In the last decade, there’s been a lot of talk about “food security”. Nothing wrong about that, cause man gotta eat, doesn’t he?? That’s as primal as you can get: no food, no life!! Some say that “in the beginning was the ‘word”, but as far as your Eyewitness is concerned, in the beginning had to be food!! But why food? Food, dear reader, is our “fuel”, to give us energy, without which we wouldn’t even be able to lift an eyebrow!! And in Guyana, as we all should know, with the goings-on, eyebrows have to be lifted all the time!!
This long windup is to emphasise that, projecting from our own lives, everything that moves in the universe needs energy. And the more energy we have, the more we can do. So, in the beginning, we started taming animals like oxen and horses, and used them to do work we didn’t have the energy to do on our lonesome. Hence the word, “horsepower” augmenting “manpower”!! After thousands of years, some wise guy thought about using the energy from wind and running water to turn wheels that ground our grains and such like. Then came the big breakthrough of the steam engine, that burnt coal to turn the water into steam to turn all those gears that moved whatever contraption we could think about!! Like ships and trains etc!!
Anyhow, two things happened. We started to burn all sorts of fossil fuels in addition to coal – like petroleum of various grades and natural gases to move the machinery now placed in “factories” to make all sorts of things to “improve our quality of life. But, in the last few decades, we realized that all actions have reactions: burning all those fossil fuels produced and increased the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. And this led to global warming, which now threatens our survival – even though we desperately want to catch up with the ‘developed countries”, which became so by burning fossil fuels.
So, what to do?? Well, to your Eyewitness, there’s only one solution – the developed countries can now start practising and preaching to their people a Gandhian “small and less is beautiful” philosophy, and quit burning all those fossil fuels. In the meantime, those of us in the sh*thole countries can catch up with them by getting as much energy as we can from running water, wind and solar – but use fossil fuels to fill any gaps. This is especially true for our country, which just struck an ocean of oil and gas sloshing around off our Atlantic Coast!!
It is beyond ridiculous for some to demand we leave our oil in the ground while we’re still in the relative Stone Age!!
…cheaper
After decades of promises, we’re about to get electricity cheap enough so we won’t have to worry about keeping our lights on or eating bread!! Remember when Burnham hocked all the money in the land and shanghaied the youths to give us hydro-power up the Mazaruni?? We got HYDRO all right!! Anyhow, during an earlier PPP incarnation, they’d put together all the pieces – plans, financing, contractors, etc – to deliver cheap power from the Amaila Falls. But guess who torpedoed that plan?? The PNC, of course!!
But you gotta hand it to the PPP…they never give up on a noble goal. And securing cheap energy is as noble as you can get. AT a minimum, we’ll match TT’s manufacturing strength, since it’s all built on cheap energy!! So, the news that the Govt just inked a contract with an American firm to construct a 300MW power plant – using our own natural gas – is fantabulous!!
Especially when some of the gas will be used as feeder stock to start a petrochemical industry!!
…vs lassitude
As mentioned earlier, energy also keeps us going. So, could it be that the Opposition Leader just has the energy to match the President? Your Eyewitness understands there’s something called “steel-drops” that’ll do the trick!!
