The U.S. State Department has given the Peace Corps $1 million to start a grassroots program that will help mitigate the effects of climate change and bring renewable energy to developing communities in Central and South America. The new Peace Corps effort is part of the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA), which President Barack Obama created in April 2009.
"We can strengthen the foundation of our prosperity and our security and our environment through a new partnership on energy," said Obama when proposed the ECPA at the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. "Our hemisphere is blessed with bountiful resources, and we are all endangered by climate change. Now we must come together to find new ways to produce and use energy so that we can create jobs and protect our planet."
Under this newest ECPA program, Peace Corps volunteers will educate local communities about climate change and energy conservation and teach them how to install, operate and maintain clean-energy technologies such as biodigesters, solar water heaters, photovoltaic devices, solar and fuel-efficient stoves, and wind or mini-hydroelectric power generators. Volunteers will also help people in their host countries adapt vehicles to run on alternative fuels.
The goal of the partnership is to make clean energy more accessible to rural communities, reduce carbon emissions, improve public health, and provide new income opportunities for people and small businesses in developing communities. Not a bad idea.
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