Just before I head to Haiti with Unicef
Posted on the 16.03.2010 by Alain Hubert
This week I have been invited as a Unicef ambassador to make a short trip to Haiti. My stay there will enable me to assess the relief programmes that Unicef is implementing on the ground. Many of these programmes have, of course, been running since the dramatic earthquake that occurred on 12th January, but what the general public may not be aware of is that Unicef has already been working for quite a few years in Haiti and certainly well before the latest disaster to hit the area.
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But before leaving for Port-au-Prince, I would like to dwell for a moment on the results from the latest scientific season in Antarctica and the work carried out at the zero-emissions Princess Elisabeth research station located at Utsteinen in the Sor Rondane Mountains.
As we said in our previous report, the new base has now been totally completed and is fully operational. The past four months have been spent at the site installing and testing the final pieces of equipment and systems. In particular, we now have a satellite station up and running, which we have managed to sink a full 13 metres into the granite bedrock.
I would also like to reiterate something that I feel is extremely important: the fact that we have succeeded in setting up a research base – and remember, it is a prototype and the first of its kind in the world – that produces energy using just one-tenth of the usual production resources demonstrates that it is possible to manage energy differently. In any event, our efforts at Princess Elisabeth foreshadow the framework of a new society that needs to develop as well as rethink the relationship between mankind and the sources of energy we use. We have been able to show that it is possible to have a different kind of future and that humans are capable of changing the way they behave in their day-to-day lives in terms of their consumption of energy.
This is extremely satisfying both for myself and for all our teams. This year has been a bit like the way I feel at the end of an expedition when I say, “See – we did it, and it’s fantastic…” And then there’s also the fact that we have been able to succeed in a venture of this kind involving both large companies (GDF Suez and Schneider Electric in particular) and just ordinary people. I find that amazingly motivating.
More from me when I get back from Port-au-Prince – and again many thanks to all of you who have visited my website in such great numbers.
UNICEF-supported temporary classrooms are a refuge for quake-affected children.
© UNICEF Belgium
