Guest Post by Willis Eschenbach
For a few years, I managed a combination of businesses on a very remote 100 hectare (250 acre) South Pacific island. The main businesses were a shipyard; a machine shop building aluminum boats and water tanks; a banking agency; a postal agency; a buying point for locals selling copra (dried coconut), beche-de-mer (sea cucumber), and trocus shell; and a trade store. About 80 acres of the island were planted to coconut, which was harvested and sold. In addition to getting into the 1000-Metre Sweat and the Two-Month Wait as Olympic events, I learned a lot about the logistics and the economics of running a business on an island in the middle of nowhere. The operation was, of course, diesel-powered. You can’t run a big lathe on a few batteries and some solar panels. So I know the problems of supplying fuel in remote islands in the most intimate and personal way, because I was the person who had to arrange the fuel supply, the guy who took the heat when it ran short. I have also looked very, very closely at the economics of coconut oil as an energy source.
As a result, I was both glad and sad to see that the island nation of Tokelau was switching their entire energy system to solar power plus coconut oil … because Tokelau is definitely in the middle of nowhere …
Figure 1. Where on Earth is Tokelau? Australia is at the lower left, and New Zealand is at the bottom center. Papua New Guinea is at the upper left. Tokelau is at the upper right.
Let me explain why I have mixed feelings about the changeover to the two alternative fuels, solar and coconut oil.
The first problem has nothing to do with energy sources. The difficulty is that as near as I can tell, the islanders have no stake in the project. The New Zealand Aid Programme is “advancing” the money to Tokelau, in the form of hiring a New Zealand company to purchase and install all of the solar gear. This kind of “parachute aid” tends not to last, because the local folks don’t have any skin in the game. If the people living in the area don’t take ownership of a project, if they don’t have to sweat to make the project happen, the odds of success plummet. I will be quite surprised if the “advance” of six million dollars from New Zealand Aid ever gets repaid. That’s a huge debt in a nation with the worlds smallest economy. Not just a small economy, the world’s smallest economy, and one of the poorest (182nd out of 194 countries in GDP/capita). So the project has a very shaky foundation.
Regarding solar and coconuts, let me take the easy one first, coconuts. Yes, you can run a diesel engine on coconut oil … if you have the oil. Figure 2 shows the main and largest atoll of the three atolls that make up Tokelau. It contains about half the land in the country. Like many atolls, it is in the form of a ring, with the widest and solidest individual islands on the windward side of the atoll. A coral atoll is not a solid thing. It is a hesitation in a storm-driven river of coral sand and rubble. As a result, on the side where the storms hit, the river of coral rubble is larger, and the islands are longer and more connected. Typically, none of the individual islands rise more than a few metres above sea level. The long island at the lower right of Figure 2 is only about 300 metres (1,000 ft) wide.
Figure 2. Nukunono, the main atoll of the three atolls (Atafu, Nukunono and Fakaofo) that make up the island nation of Tokelau. 5.53 miles equals ~ 9 km. There are about 1,200 people living in Tokelau, and there are about 5,000 Tokelauans living in New Zealand … go figure. Total land area is about 10 sq. km., but a good chunk of that is bare sand and uninhabited islets.
As you can see, there is very little usable land in Tokelau, and that’s the first problem with the coconut oil plan. It takes a heap of coconuts to equal the energy in a barrel of diesel. And it takes a heap of land to grow a heap of coconuts. I should know, coconuts were one of my businesses. And on the coral atolls of Tokelau, there’s very little spare land at all.
Next, humans and coconut palms have travelled together around the Pacific for a very good reason. Coconut palms are an astonishing plant. They can transubstantiate the worst soils, even the salty coral sands of tropical atolls, into rich oil, milk coconut meat, and fats. There are only a few food plants that can grow on the coral rubble and sand, so coconuts are very important to the nutrition of the children, because the coconut milk, meat, and foods cooked in coconut milk make up a large portion of the kids’ diet.
As a result of those issues, for me, on the atolls any coconut oil that gets burned is taken directly from the children’s nutrition … and I can’t see that as being a brilliant plan. Sure, on large volcanic islands like Fiji or the Solomon Islands it makes sense. Those islands have acres and acres of land on which they can and do plant coconuts. But on the atolls? Very doubtful.
