Fourth Year assessments of Eco-Libris planting partners are available now online

This is our last post for 2011 and just like we did in 2008, 2009 and 2010 we dedicate it to announce that the annual assessments (2010-11) of our planting partners are now available online!

Here's a little bit more about these assessments: As part of our pledge to quality service to our customers, we decided at the beginning of our operations to conduct annual assessments of our planting partners.The two main goals of these assessments are: 1. to verify the quality of the planting operations and to make sure the high standards we promise to our customers are kept and 2. to provide our customers with details on the tree planting operations they support to balance out their books.

This is the fourth year we're conducting these assessments. Right now, two of them (SHI and AIR) are available online, and the third one (RIPPLE Africa) will be available within couple of weeks.

You are invited to read them (see links below) and also visit our planting partners' websites to learn more about them. Links to past assessments for each of our planting partners, as well as links to their websites, are available on our planting partners page.

Here are links to the two reports that are currently available:

AIR's assessment

SHI's assessment

We will keep you posted of course with more data, photos and videos from the planting operations! Thanks again to our planting partners and to everyone that was involved in the work on the assessments.

Photo credits:

Photo 1: SHI, Panama

Photo 2: AIR, Guatemala

Happy New Year!
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Dr. Anne Hallum of AIR receives the J. Sterling Morton Award from the Arbor Day Foundation

We are very proud of our three planting partners, RIPPLE Africa, SHI and AIR, who are doing a great job fighting both deforestation and poverty in developing countries. We feel even more proud when we hear about another award or recognition they received that is joining the long list of awards they already have.

So it is our pleasure to update you that Dr. Anne Hallum of the Alliance for International Reforestation (AIR) was presented with the J. Sterling Morton Award, the highest honor given by the Arbor Day Foundation!

Award winners according to the Arbor Day Foundation are recognized for their leadership in the cause of tree planting, conservation,and environmental stewardship.

Congratulations to Dr. Hallum! She definitely deserves it for her ongoing efforts and endless work at AIR. Just to remind you, only last February she has been named one of CNN’s 2011 Heroes!

Here's more about why the Arbor Day Foundation awarded her with the prize (from their website):

Anne Hallum of the Alliance for International Reforestation (A.I.R) in DeLand, Fla., was presented with the J. Sterling Morton Award, the highest honor given by the Arbor Day Foundation. Hallum founded her nonprofit organization to help people in Guatemala by establishing a better, more sustainable quality of life through tree-planting.

The Morton Award is named after J. Sterling Morton, who founded Arbor Day in 1872.

Under Hallum's direction and guidance, the Alliance for International Reforestation has been educating residents in Guatemala and Nicaragua since 1993, working with 25 to 30 villages at a time, each for a period of five years. The staff (all native residents) educates indigenous volunteers about proper tree-planting and agroforestry that will provide sustainable farming as well as protection from frequent and dangerous mudslides. Through proper tree-planting, mountainside erosion is controlled and mudslides are avoided during the harshest of storms.

The native trees planted by local volunteers and farmers help preserve important forests, which have a tremendous impact on the villages. These trees improve nutrition for people and livestock, provide animal habitat, clean the air, protect local water, supply firewood, shade homes and fertilize crops. A.I.R. has worked with more than 110 villages in rural Guatemala and Nicaragua, adding more than 3.7 million trees to the region's rain forest.

You can find more information on AIR at http://www.air-guatemala.org/

Photo credit: Arbor Day Foundation

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read

Dr. Anne Hallum, founder and director of our planting partner AIR was named one of CNN’s 2011 Heroes!

We are very happy (and proud!) to update you that Dr. Ann Hallum, the founder and director of the Alliance for International Reforestation (AIR), our planting partner, has been named one of CNN’s 2011 Heroes!

Dr. Hallum was named as a CNN hero due to her efforts, with AIR, the organization she established almost 20 years ago with the goal of assisting local communities in Central America to conserve their environment through reforestation, sustainable farming, and education. AIR, which is working mainly in Guatemala has done since then a tremendous work, focusing on planting trees as one of the the most effective ways to achieve its goals.

