Comments on: Tuvalu, the Fourth Smallest Country in the World Aims to Become First Zero-Carbon Country http://www.greenpacks.org/2009/07/29/tuvalu-the-fourth-smallest-country-in-the-world-aims-to-become-first-zero-carbon-country/ Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:43:13 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: martin http://www.greenpacks.org/2009/07/29/tuvalu-the-fourth-smallest-country-in-the-world-aims-to-become-first-zero-carbon-country/comment-page-1/#comment-4529 martin Thu, 13 Aug 2009 13:28:20 +0000 http://www.greenpacks.org/?p=6102#comment-4529 Well then...we are at peace!!! Since all the Clarifications have been made by you. Well then…we are at peace!!! Since all the Clarifications have been made by you.

]]> By: Christopher Schmidt http://www.greenpacks.org/2009/07/29/tuvalu-the-fourth-smallest-country-in-the-world-aims-to-become-first-zero-carbon-country/comment-page-1/#comment-4528 Christopher Schmidt Thu, 13 Aug 2009 13:24:19 +0000 http://www.greenpacks.org/?p=6102#comment-4528 I see the ambiguity in my post now... Where I wrote "articles like this" I was referring to the article in the Telegraph, not to your blog post. But FWIW, I didn't claim that anybody was "misleading the natives". I see the ambiguity in my post now… Where I wrote “articles like this” I was referring to the article in the Telegraph, not to your blog post.

But FWIW, I didn’t claim that anybody was “misleading the natives”.

]]> By: martin http://www.greenpacks.org/2009/07/29/tuvalu-the-fourth-smallest-country-in-the-world-aims-to-become-first-zero-carbon-country/comment-page-1/#comment-4484 martin Wed, 12 Aug 2009 09:54:55 +0000 http://www.greenpacks.org/?p=6102#comment-4484 This is not a misleading article...whatever we jotted was a consequence of an article we read on the telegraph...please check the main source from where it all came...before claiming that we are misleading the natives.. This is not a misleading article…whatever we jotted was a consequence of an article we read on the telegraph…please check the main source from where it all came…before claiming that we are misleading the natives..

]]> By: Christopher Schmidt http://www.greenpacks.org/2009/07/29/tuvalu-the-fourth-smallest-country-in-the-world-aims-to-become-first-zero-carbon-country/comment-page-1/#comment-4411 Christopher Schmidt Mon, 10 Aug 2009 07:57:23 +0000 http://www.greenpacks.org/?p=6102#comment-4411 Aside: The 46 kW system for the school is priced at $800,000AUS in the article cited, not $20 million. Tuvalu is not "bounteous". The nation is supported by the charity of other countries, welfare payments from whom are necessary to support the people there in the non-sustainable lifestyle to which they have become accustomed. China is closer to sustainability than Tuvalu. Tuvalu can never show the way to a sustainable future. It is the economic equivalent of the Berlin Airlift (1948-1949), or a south polar research station. How much coal would be burned in donor nations to support Tuvalu as a "zero-carbon" country? It would be an environmental Potemkin village at best. From a green point of view, it would make much more sense to relocate the entire population to a continent where they aren't dependent on carbon-intensive shipping for everything from thousands of miles away. Charity has its place, but the danger here is that fantasies engendered by articles like this serve to delay and distract from the more difficult energy reforms more urgently needed in the "real" world. (And I say this despite putting 9.2 kW of PV on my own roof.) Pilot projects belong in populated areas, where (if they prove sustainable) they can be scaled to serve millions, not hundreds, of people. Otherwise, you aren't really addressing *global* warming at the necessary scale. Aside: The 46 kW system for the school is priced at $800,000AUS in the article cited, not $20 million.

Tuvalu is not “bounteous”. The nation is supported by the charity of other countries, welfare payments from whom are necessary to support the people there in the non-sustainable lifestyle to which they have become accustomed.

China is closer to sustainability than Tuvalu.

Tuvalu can never show the way to a sustainable future. It is the economic equivalent of the Berlin Airlift (1948-1949), or a south polar research station.

How much coal would be burned in donor nations to support Tuvalu as a “zero-carbon” country? It would be an environmental Potemkin village at best.

From a green point of view, it would make much more sense to relocate the entire population to a continent where they aren’t dependent on carbon-intensive shipping for everything from thousands of miles away.

Charity has its place, but the danger here is that fantasies engendered by articles like this serve to delay and distract from the more difficult energy reforms more urgently needed in the “real” world. (And I say this despite putting 9.2 kW of PV on my own roof.)

Pilot projects belong in populated areas, where (if they prove sustainable) they can be scaled to serve millions, not hundreds, of people. Otherwise, you aren’t really addressing *global* warming at the necessary scale.

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