Next, the solar question. In the US people say “What goes around, comes around.” In the South Pacific, I used to say “What goes around … stops.” The combination of heat, sand, humidity, and salt makes tropical islands one of the most corrosive and destructive natural environments. As a result, even “hardened” or “weatherized” systems tend to have both a high infant mortality rate and a short life expectancy.
The whole solar package consists of over 4,000 solar panels, 392 inverters, and 1,344 batteries. I would suggest that the lifetime of the batteries and the inverters will not be large. And who will do the repairs when they come due? I have looked at a variety of solar systems that have been installed in some of the more remote Pacific islands … hey, evaluating solar systems on tropical islands is a brutal job, but someone had to take it. Let me say that long-term success in Pacific solar systems is far less common than failure …
Finally, the entire concept of maintenance is quite foreign to the mindset of most Pacific Islanders. I ascribe this to the lack of winter. If you live in say Norway and you don’t plan ahead for the winter, you will die … which puts a real premium on, and selects for, folks who not only think about tomorrow, but act before tomorrow arrives. In the tropics, on the other hand, there is no winter, and no need to plan for the future. Here’s an example.
I once visited a lovely island in the outer reaches of Fiji in order to look at a solar system that they had installed. It was all designed to be foolproof … but the people in the islands are no fools, they are quite ingenious.
In order to keep the batteries from being killed by being drawn down too far, the people who designed the solar system had wisely designed it so that it would only provide power until the battery voltage fell below a certain threshold. At that point, the system was designed to shut off entirely to protect the battery. However, some enterprising soul found out that if you stuck a paper clip or a bit of wire between a certain pair of the contacts on the controller, it would let you drain the batteries entirely … and as a result, every battery on the island was stone, cold dead.
I was new to the Pacific at the time, and I didn’t understand that at all. Didn’t these folks think about what the future would bring when their batteries were dead? But it was all explained by what happened as I was leaving the island. We were all getting in the boat to depart, when a charming guy I’d met on the island came running up with a string of fish. He said “Here, I caught these, take these fish with you.”
I tried to demur, saying “Keep some for yourself, are you sure that you have enough for your wife and your kids?”, because I knew he had a whole passel of children.
“Oh, yes,” he said, “I have plenty. I have kept enough fish for all day tomorrow.”
I realized at that instant that I had just witnessed the long-term time horizon for event planning on a small island … the end of tomorrow. So I didn’t bother to lecture him on smoking fish and salting fish and pickling fish and all the stuff that a good Norwegian burgher would do. I took the fish, and I thanked him profusely.
And I realized later that his response was indeed much more reasonable than mine—the fish would keep much better swimming around in the lagoon than they would last as salted fish in a hot environment …
Sadly, however, while this point of view worked fine for many, many years, it doesn’t work all that well these days when it comes to the maintenance of complex machinery … and while solar systems are better than most in requiring minimum maintenance, they still do need to be maintained. This does not bode well for the future of the Tokelau solar system.
Fortunately, since the Kiwis are putting up the money, none of this really matters. Let me say, however, that my prediction is that in ten years, Tokelau will still be importing fossil fuels for a host of uses, and that much if not all of the solar system will be quietly rusting away … I could be wrong, and I truly hope that I am wrong. I hope that the good folks of Tokelau realize what they have, and that they learn to cherish and maintain and protect it so it serves them well, long into the future, and that they repay the six million dollar “advance” to the Kiwis …
I just wouldn’t bet any money on that happening.
w.
PS—Why do I think the “advance” from New Zealand won’t be repaid? Well, GDP per capita in Tokelau is about a thousand bucks a year … but that doesn’t mean that an average individual earns that much cash in a year, much of that is subsistence farming and fishing, or government income from tuna fishing licenses. What little money the people have goes to things like school fees and clothing and medicines and the like. Most people survive in large measure because of “remittances”, money sent back to the “old country” by Tokelauans living in New Zealand and elsewhere.