We congratulate Dr. Hallum on this wonderful achievement. Eco-Libris is proud to have AIR as one of its planting partners and support its important work in Guatemala. Since 2007 we planted more than 60,000 trees with AIR and we hope to continue and plant many more in our quest to balance out as many books as possible by planting trees. These trees have a tremendous value, both environmental and social, and only lately we could learn on their importance, preventing mudslide tragedies caused by tropical storm Agatha.

Hallum explains in the article on CNN's website how it all started:

The effort, nearly 20 years strong, was one Hallum said she never really planned. A political science professor at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, Hallum traveled to the rural town of Nueva Concepcion, Guatemala, in 1991 as an adviser for a university field trip. It was her first trip outside the United States, and despite not being able to speak Spanish, she was moved by a blatant poverty that "broke her heart" and birthed a "new purpose."

"I went into the villages where lots of the trees were cut down, and I held some of the children," said Hallum, 57. "They were listless and couldn't hold themselves up. Their eyes were dull, and it became pretty clear that they were malnourished."

The farms she visited were not sustainable, she said, because the soil was eroded and lacked nutrients. Hallum, a self-proclaimed nature lover, was not formally trained in agriculture, but she knew some basic facts about trees and food products that could be cheaply grown. With the help of a former student, she researched rural resources and learned that many local Guatemalan tree varieties could be strategically replanted to provide fruit, fertilizer, coffee, food and medicinal herbs where resources were failing or nonexistent.

"When we started, it was all about fighting poverty," Hallum said. "We wanted to help families farm better and feed their children better. But we started to notice that in the areas where (pine) trees were planted, the mudslides were no longer occurring. So that brought a new focus for us. Food, shade, fertilizer and mudslide protection -- the trees can do it all."

Nearly 373 square kilometers of trees are destroyed each year in Guatemala, according to the University of Santa Barbara's Department of Geography. Through her group's efforts, Hallum is inspiring villagers to stop chopping and, instead, use trees to safeguard their lives and crops against mudslides. So far AIR has helped 110 rural villages plant more than 3.8 million trees throughout Guatemala.



Check out the Alliance for International Reforestation website at www.air-guatemala.org. More information on our work with AIR can be found on the annual assessments which are available on our planting partners page.

More articles on AIR:

There’s no such as “normal” weather in Guatemala…but trees can help!

Trees planted by our planting partner AIR in Guatemala help to mitigate some damages of Hurricane Agatha

Updates and pictures from AIR's tree planting operations in Guatemala

A great article about our planting partner AIR, or: How to plant the seeds of sustainable future

Our plating partner AIR won U.N. grant for service in Guatemala

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Working to green the book industry!

* All photos are courtesy of AIR. You can see more photos from AIR on our planting gallery.

Annual assessments of Eco-Libris' planting partners are available now online

photo from the Eco-Libris' planting areas in Panama, courtesy of SHI: Nursery of 2,000 trees including mahogany,cedro espino (Bombacopsis quinata), cedro amargo (Simarouba amara) and chime tree

This is our last post for 2010 and just like we did in 2008 and 2009, we dedicate it to announce that the annual assessments (2009-10) of our planting partners are now available online!

Here's a little bit more about these assessments: As part of our pledge to quality service to our customers, we decided at the beginning of our operations to conduct annual assessments of our planting partners.The two main goals of these assessments are: 1. to verify the quality of the planting operations and to make sure the high standards we promise to our customers are kept and 2. to provide our customers with details on the tree planting operations they support to balance out their books.

