To help explain this concept consider for example the use of kerosene lamps in Sub-Saharan Africa and India. A friend of ours who is based in Burkina Faso has explained that very poor people can spend up to a dollar a day on kerosene for lighting alone. Kerosene causes terrible respiratory problems in general use and horrific burns after accidents. It is also a hydrocarbon and its use emits greenhouse gases.Meanwhile in the Global North, we still haven’t legislated properly against the use of incandescent light bulbs (the old-fashioned filament bulbs). Eco-affluent convergence would see both people in the North and the South transitioning towards the use of solid state LEDs. This will benefit everyone. Eco-affluent convergence aims to link people on a peer-to-peer, community-to-community basis so that, for example, people in the transition town movement in a UK town could assist a rural community in Burkina Faso with the initial capital costs to purchase solar-panels, batteries and LED lamps, while pledging to move in the same direction themselves – ensuring they replace all incandescent bulbs as a first step and purchasing solar panels, or a green (a real one not a greenwash one) electricity tariff.If the community in Burkina also receive a laptop, a camera (people in SSA may already have camera phones) and access to an internet connection then the two communities can communicate as friends and equals over a social network.