The CIA World Factbook says:
The people rely heavily on aid from New Zealand – about $10 million annually in 2008 and 2009 – to maintain public services. New Zealand’s support amounts to 80% of Tokelau’s recurrent government budget. An international trust fund, currently worth nearly US$32 million, was established in 2004 to provide Tokelau an independent source of revenue. The principal sources of revenue come from sales of copra, postage stamps, souvenir coins, and handicrafts. Money is also remitted to families from relatives in New Zealand.
The annual government expenses in Tokelau are four times their revenue … a neat trick made possible by the New Zealand Government making up the shortfall each and every year. In other words, forget about affording to repay the “advance”, they can’t even afford the government that they have.
Six million dollars divided by the 1,200 inhabitants of the atolls is a debt of about $5,000 for every man, woman, and child in Tokelau. Or we could divide it by the “labor force”, which the CIA Factbook puts at 440 souls, which means a debt of about $13,600 per adult …
Given that disparity, I see no feasible way that the advance will ever be repaid. Which is perfectly fine, it simply means that solar energy in Tokelau is just another NZ Aid project, good on ya, Kiwis … but let’s not pretend that it is a loan.
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I was struck by your observation about human behavior in the tropical Pacific
“Finally, the entire concept of maintenance is quite foreign to the mindset of most Pacific Islanders. I ascribe this to the lack of winter. If you live in say Norway and you don’t plan ahead for the winter, you will die … which puts a real premium on, and selects for, folks who not only think about tomorrow, but act before tomorrow arrives. In the tropics, on the other hand, there is no winter, and no need to plan for the future.”
If you look at the abstract given in
http://arxiv.org/abs/1102.5604
it suggests this connection between uniform good climate and fewer demands for intelligent human behavior has been significantly affecting our evolution since the end of the last ice age.
An interesting article. I lived and worked on the Bahamian island of South Andros for 3 years and the comments brought back many memories of frustration, despair and resigned acceptance of
‘sunny’ insouciance.
One side I did not yet see in this discussion, although tangentially refered to, is: Who asked for this and more important, why? From the article: “A key to the success of the project is that solar electric panels (photovoltaics) have decreased in price worldwide…………..New Zealand-based company PowerSmart is designing and installing the project, which is made up of three (one for each atoll) photovoltaic-based mini-grids that include battery storage……” Being somewhat cynical, I would suggest that the foreign “aid” is more designed to help the folks at Powersmart then the New Zealand “citizens” of Tokelau. Especially since the good inhabitants of that island nation do not vote in New Zealand elections, but Powersmart employees do. Keeping them employed by giving away solar panels to a nation earns brownie points at the UN. Keeps N.Z. gov. employees going for holidays for photo opps. Keeps the politician in the limelight for doing “good” deeds. It is a win-win-win situation. Except, as noted, for the taxpayer who has to come up with the dollar.
Roger Carr says:
August 9, 2012 at 11:15 pm
Yeah, I was pretty happy with that line, and upon re-reading it should have been
Thanks for the comment,
w.
gringojay says:
August 9, 2012 at 10:27 pm
There have been a host of mechanical systems proposed to gather energy from the waves. Not one has achieved commercial success. It is a much more difficult problem than it seems. The ocean is a wild, corrosive, and crazy bitch who specializes in dis-assembling any assembly that is placed in her hands. Buoys like those are hard to moor. In addition, it is a tricky problem to get the power ashore.
Next, the power generated is typically low voltage, which requires very large wire to move it ashore, with associated cost and longevity problems.
Finally, even supposing all those problems (and others I haven’t mentioned) can be solved, waves are an intermittent supply, So they suffer from the same problem as solar and wind, they are likely to not be there just when you need them.
w.
Sir Winston Churchill, radio broadcast, 21 March 1943 – “There is no finer investment for any community than putting milk into babies.”
D. Cohen:
At August 9, 2012 at 11:33 pm you say:
Say what!
Most people think “intelligent human behaviour” is acting in ways that add most happiness to your life and the lives of those around you.
It seems that you think “intelligent human behaviour” is acting like you and/or in ways you like.