As always, the trees planted by our planting partners provide multiple significant benefits to both the local communities in the areas where they are planted and to the environment. This year we had an example of it in Guatemala in the tragic circumstances of the tropical storm Agatha that took place in May 2010, causing horrific flooding and mudslides (see photo below, credit: Ann Hallum) that killed at least 145 people, washed away crops and highways, and hundreds of homes. Particularly hard hit was the Department of Chimaltenango where AIR works. Dr. Ann Hallum, the Director of AIR, reports about the difference AIR's trees made then on AIR's assessment:

During the summer of flooding, 2010, I witnessed most dramatically the power of trees (especially pine trees, with their deep tap roots). Over and over again, we saw that where there were no trees, the mudslides occurred, and in areas right next to a slide with trees, the mountainside held together. More than once, we saw a young forest planted by AIR stop the mudslides that would have destroyed small houses below, and a stream. As the AIR technician said, “the trees stood against the mud like little soldiers.” We are planting more urgently than ever!

AIR tree nursery; Santa Apolonia; Rebecca Hallum, Anne Hallum, with Luis Iquique and the resident committee, June 2010 (photo: Ann Hallum)

This is the third year we're conducting these assessments. You are invited to read them (see links below) and also visit our planting partners' websites to learn more about them. Links to both the first year's and second year's assessments for each of our planting partners, as well as links to their websites, are available on our planting partners page.

Another example is Malawi, Africa where our partner RIPPLE Africa is working. Their video below shows the effects of deforestation and bush burning in Malawi and also illustrates the woodland conservation program that RIPPLE Africa has initiated there.

This video shows both sides of reality in Malawi - deforestation and frustration on one side and reforestation and hope on the other side, which we're proud to support.



Another video we would like to recommend is Planting Hope - The Story of Sustainable Harvest International (Video generously filmed & produced by Myriad Media) that provides a closer look at the great work our partner SHI is doing in Central America, including the planting of over 2.7 million trees in countries such Belize, Panama, Nicaragua and Honduras since 1997.




Here are links to the three reports:

AIR's assessment

RIPPLE Africa's assessment

SHI's assessment

We will keep you posted of course with more data, photos and videos from the planting operations! Thanks again to our planting partners and to everyone that was involved in the work on the assessments.

Happy New Year!
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

There’s no such as “normal” weather in Guatemala…but trees can help!

An AIR-planted pine forest, about 8 years old in Simajhuleu, Guatemala, stopping a mudslide from the road above and protecting a stream and houses below (June 2010; photo: A. Hallum)

Last June we updated you how trees planted by our planting partner AIR in Guatemala help to mitigate some damages of Hurricane Agatha.

AIR is doing an incredible job in Guatemala in general, but in such situations its work is even more substantial. This is also a demonstration of the value of trees planted by AIR and their significant impact on people's life.

Dr. Anne Hallum, the Director of AIR, who was in Guatemala at that time with a team of volunteers to plant trees as this was the planting season, sent us a brief report, which is enclosed below, on the event with pictures that help to get a better understanding what happened there.

There’s no such as “normal” weather in Guatemala…but trees can help!

The last day of May, 2010, tropical storm Agatha poured so much rain on south central Guatemala, it caused horrific flooding and mudslides that killed at least 145 people, washed away crops and highways, and hundreds of homes. Particularly hard hit was the Department of Chimaltenango where AIR works.

Some scientists speculate that climate change has changed the normal afternoon rains of the rainy season into intense “rain events.” It doesn’t help that decades of deforestation have worsened the mudslides, and that highway construction and gravel mining in the mountains takes down more trees, and safer engineering practices are not used.

In any case, the rains continued throughout the summer months (Guatemala’s “winter” months). In September “Tropical Depression 11-E” parked for days over the same area of Guatemala, and mudslides destroyed highways and one bus filled with persons was buried, killing at least 12 persons. One of AIR’s technicians was trapped on a road all night outside of Panajachel, with mudslides occurring around him.

What is to be done? First, AIR is responding with targeted emergency aid because the technicians are themselves Guatemalan and know the roads and villages very well. Secondly, volunteers have already been recruited to help rebuild homes—once it stops raining every day. Thirdly, the tree-planting efforts must intensify in these mountainous regions.

