I’ve just put up a blog railing at poor communicators – now my team have come back to me and said I need to include some figures – without them people can’t get an idea of the scale of the problem. Always happy to be critiqued – don’t … if you can’t take it etc.
One in every 5 people on our planet lives without electricity. Nearly 3 billion people use wood, charcoal or dung to cook. According to the UN fumes from these cook stoves damage health and kill nearly two million people every year. I’ve also heard it said that 85% of those who die are under 5.
95% of the people who lack energy and/or cook on deadly cook stoves are in sub-Saharan Africa or developing Asia.
Scientists warn that if we continue on our current energy path our world could warm by on average 4 degrees this century – maybe more. Poor people will be hit first and hardest.
We can continue along this path – we can gamble with our planet and push even more people into poverty.
Or we can do something different – we can commit to tackling climate change, we can commit to sustainable energy for all – we can commit to technology justice.
The Clean Energy Ministerial is important. Lets encourage our politicians to give a lead.