Right now, 45 Philips employees, their families and friends, are attempting to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro (5895m), the highest mountain in Africa, which is on the border between Kenya and Tanzania. They are doing this to promote energy efficient lighting as a part solution to the huge and growing problem of climate change. They also aim to raise money for an Oxfam Novib project in Tanzania:
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| Mt. Kilimanjaro - the last ice is going fast. |
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Although it was spoken of in the second century, Mount Kilimanjaro was only ‘discovered’ by the western world in 1848, when the German missionary Johannes Rebmann came within sight of the mountain, explored the area and traversed the lower slopes. He submitted his findings to the Royal Geographical Society, but his description of a snowcapped mountain in eastern equatorial Africa was doubted by these ‘experts’.
Voltimum UK managing editor James Hunt can attest to the frightening rate at which the snows and ice of Mt. Kilimanjaro are disappearing, having climbed it himself in 2001. Even then, much ice had disappeared and there was almost no snow. The top of the mountain has seen a retreat of the most recent covering of glaciers, with the most recent ice cap volume dropping by more than 80%. In 2002, a study led by Ohio State University ice core paleoclimatologist Lonnie Thompson predicted that ice on top of Africa’s tallest peak would be gone between 2015 and 2020. Apart from greatly reducing the iconic and visual impact of this great white mountain rising out of the East African plains, if all the ice does disappear, there will be severe knock-on ennvironmental effects for the animals and people within a wide area.
The Oxfam Novib TIP water irrigation project has already tripled the harvest and incomes for 56,000 local farmers. Commented Thur de Kuijer, Oxfam Novib programme officer for the TIP project: “This event will make it possible for TIP to further teach the population how to make better use of the natural environment and will help to improve existing irrigation techniques. In this way the ‘Save the snow’ initiative has an impact in both Europe and Africa.”
Energy efficient lighting can make a big difference:
Energy efficient lighting has tremendous potential to help reduce CO2 emissions around the world. CO2 is the main ‘greenhouse’ gas emitted by human activities that is predominantly responsible for global warming. Figures show that more than three quarters of all lighting currently installed in the world today is based on inefficient technologies developed before the 1970s. If these were switched to more efficient lighting technologies, available on the market today, consumers, businesses and the environment would benefit enormously. Figures show achievable savings of Euro 106bn/year in running costs, and 555m tonnes of CO2 / year across the globe.
“Kilimanjaro is an icon for climate change”, said Nick Kelso one of the organisers. “We want to raise awareness, as employees and citizens of planet earth of the benefits of a switch to more efficient lighting”.
Although Voltimum Manufacturing Partner Philips is supporting this initiative, the participants are paying for all of the expedition themselves and are doing it in their own time. One of the sponsors is another Voltimum Manufacturing Partner, ABB.
For those Voltimum users perhaps worried about the ‘carbon footprint’ caused by all 45 people flying to Africa (thereby contributing to CO2 emissions), it is pointed out that team members will compensate for this by installing four compact fluorescent (CFLs) lamps in their own, or friends homes. Independent calculations show that the energy saved from this will offset the carbon footprint of the flight. It is thought that the team aim to summit around New Year’s Day.
However, it is thought unlikely by the experts that Mt. Kilimanjaro’s snows can be saved, at least in the short term, because climate change is accelerating too quickly and not enough is being done globally to combat it. Even so, this Philips initiative is worthwhile on several levels.
For more information, go to www.lighting.philips.com/microsite/save_the_snow. Organiser Nick Kelso has written a book on his climbing exploits called ‘The Alpine Game’.