It was evident to everyone this summer, that where AIRES had reforested hillsides, the mudslides did not occur. In one village, a young pine forest that AIR had planted 8 years ago acted like brakes on a mudslide washing down a road and protected the stream and houses below. As the AIR technician said, “the little trees stood like soldiers” stopping the mud (photo).



AIR staff members & truck delivering food & water, in Santa Apolonia, 2 June 2010 (Photo: A. Hallum)

The benefits of trees seem innumerable – animal habitat, soil nutrition; shade; beauty; fertilizer; fruits, carbon sequestration—and this summer in Guatemala, they literally saved lives.

Josue, standing next to an AIR-planted forest in Simajhuleu, Guatemala; his family has worked with AIR for 10 years (Photo: A. Hallum)

AIR tree nursery; Santa Apolonia; Rebecca Hallum, Anne Hallum, with Luis Iquique and the resident committee, June 2010 (photo: A. Hallum)

For more information, and to donate for AIR’s emergency response, see www2.stetson.edu/air/

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Trees planted by our planting partner AIR in Guatemala help to mitigate some damages of Hurricane Agatha

Last month Central America was hit by Hurricane Agatha. The worst-hit country was Guatemala - the BBC reported, nearly 112,000 people have been evacuated from their homes across Guatemala and AP updated earlier this month that officials in Guatemala reported 152 dead (out of 179 in Central America).

One of our planting partners, AIR, is working in Guatemala and we got in touch with Dr. Anne Hallum, the Director of AIR, who is in Guatemala with a team of volunteers to plant trees as this is the planting season.

Dr. Hallum updated us that they have been driving around visiting villages where AIR works and saw the damages from the floods. Thankfully, they have also seen the miracles of the pine trees which AIR had planted, which acted like brakes on the mudslides. Still, though, tragedy struck one of the families with which AIR has worked for years when a mudslide destroyed a house and four members died, while one is hospitalized.

Dr. Hallum also reported that AIR's Board members have responded beautifully with donations for this emergency, and they're delivering another truckload of supplies next week.

AIR is doing such an important work in Guatemala and we're very grateful for that and proud to be their partners! We're also very proud to hear that the trees they plant with our support have such a significant impact on people's life. Dr. Hallum added that 'we just wish we could plant in the whole country!'. Well, we hope that it will happen sooner the later and we definitely hope that our work at Eco-Libris will contribute significantly to this effort!

Dr. Hallum sent us few photos from Guatemala I would like to share with you:

These are pictures of what is left of a bridge & fishing town along the Rio Monogua, in southern Chimaltenango.



Photo of a young pine forest planted by AIRES that stopped a mudslide from across the road




Little boy helping to clean up outside of De Vega Santa Apolonia, Department of Chimaltenango, two days after Hurricane Agatha on Saturday, May 29th.


AIR truck loaded with supplies we delivered to the Emergency center of the City of de Vega Santa Apolonia, three days after Hurricane

Mountains around Simajhuleu, Department of Chimaltenango, where AIR planted trees 8 years ago, which are growing strong.

To learn more about AIR please visit their website - www2.stetson.edu/air

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

The director of our planting partner AIR is participating in a U.N. conference

Dr. Anne Hallum speaking with students in a school in Guatemala. Credit: AIR.

The Alliance for International Reforestation (AIR) is one of our planting partners and is doing a wonderful job in Guatemala, where it is working to make a difference for the local people with projects that are based on direct community involvement.

We just got the news that Dr. Anne Hallum, the director of AIR, who is also a Stetson University Political Science Professor, is participating in the ninth United Nations Conference on Indigenous Peoples at U.N headquarters in New York City this week in her capacity as co-founder and U.S. director of AIR.

