The Lesotho government was willing to subsidize a limited amount of research, but not at all the long-term maintenance of these new technologies. Lesotho is a small country, less than two million at the time we did our work, and then economy of scale would not assist in introducing new models, forcing prices to remain high so that their introduction depended on unsustainable government subsidies. At each stage, as I pointed out in an earlier chapter, we found only a very small niche where the new idea could take root. At the next level up, those with minimal cash income saw the value of the improved devices, but they had to reserve their money to buy food and clothing. Those at the bottom economically were only able to spend time, not money, and for cultural reasons these people were least willing or able to spend their time on innovations. The costs varied according to the economic level of the potential users. A much smaller 3% of the respondents said that the forest is bad and 1% that it is the home of bad spirits, but these responses pale in light of the positive assessments. The unwillingness of Liberian government officials and foreign corporations to respect the forest goes strongly against the strongly affirmative thoughts about the forest by our informants. The forest is not simply a neutral background, but is a source of life and well-being. Responses from the people we interviewed showed the concern rural Liberians have for the forest, with 15% asserting that forests can grow rice, 12% that people work in the forest, 12% that the forest is good, and 10% that people make farms in the forest. For example, beginning in 1922 huge tracts of forest were taken from rural villages for Firestone rubber plantations, then for uncontrolled logging to buy weapons during Charles Taylor’s disastrous civil war, and currently in 2012 for Malaysian oil palm plantations. The forest has been subject to serious exploitation in recent years. For example, one of the many topics which were posed to the respondents was the forest, a reality present to all Kpelle in the interior of Liberia.

Loma verde towermadness 2