these offset credits, package them with credits from other projects and trade them as a carbon emissions derivative for purely speculative purposes. The credits are sold even before there is any proof that such projects have actually resulted in reducing greenhouse gases.

Such trade involves numerous middlemen in the form of traders and various forms of investment firms. Similar derivatives in still-unregulated over-the-counter markets (OTC) led to the infamous Wall Street collapse in 2008 and the ensuing global financial crisis, and regulators still have not developed adequate rules to govern these markets.

EUROPEAN AND US EXPERIENCE WITH CARBON EXCHANGES

In order to put the 'promise' of the ACX as an agent for development and environmental good in perspective, let's examine first the largest climate exchange in the world: The European Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).

The ETS was intended to help Europe meet its binding commitments under the Kyoto Protocol to reduce GHGs. Launched in 2005, the ETS resulted in increased, rather than decreased, greenhouse gas emissions, while the price of carbon itself crashed to as low as one euro per tonne from a high of about 30 euros. Several complex reasons can be cited for this, but a very simple reason was the over-allocation of pollution permits that were given, at no cost, to major polluters, which were then traded and re-traded in financial markets. In other words, there was no demand for permits from polluters who faced no strict requirement to reduce emissions.

The ETS has shown through its six-year history how susceptible it is to fraud, malpractice and Internet hacking. Just this February, the ETS had to shut down its trading because cyber criminals had hacked into the system, stealing 40 million USD worth of pollution permits and reselling them. The European Law Enforcement Agency (Europol) estimates that up to five billion euros of European tax revenue (approximately 7.1 billion USD) has been lost due to fraud in value-added tax evasion through carbon trading.[2]

The two major ventures related to carbon exchanges in the United States have also suffered major blows. Just the week before the ACX was launched, the San Francisco Superior Court ordered the state of California to suspend its proposed cap-and-trade system, which includes offsets, because it was in violation of environmental laws in California. The judge ruled that the California Air Resource Board had not sufficiently considered alternatives to the cap-and-trade system and needed to do so.

Just months prior, the United States' only national climate exchange - the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) - shut down its operations at great cost to farmers who invested in it in anticipation of offset credits. The Chicago Climate Exchange shut down because large investors were not interested in a voluntary market and had counted on US legislation to enact a mandatory market. When the climate bill in the US Congress failed, there was little incentive for companies to continue to buy and sell credits in the market.

Emerging controversies in Australia are also relevant for the ACX. The Australian 'Carbon Farming Initiative' is being proposed as a major offset scheme for Australian polluters and those abroad to meet Kyoto targets. Market analysts doubt whether there would be an adequate supply of credits for sufficient trading in the initial years.

Concerns are also being raised regarding the environmental integrity of such an offset scheme that could lead to pressure on water and land, given that the CFI is supposed to derive reduction in GHGs through activities such as fertiliser management, reduced livestock emissions, soil carbon and reforestation.[3]

LESSONS FOR THE ASX: WITHER DEVELOPMENT AND REDUCED RISKS OF CLIMATE CHANGE?

The ACX would sell pollution 'credits' generated on African soil through individual projects, thereby enabling companies in the industrialised world to continue polluting and yet comply with their governments' commitments to meet international and national targets for emissions reductions. ACX registered projects would also aim to generate a sufficient supply of projects to be made available for carbon trading on voluntary markets.

It is now common knowledge that the Cancún climate pledges could lead to the warming of the planet by four degrees Celsius or more. The latest science shows that even a global average warming of two degrees will be devastating for life on Earth. For much of sub-Saharan Africa, a two-degree global average temperature rise would mean even higher temperatures on the ground.

This spells disaster for food security in Africa - with devastated cropping cycles, water scarcity and widespread famine. Carbon offsets are a major exit strategy for polluters to continue polluting while shifting the burden of GHG reductions to African nations that have the lowest carbon footprint on the planet. In the end, the impacts of the failure of this UNFCCC approved 'market mechanism' will be acutely felt by the African people who stand to suffer greatly from a warming planet.

In addition, the types of offset projects envisioned for Africa primarily entail 'land-based carbon' projects, either through avoiding deforestation, reforesting or reducing emissions from agriculture. This means that projects are banking on receiving credit for changing land-use practices in forests and soils to store carbon relative to what would have happened in a business-as-usual (baseline) scenario.

However, trading carbon from land-based offsets is met with major scepticism by real financial investors because of serious scientific challenges in measuring carbon in soils and forests and understanding previous and future land-use changes.

Moreover, because the bulk of forest and agriculture land is used by local communities, significant risks are associated with land tenure issues and social conflicts, with research showing an increase in land grabs of large areas of customary land in Africa by agribusiness and government agencies.[4]

A recent study[5] by experts in derivatives trading platforms also shows that land-based offsets will meet significant barriers to investment. This is because the land-based asset itself is difficult to define and therefore trade because of the high degree of uncertainty in measuring, reporting and verifying (MRV) land-based carbon.

The costs and controversies associated with land-based offsets are also likely to make them a risky venture. It will therefore lead to control of the trade by very few companies given the monopolistic nature of commodity markets (carbon is a commodity) and because very few companies will be able to finance the risk associated with this trade.

