Mini Film Review: Billions in Change 2

Billions in Change 2 is a follow-up documentary from Billions in Change were a series of new inventions are introduced to us.  These are all designed to help 'improve humanity' by addressing what they see as everyone's fundamental needs, which are energy, water, and health.  Led by the founder billionaire Manoj Bhargava, the work is being carried out through Stage 2, The Hans Foundation, and The Hans Hospital and the idea is to enable communities to build their own futures by providing them with free electricity, free fertilizer, and clean water.

The new inventions highlighted in this documentary are the HANS PowerPack, the HANS Solar Briefcase, the RainMaker for Brackish Water, the RainMaker for Grey Water, and the Shivansh Fertiliser.  I was definitely intrigued by the PowerPack and Solar Briefcase and think it might be a really good option for when I start living in a van properly as I very much doubt I'm going to be able to afford the full solar set up right from the start.  Of course, there's the added fact that by buying these products you are helping to support the work that they do, and that's no bad thing.

The RainMakers are products that we did see the pre-cursor of in the first documentary and it's good to see how it has evolved, becoming more compact and suited to the needs of the communities they're being sent to.  There are probably simpler ways of getting fresh water into a community, but these won't work for everyone everywhere and the ability to recycle water rather than just constantly taking it new is definitely something we are going to need to start doing if we want to live within the boundaries of our environment.  

The Shivansh Fertiliser is designed to help rural farmers make their own fertiliser using what they already have lying around the farm, such as animal manure and dry plant material.  To be honest, it is literally just basic composting in a cage and this is a technique they probably would have been using at some point in the past before going to expensive commercial fertiliser.  While some people have criticised Billions in Change for taking credit for handing out information on composting (they've made it available online for free), I see it more as a shame that there are communities that have lost this knowledge and are now having to be taught it all over again.

I'm not entirely sure if this documentary is a necessary watch from a fact collecting point of view, but it was good to see that there are people out there trying to find solutions to some of the issues that are facing many people today.  It's also good to see that they work to enable communities to then take their own steps to the future they want instead of having to rely on others.  Definitely watch the first documentary before you watch this one, neither of them will take up a lot of your time, and enjoy watching something that's a little positive break from what is happening right now.

If you want to learn more about Billions in Change their website is here.

Being more like the Kingdom of Bhutan

I like to look at how other countries and how they have taken on the challenge of looking after their environment.  It seems all the more important now that Britain has voted to 'stand alone' in the EU Referendum and we may have to determine our own environmental policies to protect our natural world and fight climate change as a whole. 

One of the countries I have been most interested in has been the Kingdom of Bhutan. Bhutan is a relatively small country nestled in between India and China, with a population of only around 750,000, a GDP of just 1.78 billion USD, and is still classified as a 'least developed country'. You would expect then they would be racing to catch up with the Western world (the apparent benchmark everyone aspires to), destroying all their natural resources and greatly increasing their carbon footprint in the process. But they haven't. Instead they have taken a very different route.


Firstly, one of the most obvious things is that they have chosen to rule their progress not by the western GDP (Gross Domestic Produce) but by GNH (Gross National Happiness), apparently based on the Buddhist spiritual values.  First coined in 1972, this may appear to have nothing to do with being environmentally friendly, the four pillars of GNH are:

• Sustainable development
• Preservation and promotion of cultural values
• Conservation of the natural environment
• Establishment of good governance

This not only puts sustainability and conservation at the heart of anything they do, but also removes money as the only goal to aim for.

Since then Bhutan has signed the Rio Convention on Biological Diversity in 1992 and produced a National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan which has lead to them being viewed as a model for proactive conservation initiatives.  In this strategy they have promised to maintain at least 60% of their land under forest cover, designate more than 40% territory as national parks, reserves, and other protected areas, and, most recently, identify a further 9% of land as biodiversity corridors linking these protected areas allowing migration throughout the country.  They have also implemented an insurance scheme and set up solar powered alarm fences, watchtowers and search lights to protect crops and livestock, as well as providing food and salt licks outside of human settlements to reduce conflict between humans and protected wildlife.  The Bhutan Government has made it clear that, while their natural heritage is largely intact, it cannot be taken for granted and conserving it must be one of the challenges to be addressed in years to come.

This protection of their wildlife has meant that the Kingdom of Bhutan currently has the net greenhouse gas emission of zero, with the small amount of pollution they produce being absorbed by the forests covering Bhutan.  On top of this, they have also implemented a number of (to us) progressive environmental policies, such as promoting the purchase of electric cars and ensuring that most of their energy is obtained from hydroelectric, which will ensure that their carbon footprint will always remain relatively low.

Perhaps the most striking difference between the Bhutan government's attitude to environmental conservation against the UK's is that it has not been treated as a separate sector, that is usually ignored, but has been placed at the core of the nation's development strategy and can be found as a running theme throughout all the sections of Government.

Now I'm not saying the Kingdom of Bhutan is perfect (there was the forced expulsion of the ethnic minority group of Hindu Lhotshampa), but their treatment and attitude towards the natural world is definitely something we can learn from.

Incidentally, I thought I would add another video here that will show you how measuring GDP alone will not necessarily help a nation develop into a happy, healthy, and sustainable nation.