Dr. Hallum said that "as a participant in the ‘Small Grant Programme’ of the U.N. Permanent Secretariat for Indigenous Issues, we have been invited to attend this conference, along with many other representatives of organizations that work with indigenous peoples. I am honored that AIR is part of this group of invitees, after 16 years of working in Guatemala. I am excited that we will attend policymaking panels that have on-the-ground impact for people we know very well in Guatemala. I hope to make lasting contacts with other organizations from around the world, and I will stress the importance of sustainable farming at every opportunity."

Last year, the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues presented AIR with a “Small Grantee” award to help fund the building of brick stoves in Maya communities in Sololá, Guatemala. Headquartered at Stetson, AIR also plants trees, establishes tree nurseries and provides environmental education in Central America. Stetson students volunteer with the organization during six-week programs, working side-by-side with local AIR staff in Guatemala.

Women who work at AIR's nursery in San Andres ,Itzapa, Guatemala, which is supported by Eco-Libris. AIR has worked here for six years, producing and planting tens of thousands of trees. Credit: AIR

Since 1993, AIR has trained more than 1,500 Guatemalan farmers, provided materials for more than 700 fuel-efficient stoves and planted more than 3 million trees. In 2004, AIR was recognized by the Guatemalan government’s forestry institute as the most effective nongovernmental environmental organization.

The theme of the U.N. conference, which ends April 30, is “Indigenous Peoples: Development With Culture and Identity; Articles 3 and 32 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.” The session includes discussions about human rights and fundamental freedoms, the future work of the Permanent Forum, and dialogues with several U.N. agencies. The Permanent Forum is described online as an advisory body to the U.N. Economic and Social Council, with a mandate to discuss indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights

Best wishes to Dr. Hallum and we'll keep updating you on AIR and their achievements.

See more information on AIR's website: www.stetson.edu/org/air. You can also find more information on our work with AIR on these links:

www.ecolibris.net/AIR_Assessment_2007-8.pdf

www.ecolibris.net/AIR_Assessment_2008-9.pdf

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Annual assessments of Eco-Libris' planting partners are available online

(photo from the Eco-Libris' planting areas in Panama, courtesy of SHI: Nursery of 2,000 trees including mahogany,cedro espino (Bombacopsis quinata), cedro amargo (Simarouba amara) and chime tree)

This is our last post for 2009 and we're happy to close the year with an update from our website - the annual assessments (2008-9) of our planting partners are now available online!

Here's a little bit more about these assessments: as part of our pledge to quality service to our customers, we decided at the beginning of our operations to conduct annual assessments of our planting partners.The two main goals of these assessments are: 1. to verify the quality of the planting operations and to make sure the high standards we promise to our customers are kept and 2. to provide our customers with details on the tree planting operations they support to balance out their books.

This is the second year we're conducting these assessments. We do it under the guidance of our environmental advisor, Gili Koniak, and you are invited to read them via the links below. Links to both the first year's and second year's assessments for each of our planting partners on our planting partners page.

SHI's assessment: http://www.ecolibris.net/SHI_Assessment_second%20year.pdf

RIPPLE Africa's assessment: http://www.ecolibris.net/RIPPLE_ Africa_Assessment_2008-9.pdf

AIR's assessment: http://www.ecolibris.net/AIR_Assessment_2008-9.pdf

(photo from the Eco-Libris' planting areas in Panama, courtesy of SHI: Mr Guadalupe shows off his cedro espino)

As we reported earlier this year, we visited this year SHI and their planting operations in Panama. We will continue next year to work closely with our planting partners and we plan to visit at least one of the organizations on their planting sites.

We will keep you posted of course with more data, photos and hopefully also videos from the planting operations! Thanks again to our planting partners and to everyone that was involved in the work on the assessments.

Happy New Year!
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Updates and pictures from AIR's tree planting operations in Guatemala

We just got an update from our planting partner AIR on their work in Guatemala that we wanted to share with you.

The director of AIR, Dr. Anne Hallum and a group of volunteers managed to plant over 1,500 in just 3 weeks of work in Guatemala. Not only that, but they also built four of the fuel-efficient stoves, which conserve a ton of firewood a year, each. AIR has built so far around 750 such stoves - so they preserve existing trees, while planting!