In this thread several people have explained your error. For example, Robert of Ottawa says at August 9, 2012 at 3:55 pmL:
Evolution decrees that diversity is good: it maximises species survival when confronted with environmental change. Evolution does not decree that your preferred way of life is “intelligent”.
Richard
Willis
Nice article, very evocative.
Waves are liquid wind and therefore have the same inconstancy problems. Tides have predictable energy generation and a device that combines the two would be useful, especially in a country like the UK which, being an island, is ideally placed to harvest energy from its oceans. Unfortunately you mentioned some of the drawbacks, a key one being that the power of the sea is awesome and they tend to wreck any the generating devices that have the effrontery to sit on top of it.
The technology is twenty years behind wind hence the rush to wind in order to meet ‘urgent’ co2 reduction targets.
Tonyb
I hope your contributors will read what they have written about the Pacific Islander cultural with a more jaundiced eye. The cultural prejudice is remarkable. The “Great White Hope” comes through loud and clear. I have lived in Hawaii for over 30 years as a professional scientist (astronomer) and have nothing but extreme admiration for a culture that could not leave the stone age – there is no copper for bronze nor iron for steel. Yet they sailed between islands thousands of miles apart with out sextant, compass or North Star. Everything of use is made from vegetation, stone or bone. And everything, except the stone, quickly decays – so why maintain? Many of our “white man” cultural practices would appear equally strange to a space traveler: drill for oil? dig for coal? How quaint. And your systems only last for what? A few decades before you tear them down and start over? When will the natives ever learn?
Nice post, but the real issue (as you mentioned) is that these islands are only still functioning because of aid programs and remittances from relatives. The real game is that they are pawns in power plays in places like the UN, where a dot in the Pacific with less people than a suburb in LA or London or Sydney has an equal vote because it is called a nation.
The NZ government, like all others, is just using its aid policy as an extension of foreign policy. The reality is that an island group like the one you describe (and there are quite a few of them in the Pacific) is never, ever, going to be financially viable in modern terms – unless it is taken over by a greater power for something like a military base.
I was interested to read above that Hawaii (which has a large military presence) would not be viable without the support of the contiguous states. The fact is, even in the age of the internet, things like food, medicine and fuel still have to be transported very long distances to these places, and coconuts and solar panels won’t fix it. And, there is zero chance of them ever having doctors or engineers or hospitals or even tradespeople such as we rely on every day.
On a cost/benefit basis, it would undoubtedly be better to give each house a generator and ship in the fuel. The pragmatism Willis mentioned was demonstrated in an Australian TV series called ‘Bush Mechanics’, where motivated Aboriginal people in remote areas fixed their cars with desert grass and bits of wire and anything else that was available. I bet that the locals would soon figure out how to keep them going, if it was important to them.
dalyplanet says:
August 9, 2012 at 8:23 pm
“@ur momisugly DirkH
To make a simplified analogy, in cold climates the ant gene survives and the grasshopper gene does not, leaving far more ants than grasshoppers when the conditions are right for development/ enlightenment.”
I get your point but I think it is not the driving force of human development. We don’t develop only via genetic mechanisms; since we have developed ways of cultural evolution (or information exchange) that are much faster.
Thinking further, is it not so that Europe was able to shift into a higher development gear during the MWP because it had a far higher number of brains than, say, Tokelau? Giving us a much higher probability of getting a Newton, an Einstein, a Da Vinci?
Look at the other ancient highly developed empire – China. By and large, not too cold, but highly populated even in ancient times.
Evolution, whether genetic or on the cultural/technological level, likes big numbers. Makes for a large number of trials.
(or David Powell says:)
Excellent article, Thank you.
As to the question of who wanted the project, my suspicion is that a commercial consortium is behind the scheme, which likely resulted as an outcome of lobbied NZ politics with a mix of pressure over eco-policies, commitments and objectives. As Willis points out when seen outside of artificial objectives the project on multiple levels defies rational logic.
I am I confess not a scientist in the modern sense, neither am I an engineer, however if one recalls the Latin root of “science” – scire – is “to Know ” and in that sense I am immensely practical and knowledgeable. I have run construction projects for 30 years and when necessary have drilled my arguments into highly recognised architects, engineers, surveyors and an multitude of consultants – because I have found out, learnt – frequently the hard way – what works and what doesn’t.