The experts therefore conclude that the market for land-based offsets will either fail because of the numerous difficulties inherent in land based carbon accounting or lead to 'the creation of a substandard, risky and ultimately destructive forest carbon market.'[6] The same applies to agricultural soil carbon where the underlying 'tradable' asset is even more varied and uncertain.

Finally, given that energy markets have a high degree of price correlation with carbon, excessive speculation in carbon is likely to adversely affect food and commodity prices.[7]

Bundling carbon derivatives into index funds with other commodities would also tend to destabilise prices, as would trading carbon derivatives without position limits (limits on the number of contracts held). Highly volatile oil and food commodity prices not only have a significant impact on the economic stability of net oil and food-importing countries but also on the agriculture sector as a whole, given the high dependence on fossil fuels for synthetic fertilisers, transport, distribution and storage. Expanding carbon markets that are structurally highly susceptible to fraud and speculation and part of commodity markets, particularly through index funds, thus has serious implications for food production and food security in Africa.

SHOW ME THE MONEY

The most often quoted World Bank figure for the global carbon market is 144 billion USD. However this figure largely includes derivatives trading. Out of this, only around 3,370 million USD goes to offset project developers as total revenue (not profit) with a much more uncertain fraction of that going to local communities who may host the project.[8] The FAO estimates that close to 17 billion euros (approximately 24.3 billion USD) could be required in transaction costs alone to set up soil carbon sequestration projects from 2010 - 2030, diverting scarce resources away from critical adaptation needs.

According to the World Bank's own estimates adaptation costs to developing countries will range between 2.5 and 2.6 billion USD per year from 2010 -2050.[9] Experts monitoring Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) schemes also find that important institutional and public resources are being diverted to create the technical capacity and infrastructure required to create offset credits to trade on potential forest carbon markets. Rather than diverting scarce resources, this money could be invested directly into institutions and communities to build resilience against climate change and directly address deforestation.

CALCULATING THE COSTS

The Africa Carbon Exchange is being publicised as the next big ticket that will help solve the development gap in Africa, with plans to replicate the exchange in other regional blocs such as the East African Community (EAC), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS).

However, before that happens, governments and their parliaments should examine:

- ongoing challenges and investment trends in climate exchanges in industrialised countries,
- investor aversion to land-based offsets,
- environmental and food security risks to Africans by allowing industrialised countries to continue polluting, and
- resources needed for African countries to adapt to climate change.

There is a real danger that carbon offsets will become a major policy distraction and capital diversion from the real climate change challenges that Africa faces: the urgent task of climate change adaptation and ensuring resilience of communities.

ALTERNATIVES EXIST

A financial transaction tax[11] on financial trading, feed-in tariff policies through which clean solar and wind energies are incentivised, and the use of International Monetary Fund (IMF) special drawing rights[12] by developing countries are just some of many alternatives being proposed to both finance the reversal of climate change and to help developing countries adapt to it. Industrialised countries have a legal, historical and moral responsibility to curb their domestic emissions at home and help finance adaptation in Africa and elsewhere. Let's not let carbon trading and the promises of a speculative derivatives market distract us from these critical goals.

{Sharma's work focuses on international trade and financial institutions, and international food and agriculture policies, with a particular interest and focus on India and South Asia. This article is sourced from The Institute for Agricultural and Trade Policy.}

REFERENCES:

[1]. B. Sills, Global Carbon Credits Die as Smart Money Backs Indian RECs, Bloomberg Markets Magazine, March 22, 2011. Available at [url=http://bloom.bg/igjsR9[/url]
[2]. World Watch Institute, A Brief History of Fraudulent Activity on the EU ETS, 2011.
[3]. Point Carbon, Australian Greens Challenge Offset Mechanism, March 24, 2011.
[4]. L. Cotula, Land deals in Africa: What is in the contracts?, IIED, London. Available at http://pubs.iied.org/12568IIED.html
[5]. Munden Project, REDD and Forest Carbon: Market-based Critique and Recommendations, 2011. Available at [url=http://bit.ly/kibEbS[/url]
[6]. Ibid.
[7]. In an orderly market, carbon prices should rise with energy prices but haven't due to the aforementioned crimes, poor legislative design and MRV controversies, and costs.
[8]. FERN, Designed to fail? The Concepts, Practices and Controversies Behind Carbon Trading, 2010.
[9]. FAO, Climate Smart Agriculture: Policies, Practices and Financing for Food Security, Adaptation and Mitigation, 2010, 22.
[10]. FERN and Forest Peoples Programme, Smoke and Mirrors: A Critical Assessment of the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, February 2011.
[11]. See European Parliament, Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, DRAFT REPORT on Innovative Financing at Global and European Level, also known as the 'Podimata Report,' October 2010. Accessed at:http://bit.ly/joj3cs.
[12]. See ActionAid, Using Special Drawing Rights for Climate Finance, Discussion Paper, February 2010.

"YOUTH" The Ticking Time Bomb ... or is it a Gold Mine?

"YOUTH" The Ticking Time Bomb...or is it a Gold Mine?

