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Environmental and developmental problems are often considered to be issues which governments and international institutions should take responsibility for. Their role should not be overlooked, but in the words of Illac Diaz: –Who knows better than the locals what they need?

When Illac Diaz from the Philippines based MyShelter Foundation spoke at the plenary session “A greener economy”, he offered a different perspective than the other two speakers; Erik Solheim and Paal Frisvold. Whereas their ideas mainly concerned top-down initiatives to solve problems related to development and environmental issues, Diaz is heading an organization which implements bottom-up projects. As he pointed out himself; when facing issues that are national or even global in scope, it is easy to feel overwhelmed, and think: Where do I enter in this? His foundation proves that extraordinary things can happen on the grassroots level.

Simple ingenuity

Describing the project “A Liter of Light”, Diaz showed how simple, but brilliant inventions can make an immediate impact on the lives of the poor. By using something that otherwise would have been considered as waste; empty plastic bottles, and filling them with water and some chlorine, cheap and eco-friendly light bulbs are created. The bottles are stuck in metal roofs so that a part of it is outside and the rest inside, and sun rays are refracted and led into the house. Not only is this good from an environmental perspective, it also reduces people’s electricity bills.

A Liter of Light is not the foundation’s only project. They have also used bottles filled with soil to build schools. Not only do they get to use waste in producing something meaningful, the schools are also reported to be both cheaper and stronger than concrete. The technology is open for anyone to use as they have an open source policy, and Diaz said that once people have learned how to make the solar light bulbs, they are eager to help others to make and install them. Starting from the Philippines, the Liter of Light project is now present both in India and Indonesia, and even in Switzerland.

– Solar power to the people

The MyShelter Foundation is explicit in the choice of work strategy and target group. – We believe green technology is for everyone. Unfortunately, it’s only accessible to those who can afford it. That’s why the foundation is taking sustainable building solutions to the grassroots level—the people who are in most need of low-cost infrastructure, they write on their website. Diaz summed it up with a smile: – Solar power to the people!

The entrepreneur was highly determined that problems are better off solved at the local level than by anyone else. He encouraged people to think creatively about which methods that fit their specific situation and location, rather than “buying everything off the shelf”, as he phrased it. Locals should think outside the box, and go from “business as usual to business unusual”.

Development on nature’s terms

Projects like Liter of Light do something which the world will continue to see an enormous need for; they combine human development with ecological sustainability. Also, they lead way for people to achieve development even in countries that have inefficient governments. The goal of the MyShelter Foundation is to have one million solar light bulbs installed around the world by 2015. If they manage that, the families in those one million homes will have gotten an improved quality of life, without harming the environment, and all due to local initiatives. One bulb saves us 17 kilos of carbon dioxide per year. That is not much by itself, but what if millions of these, and in time also other similar inventions can spread from village to village, from country to country. «Solar power to the people» holds revolutionary connotations. To call it a green revolution would be an exaggeration, but who knows how large the snowball becomes, if only it rolls far enough.

15 February 2013