My most recent projects have been in the Gulf States of the Middle East – where, as alluded to above, 30 story structures (+ several sub levels) are built on artificial surfaces or even sand! (Subsidence is a major issue, and the majority are not expected to last more than 20 years). These projects are highly labour and resource intensive, and made possible largely by the absence of ecological legislation and the skewed metrics of the labour market / exploitation of cheap (mainly) Asian workers. Such projects on Coral Atols are as suggested flights of fantasy but also ecological disasters. HOWEVER – what IS successful from lessons of the Gulf are the Heat Exchanger (H.E.) method of keeping such 30 story structures cool. These Glass/Concrete and Steel buildings inhabit 45ºC or more air temperatures yet can maintain Air Conditioned internal environments of 21º C by Heat Exchanger systems run with pumped seawater- a form of Geothermal Energy (G.E.) in this context. There is an environmental cost as seawater in the Gulf city areas are devoid of sea life due to the returning seawater being of high temperature, however in an Atol with small population (as opposed to multiple city blocks with excess of 1million or more) such a “heat sink” is not likely to be such an issue. There is also the Pacific Ocean, rather than Gulf of Arabia, so vast cooler deeper waters can be reached to provide energy, which is the real issue.
H.E. / G.E. provide a temperature differential, which in turn delivers energy/work and can be linked to multiple alternatives to provide for islander’s energy wants. Air Compressors (portable energy) -for light industrial use, impellers/dynamo’s for light power/ light electrical use, and larger Turbines for heavy industrial use. What should be remembered is the 24 hour cycles of sea water temperature changes and underwater thermocline layers and varying water pressures at such levels which may be accessed at different times of day or night.
Whilst the “beyond tomorrow” argument may stand up in some contexts, there is certainly a grasp of the need for energy – diesel – and any motor requires some maintenance, so a planning mentality has developed or no motors would exist. What appears to be the issue in the technology context is the educative adjustment and depth of understanding to the workings of new machinery. The majority of the Gulf region’s breathtaking building structures (and the mechanical systems within them) have, and are being built by uneducated farm workers. They are patiently taught, mentored (or sometimes terrorised) by western engineers and specialists until they understand the exacting needs of the systems they are installing. The real answers in the needs of the islanders I suspect are of education of a similar nature.
With Thanks.
David Powell.
I agree with your analysis Willis. I wrote this article, published in the Calgary Herald, in 2002, in opposition to the now-defunct Kyoto Protocol.
My conclusions on climate and energy still seem valid, even after a decade. By comparison, almost every major conclusion written by the IPCC has proven false and even fraudulent:
– The Mann hokey schtick, the Divergence Problem, Mike’s Nature trick, Hide the Decline; the ClimateGate letters;
– Contrary to IPCC projections, there has been NO net global warming for a decade or more, and no evidence of wilder weather, more hurricanes, or tornados;
– “Green energy “ technologies have failed to produce significant amounts of useful net energy.
If the IPCC gurus were practicing medicine, they would have already been dismissed as quacks.
A trillion dollars of scarce global resources has been squandered on climate and energy nonsense, and we have been misled by scoundrels and imbeciles.
Best regards, Allan
(excerpt)
Since the long-term goal of Kyoto activists is to eliminate fossil fuels, let’s examine their logic.
Fossil fuels, consisting of oil, natural gas and coal, account for 87 per cent of the world’s primary energy production, with 13 per cent coming from nuclear and hydroelectricity. Is it possible to replace such an enormous quantity of fossil fuels?
Hydrogen is not an answer — it is secondary energy like electricity, but it must be made from primary energy such as fossil fuels, nuclear or hydro.
Conservation is a good solution, but Canada has been aggressively improving our energy efficiency for 30 years and we will continue to do so, in response to rising energy prices. Significant improvements have been achieved in heating and insulation of homes, vehicle mileage and industrial energy efficiency. However, we live in a cold climate and our country is vast, so there are practical limits to energy conservation.