An Address to the Commonwealth Conference on 'Investing in Youth Employment'

9^th-10^th May 2011, Marlborough House, London

By Emmanuel Dennis Ngongo, CEO - Green Teams Initiative - Africa

Mr. Kamalesh Sharma - Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Dr. Paul Otuoma Hon. Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports of Kenya, Ms. Poonam Ahluwalia, President YES Inc., Mr. Sridhar, Central bank of India, Your Excellencies the Heads of Missions to the Commonwealth, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen.

I am humbled and honoured to address this distinguished gathering.  The title of the conference resonates well with what drives me as an individual and other people that have inspired me in the last decade. Having started off in the children's rights advocacy in villages in Kenya, I have grown to join the youth development world at YES, and now moving towards bigger responsibility of national and international leadership addressing entrepreneurship among other global development issues. It is to me a lifelong learning journey.

Youth Unemployment is huge a challenge that poses serious threats to the co-existence of humanity today. We are witnessing best practices which started off in the Middle East and North Africa, to Central Africa, they have their tentacles to the East side of Africa. This continuing series of revolutions will dominate the world's agenda for as long as we continue to ignore the youth who are the common denominator for our present and future.

Research and statistics show increase in Youth population. In Africa, persons under the age of 35 form a paltry 75% of the populations. They are well educated and majority unemployed. A recipe for Social conflict.

The current financial and ecological challenges will continue to hit hard. These pressures mean that we need to device new business unusual models. We must come up with short term imperative frameworks to address youth unemployment. This must be supported by long term imperative to create sustainable value chains that resolve the problems of tomorrow driven by innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Living in poverty, one meal per day, kicked out of school due to lack of $80 school fees, a young man from Masitala village in Malawi; the country having gone through the worst drought ever; with no help coming, William Kimkwamba devised an innovative way of creating opportunity... the Wind. He started off scavenging in waste materials, he became the laughing stock of the village as he collected rusted iron, car batteries, tractor fans, bicycle parts among other scrap materials. From 2002 courtesy, his village now has 5 windmills that generate electricity and pump water for use by hundreds of villagers.

Many youth like William come up with innovations that are life changing but due to the lack of capital, technical knowhow and support structures, their dreams have been swept off without caution.

The Green Teams initiative started to organize young people into positive community building forces, that are creating revenues and at the same time resolving the ecological challenges that the world faces today using a bottom up approach.

When we began the Green Teams conversation at the Rework the World Summit hosted by YES and Tallberg Foundation in June of 2010, many sceptics shot down the idea as half baked. However the GTI Revolution is taking Africa slowly becoming a positive storm because it speaks to the needs of the youth who desperately require the kind of skills training we offer to get them into economic independence. We now have Green Teams in Mombasa, Kampala, Nairobi and soon Kigali, St. Louis courtesy of UNHABITAT CCCI Program. A GTI is coming to Washington DC as well.

With support structures in place to incubate emerging ideas and value chains, not only will we be planting the seeds of hope, but also investing in a promising future. It is to the uncharted waters that the Green Teams seek to explore. To create the path where others will come and walk through.

My appeal to the Commonwealth Secretariat and other Global initiatives. Listen to the voices of the youth, they call from remote villages of the world, they reckon with virgin ideas, they seek a helping hand. They need support to realise their dreams. They seek investment for sustainable social impact. Otherwise, every skewed development agenda that we pursue will be shuttered by the looming revolution. We can no longer continue to ignore the youth; as such ignorance will be to our own peril.

The Youth Enterprise Development Fund in Kenya has shown and proved that Youth are bankable and investable. The loan repayment portfolio surpasses that of established businesses. However, the fund needs to be reworked to a Guarantee Fund. This way to support the emerging enterprises, incubate and nurture promising ideas and invest in the young people who lack collateral. The fund would build the capacity of the youth to become entrepreneurs able to compete established businesses and at the same time protect their ideas from the plagiarists with patents and intellectual property protection.

We support the credit Facility by the Commonwealth, such an idea will far more support youth employment and should be replicated in more countries. Creating Youth Enterprise Generators as originated by YES to support in scale change ideas of organized young people will achieve immeasurable results into enterprise movements. The Commonwealth Secretariat should support ideas to scaling up and replicating promising practices in all its member states.

Kenya will be holding the National Youth Council Election by June. I am sure the Hon Minister Paul Otuoma who is here with us will take a lead in working with young leaders to make it a model that the rest of the world can learn from. We should allow young people to lead such state offices to set international standards and become models for learning and replication. Supporting member states to come up with youth friendly policies, the commonwealth should insist that such policies should be devoid of skewed political agendas.

A good idea grows by itself. We have an option to make the right decisions from their onsets. As in Entrepreneurship, Fortune favours the Bold. Indeed the brave may not live forever but the cautious do not live at all as was articulated by Sir Richard Branson, one of the most successful business moguls of our time who started off at age 16 to build a global diverse brand that is Virgin. He has proved that you can chew and cross the road at the same time.