But that's not all - The more impressive figure is that the AIR staff in Guatemala planted over 207,000 trees this year with a survival rate in the 90% range!

Kudos to AIR for the great job they do in Guatemala. Their commitment to the environment and the local communities is incredible and we're very proud to collaborate with them and be part of their efforts to make a difference to the people of Guatemala.

If you want to read more about their work, you can visit their website and also read the first year's assessment of our collaboration. In couple of months we'll publish the second year's assessment with updates on our joint work with AIR on 2008-2009.

We're also happy to show you some of the pictures we got from AIR taken on the last visit of Dr. Hallum and the volunteers in Guatemala.

Dr. Anne Hallum, her daughter Rachel and Dona Elena and her granddaughter at the tree Eco-Libris nursery in Itzapa.... still growing strong with a new crop of seedlings!

Rachel Hallum and helper planting Aliso trees to fertilize family crop, in El Tablon.

Volunteers and AIR staff planting trees on Comalapa mountain side he's converting back to forest.

Don Enrique, with AIR staffer, Luis Iquique in the foreground, showing the group the reforested mountain slopes of trees from the Eco-Libris tree nursery in Caliaj (In the background you can seem remnants of a mudslide from a deforested slope. Don Enrique has planted all the way down the steep slope, to prevent such mudslides).


Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris reached the milestone of 100,000 new trees!

In his interesting manifesto that was published last Sunday on the New York Time Magazine ("The Case for Working with Your Hands"), Matthew Crawford writes: "Working in an office, you often find it difficult to see any tangible result from your efforts. What exactly have you accomplished at the end of any given day?"

Well, he's definitely right and we're happy that although we do sit in an office, we have successfully created what Crawford calls a chain of cause and effect - connecting between the willingness of our customers and business partners (publishers, authors, bookstores and so on) to green up their books (cause) and the new trees planted on their behalf with our planting partners (effect).

Our accomplishments are measured in various ways, but one of the main measurements we have by the end of any given day is the number of new trees planted, and we're very happy to announce that we have reached the milestone of the 100,000th new tree that is being planted on behalf of our customers and business partners!

This is a very exciting moment for us, as we look back and see all the work done so far to follow our vision, making reading more sustainable. We're also very proud of our planting partners that are doing a wonderful job, not only by planting these trees, but also by ensuring that these trees are planted in high ecological and sustainable standards and their ongoing benefits both to the environment and to the local communities living in the planting areas.

So kudos to all the avid readers, publishers, authors, bookstores and others who care about the environment and work with us to green up their books, to AIR, RIPPLE Africa and SHI and last but not least to the wonderful team of Eco-Libris who made it all possible! Thank you all!

We will continue our efforts and work even harder to make sure the next celebration of the 200,000th new tree will take place as soon as possible.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

* The photos above are courtesy of The Alliance for International Reforestation (AIR) and RIPPLE Africa respectively

A great article about our planting partner AIR, or: How to plant the seeds of sustainable future

We're very proud of our planting partners and always happy to share the news about them. Today we have an article recently released at OurWorld 2.0, a UN webzine, about our planting partner AIR.

The writer, Adam Darragh, is a recent graduate of Stetson University who majored in Religious Studies. He went last summer to Guatemala with four other Stetson University students, to volunteer for a month with the Alliance for International Reforestation (AIR), accompanied by AIR's founder, political science professor Dr. Anne Hallum from Stetson University.

Darragh helped with tree planting, is describing in the article the work he done with his colleauges and AIR's staff, planting trees , building four fuel-efficient stoves for community leaders, planting vegetables, and working alongside students and teachers to build improvements to schools that partner with AIR.

