I cry for our future

Stories is all we can do to make our small voices heard by big countries. The small island developing states are writing the stories of their future,” said Veerle Vandeweerd, director of the environment and energy group at the U.N. Development Programme.

They point towards a time when respiratory illness from cooking over smoky stoves is no longer a primary cause of death for the women and children of poor households; where girls can go to school instead of collecting firewood; and where students have light to study through the night for exams if they so choose.

Tuvalu has made a bold commitment to shift to 100% renewable electricity by 2020. It plans to have 100 % renewable energy soon. This is the best news i have read so far in relation to Tuvalu. However it needs funds.

Tokelau took the lead in going green energy while Tuvalu and the Cook Islands plans for 2020. Tuvalu should have done away with diesel long time ago, however leaders took their time.
Tuvalu is known for its ever shining sun so our governments should have thought about that long time ago. It is estimated that oil imports account for up to 30 percent of national income. Tuvalu always has to spend more than one million each year to provide power for the people on the main island of Funafuti only while the outer islands have to make do with a few hours of lights on and more hours of lights off in order to save fuel. It's not very fair for the people on the outer islands and a lot of funds have been wasted on buying diesel in order to light up the islands.

The money that is usually spent on importing fuel could be used to boost jobs, healthcare and education, or invested in new farming practices to keep yields up amid climate shifts or initiatives to cope with rising sea levels. Like most islands in the South Pacific, it has been among the first nations to be hard hit by climate change. With most of the island at less than 3 feet above sea level, and with the oceans rising at an alarming rate, Tuvalu is at high risk of becoming uninhabitable. Tuvalu has a population of just over 10,500 people who always constantly worrying about what will happen next, so i congratulated the minds behind this intiative.

The effort kicked off with a 40 kw rooftop solar system that supplies 5% of the capital city of Funafuti's power. In just over a year of producing electricity, the solar plant replaced the need to import approximately 4,500 gallons of diesel fuel and decreased the nation's carbon footprint by 50 tons. The installation was donated by e8, an international non-profit organization made up of 10 major electricity companies from the G8 nations.

The next project in line was a 46 kilowatt solar power system that has been installed on the local secondary school for an estimated cost of $800,000. The island also is making use of biogas from pig manure. With the support of ADEME and UNDP, a training program for biogas installation was implemented on the island.

This shows that Tuvalu doesn't only want industiralised countries to reduce gas emmission but is also playing it's parts in it's efforts to maintain its island which have been predicted to disappear in another fifty years.

I am sure that this is not the work of the current government , not that i have anything against them but as a member of the Alofa Tuvalu (LOVE TUVALU) Asociation which comprises a few Tuvaluans and French experts who understands the plight of the Tuvaluans. The notion have been planted long time ago into the minds of Tuvalu leaders but action was so slow.

$20 million will be needed to reach the goal of carbon neutrality. To put that in perspective, if everyone in Australia or metropolitan New York City give about $1 USD, Tuvalu could reach their goal. And if there is a hope of saving islands like Tuvalu from going under water, the world will also need to rapidly switch to 100% renewable energy, reforest, as well as conserve and more efficiently use energy.

Island of Tuvalu: Help my island, it's too beautiful to disappear under water.

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Photo credit: Stefan Lins