Barack Obama is my role model that speaks my kind of Language; An astute believer in the power of the youth to change the world. He is promoting Green Issues such as developing a green economy. He wants to create 5 million jobs in the green energy sector. A green grid where homes will take power from small, local solar and wind powered generators, and home generators will push surplus energy back into the grid. This must happen as the price of fuel skyrockets, changing our energy and business models as the recession bites. Barack is a more than talk guy.

By the year 2015, the youth bulge will be at its high with the current economic pressures escalating. Initiatives like the Grameen, YES Bank in Bangladesh should be emulated and scaled to offer sustainable loans to consumers. Young people with green businesses should be supported. Africa was not hard hit by the economic downturn, because, our conservative banking practices have saved our economies. African Companies and ideas will thrive in the next decade. Investing in ideas as Green Teams, will propel a country like Kenya to start giving aid money to the USA and the UK in hard times, such as when the Economic Recession is on. My prediction is that if given a chance, this will be a reality in the next two decades.

Creating the Green Teams Business model is to do something positive for the deserving livelihoods; to connect to the rest of the world; to partner with institutions as the Commonwealth. With your support, I am sure we will thrive and reach our desired goals so that future generations can enjoy. That is the legacy that all of us should be working towards.

I hope that this Workshop will help us have honest talk and concrete action based deal breakers to gain value to why we are gathered here today. Let us not allow this to be another talk shop. In conclusion, I would like to thank the Commonwealth Secretariat for setting up this conference; it has been an onerous task to be at the place where we are today. Thanks to Rajkumar Bidla for creating stories of hope. Let us change the ticking social time bomb that is youth into a gold mine. The future depends on them.

Thank you.

CLIMATE TALKS IN BANGKOK: rich countries should do more in South Africa

Dear Friends--
I would like to agree with Stephen Mwakesi that the whole issue of climate financing has been elevated to look elitist by a few countries and companies that are profiteering from the process in Africa. I have had an opportunity to interact with Carbon Asset Companies in Europe, most of them have come to Africa with the Climate jargon, they enter into communities and launch their programs knowing very well that the community members do not understand their activities. They flash aid money in form of alleviating poverty and in some cases, development or simply governance kind of aid money. In the real sense, this companies are actually minting billions of dollars out of our virgin communities and smiling all the way to their Swiss banks.

Most of our political leaders still don't understand the technicalities that come with carbon financing. They rush to sign the contract agreement without reading in between the lines, we end up being the losers while this companies take advantage of our innocent ignorance. Indeed developing nations should be the ones to dictate the terms o engagement, sadly this is not the case. We need a new kind of advocacy, the west is not ready to see this happen. But we must insist if we have to start reworking the radical paradigm for Green Development in Africa for the world. A radical shift on how we engage with the developed nations will be the only medicine to the engagement.

I am of the opinion that developing nations should originate the contractual agreements. Africa must start to take lead of the discussions, we have more stake than those who are purporting to be on the front line. How do we create the jobs of tomorrow in Africa by Africans using African resources and brains? Climate Change will remain a shifty affair now that the west knows that it is the new kid on the block to unleash the kind of development money that Africa needs to leapfrog beyond the place that the west is in terms of economic, and infrastructural development.  It is true that the West is using the research now as a dangling carrot to woo communities into signing deals that will impoverish them. This is a power game as in a shopkeeper who fights to keep the poverty levels in his village at the same level in order to continue selling to the people products and not allowing for any kind of innovation to take place because he/she stands to lose if the community realizes that the new and innovative ways of dependency and come up with a way to self sufficiency using own resources and brains.

The West should stop the power games and make sure this time round the real owners of the deal have their way on the negotiating table as we head to South Africa. Climate Mitigation and Adaptation should be owned by the real stakeholders who will reverse this effects once and for all. We have a bigger stake on this issues as Africa, let us achieve an African Deal in the Climate Talks.

Emmanuel Dennis
Green Teams Initiative.

On Fri, Apr 15, 2011 at 5:57 PM, stephen mwakesi <smwakesi@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear all,

Very interesting debates raised above.

I would like to carry on with it on three prongs, the UNFCCC process, Climate Finance and Contextual scenario of Kenya.

Indeed the whole issue of the UNFCCC process has been one that has dominated debate and ever more so since the COP 15. The fact that the discussions have tended to yield little in form of  binding commitments has lead to the general fatigue within CSOs dealing with the process. Matter of fact just recently I had debate with one of the partners in climate change in Kenya and she did express that most of the actors in the field are quite hopeless than hopeful. Going through the motions, thats what they seem to be doing. But as expressed by Mithika and Bwana Otieno before, we cannot afford to give up with the process. From what I have been able to gather is that, in as much as we approach this process from a justice prism, we should not be blind to the fact that this whole scenario is based upon economics and the politics of economics. The tethering that is being witnessed from the developed nations only emanates from the fact that the whole climate debate posses a threat to the status quo and the whole energy paradigm as it exists. Indeed until the big corporate interests have a clear foothold on the renewable and alternative energy sectors from a control and profit standpoint, they will constantly keep to the card of delay and paralyse until they come round. Whenever I spend time considering the positions taken in most of these high-level discussions, I come round to appreciating the fact that all this a big game of geopolitics with the dominant actors (read G8) as the gladiators playing to a crowd of hopeless and defenceless people who have not much to do lest the only persons in the amphitheatre with weapons turn on them. So this leads me to the next prong...

