Keeling Curve

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Project Summary / Description:

Barefoot College International was formed to meet the growing global demand for non-traditional renewable energy solutions that could be owned and controlled by needful communities living in rural poverty and suffering the worst effects of the global climate disaster that is currently ongoing. BCI formed in 2015 to provide global programs on 5 continents that train rurally poor women as solar engineers, equip them to solar electrify their communities, and to enact sustainable educational and economic training programs. Our overall goal is to give marginalized communities the tools they need to use renewable energy to develop their future, and to fight back against climate change by going carbon neutral for the long-term. We focus on providing energy, education and economic self-sustainability by enabling marginalized communities to control and develop their own renewable energy infrastructure with BCI‚ support, training and equipment.

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How Project Affects Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions:

Replaces/avoids GHGs (e.g., projects that replace sources of GHGs, such as the burning of fossil fuels for electricity, heat, transport, or other energy uses), Reduces GHGs (e.g., projects that reduce sources of GHGs, such as through efficiency or other changes in consumption)

Best Estimate of GHG Avoidance/Reduction of This Project (Tonnes CO2 Equivalent/Year):

Impact on Underrepresented Groups:

BCI works exclusively with rurally poor, marginalized communities that are majority comprised of indigenous populations, and we train women as the primary changemakers in our programs to become solar engineers, educators and entrepreneurs. We work with communities of this nature because rurally remote communities that are logistically challenging to reach are massively under-served by regional and national governments around the world, and hugely under-represented in the climate movement, especially when we take into consideration the fact that rurally poor communities are the most negatively affected by the climate crisis in terms of human populations. Indigenous communities are further under-represented and marginalized, and due to their over-representation in rurally poor populations it is critical that they be given not only a voice in the climate movement, but the tools and knowledge they need to take self-sufficient action to rescue their future with effective carbon neutral technologies. Women are also under-represented in the climate movement for a sustainable future, and in the context of rurally poor and remote communities with large indigenous populations this is doubly true; the effects of climate change and their household roles mean that women are at the greatest risk of negative health effects from fossil fuel usage, rising temperatures and carbon emissions. To combat this, we equip and train women as the primary changemakers needed to lift their entire communities into a more sustainable future with self-owned and operated carbon neutral solar energy technology.

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