A Critical Conversation on Climate Change ... - Green Choices

offsets – the fossil economy’s new arena of conflict 2751.58 and the literacy rate is approximately 66 per cent, compared to92 per cent for the country as a whole. 109 The estate population is alsounderserved when it comes to infrastructure. A sample survey of 50estates found that 62 per cent of estate residents lacked individual latrinesand 46 per cent did not have a water source within 100 metresof their residence. 110Due partly to its cost, electrification, unlike health care, water supply,and sanitation, has never been one of the core social issues thatsocial-service organisations working among the estate population getinvolved in.That would seem to make the estate sector the perfect choice for a solar technologyproject. I still don’t see the problem.There’s no question that electrification could do a lot of good forworkers and their families. By displacing smoky kerosene lamps, itwould provide a smoke-free environment that reduces respiratoryailments, as well as quality lighting that reduces eyestrain and createsa better study environment for the school-going generation 111 whoare eager to secure employment outside the plantation economy. Researchershave found clear connections between off-grid technologyand educational achievement.But as tea estates are regulated and highly structured enclave economies,SELCO could not approach workers without the cooperationand approval of estate management. The chief executive of one plantationcorporation, Neeyamakola Plantations, was willing to allowSELCO access to the ‘market’ that his off-grid workers represented.He himself liked the idea of solar electrification, but for an entirelydifferent set of reasons.How’s that?Sri Lanka’s 474 plantation estates were privatised recently. Facingfierce competition from other tea-producing countries, they need tolower production costs and increase worker productivity in order tocompensate for low tea prices on the global market and wage increasesmandated by the Sri Lankan government. Neeyamakola hadalready introduced some productivity-related incentives and thoughtthat solar-home systems could provide another. Furthermore, witha regular electricity supply, workers could watch more television. 112Seeing how other people in the country lived, they’d want to raisetheir standards of living too. For that, they’d need money. To earnmore money, they’d work harder or longer, or both. 113So, in 2000, Neeyamakola was only too happy to sign an agreement