2010-10-22
13 分钟Thank you for downloading this episode of A History of the World in 100 Objects from BBC Radio 4.
This series has been, for me, an exhilarating journey through two million years of human endeavour, passion, and ingenuity.
We began in East Africa with a chopping tool, a roughly shaped stone
that allowed us to take control of our environment
and to change both the way we live and the way we think.
And I want to finish with another tool, or more precisely,
with a bit of technology that's also transforming the way we can live and think.
In East Africa where our story began, but also in South Asia and in many other parts of the world.
It's a portable solar energy panel that powers a lamp.
In fact, it's sunshine: captured, harvested, and stored,
to be taken out and used whenever and wherever we need it.
"Now I can do my lesson till midnight because of solar light."
"Previously, I had to spend lots of time in the ration shop to collect kerosene oil for used lamps."
"Now I can save my time and money too."
Solar energy is at the heart of the new industrial revolution,
the low-carbon industrial revolution which is just beginning.
A revolution which will be enormously important in the history of mankind.
A History of the World in 100 Objects.
Solar powered lamp and charger.
Made in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China in 2010.