Climate Finance is indeed one of the key angles of entry for the developing nations within the UNFCCC process. Indeed I have argued before that within the Climate process Climate Finance through Adaptation and Mitigation is the map for a new development trajectory for the developing world. What has been the issue of contention, and with this argument am cautious, is the fact that developing nations are still playing the aid model yet in actual fact that should not be the case. As Halima has aptly pointed out we fail to move because we do not see this as an opportunity to create a new playing field where we are defining the terms and calling the shots in defining the new green development paradigm. As we spend time arguing on the texts, its vital that we invest energies in also defining the contracts and terms that Africa enters into in this new field that is slowly evolving. As Philip Kilonzo has pointed out, the new battle ground is in Africa and now the idea is to re-define the commodity that is land afresh and be able to create a new development paradigm with resources, labour and the entrepreneurial capacity being drawn from Africa with very little capital injection from the west. My fear has been that as we have been clamouring for more climate finance we have failed to look at the finer details and more and more communities are signing on the dotted lines significantly giving away their entrepreneurial skills, networks and labour for peanuts and still the real money has not arrived. When the money actually does arrive guess who will be in charge of all the mitigation and adaptation programs?

Contextualising the realities of today, I say that the battle with the establishment is one that can only be won with diligent spirits. Frankly, I think especially Africans of the Kenyan ilk are disappointingly not as fervent in the quest for justice as would be expected. Frankly am disappointed that the most that has come as protest or disgust out of the Hague antics and the Corruption dismissals has been side whispers and on-line chatter and maybe am disappointing myself too with this addition...Enough Said...For now perhaps...

Lets keep talking and begin acting,

Regards,

-- 
Stephen Mwakesi
Cell: +254 723 229 117/ +254 773 804041
Email: smwakesi@gmail.com
Blog: www.mwakesi.blogspot.com

Twitter: twitter.com/mwakesi

On 15 April 2011 14:33, Philip Kilonzo <Philip.Kilonzo@actionaid.org> wrote:

Dear all,

 

Financing for climate change mitigation programmes is quite an interesting area. Again the debate tilts to financing mitigation mainly in Africa.

 

As interesting as it is we need to be aware that we might give proposal that will open doors for land grabs in Kenya and Africa as a whole. Financing for mitigation if not well construed may be the avenue for the last and final wave of land acquisition (land grabbing) and may lead to massive acquisition of land previously public and community land. This reality is increasingly becoming clear in some quarters.

 

So any proposal we are fronting must cushion community and public land from private acquisition – real or implied.

 

Philip

 

---

From: kenya-climate-change-working-group@googlegroups.com [mailto:kenya-climate-change-working-group@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Halima Murunga
Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2011 5:46 AM
To: Dominic WALUBENGO
Cc: josephmeruaki@yahoo.com; pacja-updates@googlegroups.com; kenya-climate-change-working-group@googlegroups.com; Mithika Mwenda; Philip Otieno; molenkako@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: (KCCWG) CLIMATE TALKS IN BANGKOK: rich countries should do more in South Africa

 

Hello all

They way carbon trading mechanism is slowly turning into a finance market the best option for climate financing is to create carbon finance products that Kenyans can invest, generate revenue to finance climate mitigation programmes. To save the Mau why not develop bonds or a futures for the whole catchment area that can attract investors for restoration purposes...

Think in house, if corporate entities have raised billions from debt financing why can't we.

On Apr 13, 2011 11:52 PM, "Dominic WALUBENGO" <waluwande@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear All,

Very good points. I have been following the climate change debate since 1988 and I am certain that the rhetoric has not changed. Every developed country (including China and India) is doing what is in their best interest. For all these years, the developing countries working through the Group of 77 and China have been demanding for climate justice; and climate related funding. This funding has not arrived, although a little money has come in but given names which make it look like new money. The sooner we stop fooling ourselves the better!

Dominic Walubengo

On Wed, Apr 13, 2011 at 10:11 AM, Mithika Mwenda <mwemithika@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Also look at se...

Dominic Walubengo PhD
DWalubengo@fankenya.org

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Join the Green Teams Initiative ...and be a part of the Simple Solutions that resolve the Global Complex Ecological Challenges

..........
Emmanuel Dennis Ngongo
YES Kenya/Green Teams Initiative
3rd Floor, Revlon Proffessional Plaza
Biashara Street, City Center
P.O. Box 8799, 00200
Nairobi Kenya
Cell: +254722619005
http://emmanuel-ed.blogspot.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Emmanueldennis
Website: www.thegreenteams.org, www.yeskenya.org

Re: Where did these IDPs come from?

My Friends--
The issue of the IDP's will bedevil Kenya for a long time unless we
come up with a clear cut solution. Since we have IDPS all the way from
the MAUMAU days, I am of the opinion that Government does an audit and
makes sure that all Kenyans who want to own land for commercial
purposes are given a piece. I am sure the numbers of the IDPs are
negligible in the face of the Government. The Problem is when the
Government starts to use the issue for political gain. If this drags
on with the old way of politic, it is going to be very costly for
Kenya.

