If this project gets implemented on a scale large enough to actually stabilize the level of CO2 in the air, some 150 million acres of cane world-wide will have a positive impact on many of the other problems facing the world. The World Bank and the Union of Concerned Scientists have looked at and written about these issues, and generally concur on a Top-20 list. When we compare this list with what our project does, we find five direct hits and eleven indirect.
| Global Warming | Direct |
| Indoor air pollution | " |
| Outdoor air pollution | " |
| Third World energy supply | " |
| Economy | " |
| Population control | Indirect |
| Deforestation | " |
| Species preservation | " |
| Agricultural land | " |
| General education | " |
| Women's education | " |
| Poverty Reduction | " |
| Sexual equality | " |
| Recycle and conserve | " |
| Water pollution | " |
| Solid wastes | " |
These are contributions that low-cost methane and the activity that produces it can make to the world in general and the Third World in particular. This example, paraphrased from The World Bank report illustrates:
About half the world's people cook with biomass, placing 100-170 million at risk from indoor air pollution. Each year some 3-700,000 premature deaths occur as a direct result of this practice, which also leads to deforestation from intense scavenging, soil erosion from school-kids picking the land clean, depleted soil fertility, high social and medical costs and more. The potential positive impact of available, locally-produced methane for fuel is obviously very high here.
Similar statements could be made about other entries above.
Email: H.A.Hartung@py.com