Kyoto activists want taxpayers to subsidize renewable energy from solar, geothermal, wind power and biomass to replace fossil fuels. Is this sensible?
Even after many decades of technological improvement, the energy generated by the typical “green” technology in its entire lifetime still does not add up to the energy used to manufacture and operate it. ….
Green energy technologies such as wind and solar are simply too diffuse and intermittent, so they will never replace a significant amount of fossil fuels.
Brian H says:
August 9, 2012 at 8:33 pm
“Islanders have developed a way of life that is “on the edge” but not over it. They have made a local peace with Malthus. Attempting to upgrade to a technological modern economy is a dead end. IMO.”
Mind if I call you a misogynist. Reduction in child mortality = “upgrade to a technological modern economy”.
Agree ” …lifetime of the batteries and the inverters will not be large.”
I deal with daily long blackouts at my island place. (Curiously, I exported sacks of dry coconuts to Europe 20 years ago in consolidated container loads; no spoilage enroute – like lost shipment of bananas to).
My used truck radiator cooled stationary diesel generator is a used 15 Kw Japanese Kubota tractor motor driving onto a thick rubber coupling made from a giant tire to spin a 120 Volt AC generating alternator rated for 10 Kw. (Before ever used the generating alternator repeatedly painted the interior coils with varnish so heat less likely to damage it.)
Let’s assume the project techs will know about de-sulfating their batteries ….
Inverters fortunately are usually repairable – as long as spare components can be obtained to cobble into place. A smaller back-up has proven worthwhile to me, since their repair time is unpredicatble – after a few times taken apart they don’t look so picture pretty. (Locals I’ve known even work the inverter copper coils up to spec winding them with a jury-rigged bicycle wheel.)
My hope is that Tokelau project includes up-front funding to shift into DC electrification (like 12V refrigeration compressors & LED lights) instead of wasting energy converting from battery DC to run only AC appliances off of their inverters. Soldering wire will become a trading commodity among the atolls!
oops … my Kubota tractor runs at HP horse power (not Kw)
After spending 2 frustrating years in Honiara, I think Willis has barely touched on the failing infrastructure and the culture. Power cuts are a frequent and daily occurrence, due to at least one of the 3 diesel generators supplying Honiara being down for repairs, usually necessitating a 3 month wait for parts, the water supply is cut off due to the pumps failing, or the reservoirs being drained by a multitude of illegal connections, the roads such as they are seem to be a collection of potholes joined together.
The mindset of everyone is governed by, “what can I eat today”, tomorrow is so far into the future that very few people take or spend any time in considering the future past their next meal.
As Willis describes, solar cells and batteries have a short life there, the batteries are run completely flat, it was common to find the reason your vehicle didn’t start on any morning was because the battery had been removed overnight to replace someones dead solar battery. At a replacement cost of SBD$1,000, when the average wage was SBD$4.00 per hour, acquiring batteries is a national pastime.
Once you settle in though and accept that nothing is going to change, you will find the following helpful
Solomon Island Time definitions
Einstein never visited the Solomons, if he had the Theory of Relativity would be vastly different. Time is an elastic substance here, it bears no resemblance to time as measured elsewhere. The following definitions are an approximation of life here.
Today. A word fraught with danger for those new to the country. It is loosely tied to the calendar, eg. Today is Monday, after this is wanders down a twisting turning road of its own choosing. The phrase “I will do it today” has so many non-verbal clauses attached as to be meaningless,
“I will do it today………………
if my wantoks don’t borrow my hammer/spanner/saw/workboots/car
if I am going past the shop/store/factory
when I am next in town
when my wantok bring back my saw/hammer/workboots
Tomorrow. It means “not today”. It has no further meaning nor validity in the conversation, other than as a starting point for the inevitable discussion 3 days later about why something wasn’t done yesterday.
Soon. This is a danger signal, if something is going to be done “soon”, you are best off going on that 3 month trip to the outer islands, possibly extending the trip to take in Vanuatu, New Caledonia and if finances allow, Rarotonga. On your return, you will be greeted with the words, “It is almost finished” or in exceptional circumstances the word “soon” will be added. “It will be finished soon, maybe tomorrow” cf.