The government can no longer continue to profiteer politically with
the livelihoods of Kenyans. We now need to find a permanent solution
and make sure that this people are resettled once for all so that
Kenya can start to focus on other important issues such as Economic
and Structural Development.

And why are some of the IDPs refusing to go to some of the land that
has already been purchased for them? Where exactly do they want to be
ressetled? Can we as Kenyans embrace each other and accept that Kenya
is for all of us? When shall we begin to look at each other as the
keepers of each other peace and tranquility?

Sad news is that the current leadership can no longer manage this kind
of discourse. We need a fresh breed of Kenyans to rise up to the
echelons of leadership. Only then, when we start to re-look and rework
our old structures and rework them, shall we resolve the problems that
undermine peace, democracy and development in Kenya.

Will the current challenges that Kenya faces today be resolved by a
Benevolent Dictator? May be. I wonder loudly.

Emmanuel Dennis

On Apr 23, 2:48 pm, Njoroge Waithera <njorogep2...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Bwana Oketch,
>
> I do not pretend to have the answers to your many questions but I know one thing; and that is that not all who were displaced had title to the land they occupied in the places from which they were displaced during the PEV. There are those who leased land and earned livelihoods for decades that way; others simply squatted on adjudicatted public or private places and provided labour in the farms or simply depended on symbiotic relationships they had with their hosts but all these came to naught at the disolution of that relationship courtesy of the PEV. Therefore having been born and bred under those circumstances, they did not know anybody or anywhere else outside their regions and thus knew not where to go.
>
> You ask where they came from, I do not know but certainly not Rwanda, Uganda or such other neighbouring principality. I do not wish to address the inference I make from this question but if I may, allow me to refer you to the archives to familiarize yourself with the fate of many a Mau Mau freedom fighter at independene when they returned from the cold slopes of Mt. Kenya and Aberdare Ranges from where they waged a seven-yr long struggle against the British colonialists to find their ancestral land occupied by homeguards...hitherto British collaborators. Since the government did not mind them at independence, they were left to wander to every corner of the Republic they had sacrificed so much to liberate. That is where most came from.
>
> I agree however, that the government should work at ensuring that peace prevails so that some - those who still hahve title to land - can be restored to their homes and duely compensated to start lives afresh. We must all strive to approach the re/settlement soberly lest we sow seeds of irrepparable discord among Kenyans who if I must state, have a right to live in every part of our Republic to start living the New Constitution.
>
> Njoroge Waithera
> Centre for Applied Human Rights (CAHR)
> The University of York
> Heslington, York
> YO10 5DD
> United Kingdom
>
> http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/cahr/
> +44 (0)1904 411792
> "Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral. "  Paulo Freire
> This email and its attachments may be confidential and are intended solely for the use of the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient of this email and its attachments, you must take no action based upon them, nor must you copy or show them to anyone. Please contact the sender if you believe you have received this email in error. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The University of York.
>
> ________________________________
> From: odhiambo okecth <komarockswa...@yahoo.com>
> Sent: Saturday, 23 April 2011, 12:04
> Subject: Re: [NYSA:6261] Where did these IDPs come from?
>
> Friends,
>
> >>>We have followed the circus of the Internally Displaced
>
>  Persons with utmost keenness since we believe in One Kenya Under One God.
>
> >>>However, we are now forced to come out with our thinking on the same.
>
> >>>The
>
>  term 'Internally Displaced Person' means you have been displaced from somewhere. If we have genuine peace amongst us, the Government should not be playing with our psychology about buying land for these people who have never been displaced from anywhere.
>
> >>>Those Kenyans who were
>
>  Internally Displaced should go back to where they were displaced from. What the Government should be concerned about is how to start them up again, build for them new houses and encourage dialogue and reconciliation.
>
> >>>But when the Government seems too pre-occupied with the idea of
>
>  buying land for these Kenyans., we are left to ask; Where were they displaced from and what became of their land? Or, was the land Displaced as well?
>
> >>>Secondly, it is a very sad scenario that Kenyans butchered each other and had some Displaced. This affected a cross section of Kenyans. How come what we are seeing now does not represent the face of Kenya?
>
> >>>Do we have some breed of Kenyans who must be transplanted across the country for expediency reasons?
>
> >>>If we want genuine peace, it must be our responsibility to accommodate each other as brethren. But when the Government attempts to transplant some Kenyans in Narok and fail, they attempt to do the same in Endebess and they fail again, it calls for quick audit.
>
> >>>Who are these Kenyans the Government is toying with all the times and where did they come from? Where did the Government get these people from?
>