Here's a part where he speaks about his tree planting experience:

"We arrived in June during Guatemala’s rainy season, months after community-operated tree nurseries started by AIR had planted and raised thousands of seedlings of pine, peach, and other kinds of trees. Our average day was spent hopping into pickup trucks, heading to the tree nursery, then riding with the villagers to farmlands, deforested hillsides, or post-landslide slopes. Under the direction of AIR staff and village farmers, we planted as many trees as we could before the monsoon-like rains arrived."

Darragh not only describing the efforts of AIR to teach communities an alternative way to the slash and burn practices, but also the way AIR is working in general, collaborating with families and communities, putting an emphasis on education as well respect to the locals, to ensure the effectiveness of their programs. Darragh explains:

"My experience with AIR has shown me that the world’s reforestation issues can’t be top-down, enforced change, but rather must be the product of individuals, their families, and their communities. While much of AIR’s support comes from gracious donors, the actual work is done by a dedicated group of Guatemalans who partner with farmers, whole villages and schools in education and planting.

It’s a community-based effort, which remains effective because it tempers the goal — reforestation and community development — with respect for Guatemalan cultural heritage and area-specific needs."

In all, AIR has planted so far more than three million trees in Guatemala and Nicaragua, educated more than 1,600 families in sustainable, organic farming methods and built more than 700 fuel-efficient ovens have been built (only recently, the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues granted AIR US $8,200 to build additional brick stoves in Guatemala).

If you want to learn more about AIR and the great work they do, you're welcome to read this great article at http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/2009/04/21/roots-that-bind. You can also visit their website at www2.stetson.edu/air

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

* Photos are courtesy of AIR

Our plating partner AIR won U.N. grant for service in Guatemala

Last week we had news from two of our plating partners, SHI and RIPPLE Africa, and today we're happy to update you with news from our third planting partner - The Alliance for International Reforestation (AIR).

AIR,headquartered at Stetson University, has received a grant for $8,200 from the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to build brick stoves in Maya communities in Sololá, Guatemala.

“It is a small grant, but for AIR to be recognized by the United Nations in an extraordinarily competitive area, is very exciting,” said Dr. Anne Hallum, Stetson professor of Political Science and U.S. chair of the reforestation program. “AIR has always worked closely with Maya leaders in dozens of communities, so it is appropriate to have a grant from this particular U.N. Forum.”

AIR plants trees, establishes tree nurseries and provides environmental education in Central America. Stetson students volunteer with the organization during six-week programs, working side-by-side with local AIR staff in Guatemala. Since 1993, AIR has trained more than 1,500 Guatemalan farmers, provided materials for more than 700 fuel-efficient stoves and planted more than 3 million trees. In 2004, AIR was recognized by the Guatemalan government’s forestry institute as the most effective nongovernmental environmental organization.

The U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues is described on its Web site as “an advisory body to the Economic and Social Council, with a mandate to discuss indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights.”

AIR is working with Eco-Libris since 2007 and you can read more on our collaboration on AIR first year's assessment, which is available at http://www.ecolibris.net/AIR_Assessment.pdf

Congrats to AIR and to Dr. Hallum for this grant and the recognition of their important work in Guatemala by the U.N.! You can read more about AIR at http://www2.stetson.edu/air

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

PHOTO: A recipient of an AIR stove helps in its construction in Guatemala. (Photo courtesy Stetson University senior Jesse L. Paquin.)

My Green Resolution for 2009 - Dr. Anne Hallum of the Alliance for International Reforestation (AIR)

We continue with our journey looking to learn more about our partners' green resolutions for 2009, and today we have a very special guest: Dr. Anne Hallum, Founder and Director of the Alliance for International Reforestation (AIR), which is one of Eco-Libris planting partners.

AIR is working mainly in Guatemala, where it plants trees and is involved in other activities such as providing environmental education for teachers and farmers, digging wells, building fuel-efficient brick ovens. AIR was founded by Dr. Anne Hallum in 1992 at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, where she serves as a Political Science Professor.

In its first year of operations Eco-Libris planted more than 25,000 trees with AIR. You are welcome to learn more about it from our annual assessment of these operations.