Urgent. Never use the word “urgent” in any conversation, it is a confusing word having neither meaning nor relevance to life here. “Urgent” will be placed in an ever changing priority list, it may rise to the top 5 places at times, but is always trumped by wantok.
Now. If something is going to be done “now”, I would advise bringing a packed lunch, and making arrangements to stay overnight. “Now” is usually found in close conjunction with “Today”, and if anything, it serves to expand the possible descriptors and conditions attached to “today”
Maybe. If you hear “maybe” in any sentence, the chances of something happening equate in equal proportion to a snowballs chance in a volcano. “Maybe” has no legal standing here, it is a word used to bridge the gap between “today” “tomorrow” and “soon” and is used to amplify the clauses, conditions and special arrangements between those words. “Maybe today” means “tomorrow”, “maybe tomorrow” is straying dangerously close to ‘soon”, and “maybe soon” is a phrase of such ludicrous complexity as to be totally meaningless.
Good post. But what is wrong with diesel anyway? CO2 is no problem, according to the real science, so this form of power would be ideal and release the coconuts to help feed the children.
According to an article on the subject from last week ( http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/south-pacific/7408149/Tokelau-to-shed-diesel-dependence ) Tokelau uses about 200 litres of fuel daily.
To replace that diesel will require an awful lot of coconuts and solar power.
Tokelau is the main reason the Realm of New Zealand is one of the last remaining colonial Empires. So the odd 6 million dollars in aid is a triflingly small price to pay to retain an Empire. Throughout history much greater prices have been paid for far less lovely Empires.
“But what is wrong with diesel anyway?” “It was now no longer possible to speak, as had been the case since 1988, of a probable risk of cancer (“probably carcinogenic to humans”). Reclassification followed on 12 June 2012. Diesel soot is now considered a cause of lung cancer “based on sufficient evidence”; what’s more, there is a certain probability that diesel soot also increases the risk of bladder cancer. (http://phys.org/news/2012-08-x-ray-experts-decode-diesel-soot.html)”
ATM there is a meme on the web of the Norwegian-ant dooming the grasshopper’s EU and its economy.
Completely off topic to your interesting post Willis, but perhaps of interest
A HUGE cluster of floating volcanic rocks covering almost 26,000 square kilometres has been found drifting in the Pacific, the New Zealand navy said today.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/pumice-cluster/story-e6frg6so-1226447817711
Nauru had similar issues in many ways to the Tokelau.
In East Arnhemland, Australia the local ‘tribal’ people re-diverted a government pin-coded PABX system to another community some 800 kms away. Presumably to tap in to the drug trade there.
My experience working in, not visiting these places, is that local tribal structures which serve to deliver total control for a few families over many others can be exploited for maximum advantage (if one wishes to do so).
some enterprising soul found out that if you stuck a paper clip or a bit of wire between a certain pair of the contacts on the controller, it would let you drain the batteries entirely … and as a result, every battery on the island was stone, cold dead.
My suggestion for these remote atolls, and oddly just sent to me in the last few days would be this below, given the economy which media and such consumption and anthropology has delivered for decades to most of these places. Whether this has been to any benefit I am not clear, rising sea levels seems to have made some impact on the general collection plate more recently.
Wonder if there is geothermal energy down the hole of atolls. Drill for hot water or steam. Wala. Energy.
Mike Sphar says: August 9, 2012 at 3:05 pm: […] Paradise can be beautiful but it also has another face which appears occasionally.
Hmm. Which is why someone said ecologists should be left naked in a Borneo jungle for a week to know better about Mother Nature. Sort of a graduation trip.
New Zealand should be held accountable for the spread of lead pollution.
Many countries send out young people with Phd’s and Master’s degrees to help the pacific islanders. They design wonderful systems that work beautifully until a fuse blows that no one knows how to change. I recall that every time I would visit one of these islands, the locals would proudly show me their five year plan that someone helped them write. They did not understand the plan or intend to implement it, but it made the howlies smile.
BTW, as I recall it was the Fiji Islanders who provided the best assistance with the most appropriate technology. And there were Korean farmers who provided the best help with agricultural technology.