> >>>The Government must stop this circus and face reality. Kenyans are
>
>  watching this saga with very keen interest as we wish all Kenyans well.
>
>
>
> >>>If it is to be, it is up to me. A Clean Kenya Starts With me. A Peaceful Kenya is my Responsibility.
>
> >>>Peace and blessings,
>
> >>>Odhiambo T Oketch
> >>>CEO KCDN NairobiNationwide Coordinator - Monthly Nationwide Clean-up Campaign
> >>>PO Box 47890-00100,
> >>>Nairobi Kenya.
> >>>Tel; 0724 365 557 0735 529 126
> >>>Email; o...@kcdnkenya.org, komarockswa...@yahoo.com    
> >>>http://kcdnkomarockswatch.blogspot.com
> >>>friendsofk...@yahoogroups.com
> >>>Facebook; Odhiambo T Oketch
>
> >>>Odhiambo T Oketch is the current
>
>  Chairman to the City Council of Nairobi Stakeholders Evaluation Team on Performance Contracting and Rapid Results Management. He is also Chair to the Nyamonye Catholic Church Development Fund.He was also the Co-Chair and Coordinator of The Great Nairobi Walk against Corruption that was held in Nairobi on the 22nd October 2010
>
> >>>--- On Sat, 4/23/11, Paul Nyandoto <paul.nyand...@phsotey.fi> wrote:
>
> >>>>From: Paul Nyandoto <paul.nyand...@phsotey.fi>
> >>>>Subject: [PK] There are NO IDPs in Kenya anymore/To Karanja
> >>>>To: progressive-kenyans@googlegroups.com, ka_g...@hotmail.com
> >>>>Date: Saturday, April 23, 2011, 5:02 AM
>
> >>>>Karanja,
>
> >>>>Nobody is against the IDPs except this government lead by Kibaki and orchestered by Uhuru Kenyatta and now Ruto. These people now called IDPs had a life before 2007 PEV and each and every one still alive can elaborate how he/she made life before 2007. It is now going almost 5 years why can`t their so leader collect information and give the government how they used to survive before 2007. If somebody burnt their kiosk or shop  let them show where those properties were
>
>  located, we need to live in peace do you get it?. After all for kenya to move on we need re-concilliation. I do not think that re-concilliation means going to a new land and start right away a new war zone. We are tired with wars and fighting. If this government is providing land to the landless then it should start with Kenyans who have been landless since independence. Kenyattas does not deserve a land the same size as nyanza
>  province and you
>  still have the guts to tell us that we should not offer solutions. Curing symptoms and leaving the cause of the disease will not help anything, starting another war front with different tribes will also not help in the long run. If counties are created then those IDPs now matching to Kitale will see hell again, may be even more than the one they saw in rift valley. I think only fools do not get it now. By the way do you know how much Diaspora sent home to help in the PEV. If you do not know then just shut up.
>
> >>>>Paul Nyandoto
>
> >>>>>>> karanja goro  04/23/11 12:20 AM >>>
> >>>>IDP are still there. why do we in this forum think IDP are only those who owned land. most of us in this fora ve little use for land. its the same for some IDP's who were experts in different fields other than farming. the IDP's issue is more than an intellectual discource which we seem to be expounding here. its sad most of those offering their views
>
>  are not even here- in kenya- Can we stop offering solutions to kenyans who are on the ground from our ivory towers.
>
> >>>>Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2011 04:14:46 -0700
> >>>>From: ikirimakagwi...@yahoo.com
> >>>>Subject: Re: [PK] There are NO IDPs in Kenya anymore
> >>>>To: progressive-kenyans@googlegroups.com
> >>>>CC: manderae...@gmail.com; paul.nyand...@phsotey.fi
>
> >>>>Paul
> >>>>What i am seeing today is a case similar to a mentally sick person who smiles when thing are bad and cries when things are good. Can we trust Kenyas for what they say anymore? If somebody
>
>  kills your child and i see you eating together, unless am mentally retarded not to smell a rat. The two guys are, one organized for killing a certain tribe and the other defended his people by organizing more killings. Today both are very good friends, yet no going back of the IDPs from where they came from. If this is true unity, it should also benefit the IDPs. As these guys are cerebrating, no IDP is talking and this is even more shocking. I would be expecting IDPs to react at this time but they are silent. I hope you are also smelling a rat here. There is so much the two and those IDPs know that we
>
> >>>>don't know. No wonder Murugi can threaten to strip naked if the ocampos never returned from Hague, yet she cannot do the same if IDPs are not resettled. Is it because Ruto excited her by saying he was a man and those men in IDPs are women? Think twice about the IDP and ocampo6 relationship.
>
> >>>>Rose
>
> >>>>From: Paul Nyandoto
> >>>>To: manderae...@gmail.com; progressive-kenyans@googlegroups.com
> >>>>Sent: Fri, April 22, 2011 1:27:00 PM
> >>>>Subject: [PK] There are NO IDPs in Kenya anymore
>
> >>>>Humans,
>
> >>>>Just start by calling me names because of the topic I have placed up there, but sometimes somebody has to call a spade  a spade NOT a big spoon. Post election violence was at the end of 2007 and the early months of 2008. We are now in 2011 and next year we are facing both presidential and parliamentarian election. That is almost 5 solid years since 2007 election.
>
> >>>>How comes it we still have kenyans plus government
>
> ...
>
> read more »

Egypt - A Lesson in Chaos

KAREN "TALLKAT" CONLEY February, 2011

Egypt: A Lesson in Chaos

 

"In life you need either desperation or inspiration."

-Tony Robbins

 

Last week the hubby called from the car repair shop to say he was watching Egypt rioting in the streets on TV, so I tuned into CNN.