Dr. Anne Hallum and residents reforesting a hillside near Xetonox, 2008. Photo courtsey of AIR.

Hello Anne. What's your professional green resolution for 2009?
To plant even more trees in Guatemala, and to write successful grants for expansion. I will also be teaching two Environmental politics classes this semester, so another professional resolution is to engage and motivate students to “green the campus” (to buy Eco-Libris stickers, for instance).

If you have a personal green resolution for 2009, what is it?
My personal green resolution is to make our backyard more of a refuge for birds: more birdbaths, bird houses, planting more trees, and leaving any dead ones standing for woodpeckers. Almost 80 percent of North American bird species are in decline from habitat loss. I also resolve to continue to reduce my own use of water and carbon fuels….

What’s your green wish for 2009?
My green wish is for world leaders to quickly negotiate a new Protocol for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and to give it some teeth. (Meanwhile, I wish for environmental activism on the ground to continue to spread.)

If you have any other greetings, please feel free to add them.
The AIR staff in Guatemala send heartfelt thanks to every person who bought Eco-Libris stickers, and to every bookstore and publisher who sold them. We have several tree nurseries in Guatemala, dedicated to growing trees in your name.

Any other plans for 2009?
AIR-Guatemala was just awarded a small grant from the United Nations (UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues), to build more fuel-efficient stoves! This is a prestigious recognition that AIR works directly with indigenous people. Every stove conserves a ton of firewood a year; and each family with a stove volunteers in planting many trees. We also plan to plant trees to protect the Mayuelas River watershed, in a brand new region of Guatemala.

Happy New Year, For the Earth!

Anne Hallum, The Alliance for International Reforestation (AIR)

Thanks, Anne!

Here's more about AIR:

The Alliance for International Reforestation (AIR) is a non-profit organization working to make a difference for the people of Guatemala and Nicaragua. AIR was founded by Political Science Professor Anne M. Hallum in 1992 at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida. AIR's objective is to assist local communities in Central America to conserve their environment through reforestation, sustainable farming, and education. So far, AIR planted more than 3 million trees in Guatemala and Nicaragua. In 2004, AIR was named The Best Environmental NGO in Guatemala for 2004, by the national government's forestry institute in Guatemala.

AIR works to initiate continuous reforestation programs at the community level. All of AIR's projects are based on the philosophy that direct community involvement in all phases of the projects, from their design to their implementation, is essential for the success and sustainability of project activities.

The daily destruction of forests that occurs in Guatemala is a serious problem - each year more than 1620 square kilometers are deforested. This has already had a severe negative impact on the environment: water sources are quickly disappearing, 65% of Guatemalan soil is considered highly susceptible to erosion and air quality is deteriorating rapidly. In addition, deforestation leads to the depletion of essential nutrients in the soils, especially those used for agricultural activities. As these soils become drained of nutrients and no longer support agriculture, populations migrate to virgin areas and conduct slash-and-burn activities, continuing the cycle of deforestation.

The replanting of trees on community lands, in addition to otherwise conserving the environment, replenishes soil nutrients, and therefore decelerates the destruction of the virgin forests that remain in Guatemala.

More information on AIR can be found on its website:
http://www.stetson.edu/org/air/

AIR's First Year Assessment: http://www.ecolibris.net/AIR_Assessment.pdf

Women who work at AIR's nursery in San Andres ,Itzapa, Guatemala, which is supported by Eco-Libris. AIR has worked here for six years, producing and planting tens of thousands of trees. Photo courtsey of AIR.

So far on "My Green Resolution for 2009":

Surendra James Conti of East West Bookstore

Jennifer Taylor of GreetQ

Bill Roth, author of "On Empty (Out of Time)"

Vonda Schaefer of Valley Books

Madeline Kaplan, author of "Planet Earth Gets Well"

Chris Flynn of Torpedo

Edain Duguay of Wyrdwood Publications

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net