 

Wow. Egypt…is desperate for change.  Politics aside, the Egyptian people have captured the attention of the world because they have done something really powerful.

 

They have aligned with each other and united in one voice.

 

Henry David Thoreau said "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation, and go to the grave with the song still in them."

 

That is not the case in Egypt.

In London supporters of the  uprising made their voices heard near the Egyptian embassy. A sign held up by a young man read: "Riot like an Egyptian."

(The youth of London get it. Students and others recently protested the raising of taxes on college tuition.  They actually pushed back the mounted police by walking toward them instead of dispersing.  The outnumbered police were forced to back off.)   Perhaps we could take a lesson.   A Cairo resident said, "Beware the anger of the patient". After thirty years of dictatorship under a tyrannical leader, the people are speaking up for freedom, in  the hope of a better future for their children in spite of discomfort, high risk, and opposition.   Creation often involves risk and discomfort. Ask any great inventor, actor, poet or statesman.   I have always said that chaos gets a bad rap and peace is often over rated.   Chaos is the engine of change --on individual, national and universal levels.   Many of my clients are facing difficult life-altering challenges such as bankruptcy, chronic or unexpected illness, serious financial losses, lack of medical care, unemployment, and depression.   "We must find a way to become balanced while being unbalanced, uncomfortable and still not be thrown off by the imbalance. No matter how unbalanced we become, no matter what the circumstances, or how unsteady we feel, we can  be at peace, live with purpose and continue to grow by making powerful new choices."  (Off Balance on Purpose, by Rev. Kylie Renner in Truly Alive Jan-Feb)"   The idea that order often emerges from disorder is a mind bending, counter-intuitive and troubling idea to many. I encourage you to check out The Secret Life of Chaos, a wonderful documentary that teaches us, through the natural world, that chaos has something to offer. http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/secret-life-chaos/   The natural world is actually one big blooming, buzzing mass of lively confusion! From clouds to trees, to the human experience: you will never look at the world, chaos, or disorder in the same way after viewing The Secret Life of Chaos.   How does one remain at peace within when the circumstances around us are not orderly or peaceful? What can we do when the external environment currently does not match our dreams?  Why does one uncomfortable challenge after another continue to present itself to us - just as we overcome one, here comes another?   Many times the higher self creates difficult, even tragic events, in our lives. The human part of us simply cannot grasp the meaning in it at the time, yet there is a higher wisdom present.   Chaos: It is here to stay and it serves a purpose.   We are living during an earth cycle of change meant to create a huge jump into the unknown territory of an emerging age of a greater understanding. We are striving to assume our place in a greater universal community.   It is no longer so important to fuss over our appearence, to be entertained all the time, or to maintain the status quo of comfort.   It is more important that we wake up.  News Flash: Spiritual growth and personal change was never meant to comfortable, or even orderly.   Many spiritual teachers and self-proclaimed gurus have created large followings (and equally large incomes) by telling us that all we have to do is 'live' in the emotional heart space, wear a crystal, do the best we can, and pray for the healing of the earth.   We know from experience that human feelings can decieve us, overwhelm or mislead us at times.   The inner voice and human emotion are often in conflict. It is best to recognize the difference.   Chaos, challenge, and confrontation are intrinsically part of human development and growth. It is not possible to heal what you do not confront.   Here are a few suggestions that will help you in navigating the rising tide of change and circumstance that surrounds us:   Let nothing, and I mean nothing, get between you and Source. The ability to maintain focus, which meditation teaches us, is of vital and critical importance in the midst of emotional upheaval, emergency or anxiety.   I personally have experienced the "miracle" of stepping away from myself, disengaging from the emotion of fear or dread, into objective, clear focus when problem solving.   This is a powerful inner "miracle" that everyone should experience! Don't let the simplicity of the concept fool you.   Disorder, chaos, change, and revolt are necessary parts of life – when the time is right for it. These growth patterns line the pathway of all great change in society, families, and relationships.   These growth patterns are present in nature's wild and beautiful rhythms.   Take the time to speak with and to each other. Gurus, holy robes, talismans, crystals, and other so-called spiritual thing-a-ma-jigs belong to the past. The future is about choice, freedom and healthy alliances with each other.   These alliances are a glimpse of future neighborhoods and communities where individual choice, equality and self reliance are present.   Many of us are beginning to leave the herd of mainstream society in search of a new watering hole! Be your own guru. Align with and help each other.   In closing, I offer you Three Principles:   1. Question outer authority. 2. Rely on inner wisdom. 3. Think independently.   Change and chaos can serve you well if you choose to go with the flow of it, remembering that above all else: YOU ARE LOVED!

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REWORK THE WORLD
www.reworktheworld.org

Join the Green Teams Initiative ...and be a part of the Simple Solutions that resolve the Global Complex Ecological Challenges

..........
Emmanuel Dennis Ngongo
YES Kenya Leader
Initiator of the Green Teams Initiative
P.O. Box 8799, 00200
Nairobi Kenya
Cell: +254722619005
http://emmanuel-ed.blogspot.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Emmanueldennis
Website: www.thegreenteams.org, www.yeskenya.org/new