Green book review - The Last Train to Zona Verde: My Ultimate African Safari by Paul Theroux

Africa is dear to our heart, which is why we're so proud to have one of our planting partners  RIPPLE Africa, operating in Malawi, Africa. This is also why we're so happy to review a special book on a special journey in this troubled and beautiful continent.

Our book for this week is:

The Last Train to Zona Verde: My Ultimate African Safari by Paul Theroux (publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

What this book is about?
Following the success of the acclaimed Ghost Train to the Eastern Star and The Great Railway Bazaar, The Last Train to Zona Verde is an ode to the last African journey of the world's most celebrated travel writer.

“Happy again, back in the kingdom of light,” writes Paul Theroux as he sets out on a new journey through the continent he knows and loves best. Theroux first came to Africa as a twenty-two-year-old Peace Corps volunteer, and the pull of the vast land never left him. Now he returns, after fifty years on the road, to explore the little-traveled territory of western Africa and to take stock both of the place and of himself.

His odyssey takes him northward from Cape Town, through South Africa and Namibia, then on into Angola, wishing to head farther still until he reaches the end of the line. Journeying alone through the greenest continent, Theroux encounters a world increasingly removed from both the itineraries of tourists and the hopes of postcolonial independence movements. Leaving the Cape Town townships, traversing the Namibian bush, passing the browsing cattle of the great sunbaked heartland of the savanna, Theroux crosses “the Red Line” into a different Africa: “the improvised, slapped-together Africa of tumbled fences and cooking fires, of mud and thatch,” of heat and poverty, and of roadblocks, mobs, and anarchy. After 2,500 arduous miles, he comes to the end of his journey in more ways than one, a decision he chronicles with typically unsparing honesty in a chapter called “What Am I Doing Here?”

Vivid, witty, and beautifully evocative, The Last Train to Zona Verde is a fitting final African adventure from the writer whose gimlet eye and effortless prose have brought the world to generations of readers. 

About the author: 

Paul Theroux is the author of many highly acclaimed books. His novels include The Lower River and The Mosquito Coast, and his renowned travel books include Ghost Train to the Eastern Star and Dark Star Safari. He lives in Hawaii and on Cape Cod. 

Our review:

The Last Train to Zona Verde by Paul Theroux was read with mixed feelings. I had a bit of awe, a bit of jealousy, and a bit of fear for this writer. He is one of the true and real travel writers. He goes to the places he writes about and tells you of his visit in fine and colorful detail. He has a fantastic voice and tells the story with such life that at times you forget that it’s not fiction. I wish I could see some of the things he has seen and wish I could forget some of the things I have learned from him.

On this journey, Paul spent his time roaming through parts of Africa that frankly I had to hunt down on a map to find: the bush country or Zona Verde, Cape Town, Botswana, and Namibia are just a few. This is not simply a story about the landscape, but actual events that he saw or lived, such as: the people; or the wildlife and landscape destruction that we all know about, but don’t actually see face to face in our own everyday lives; or the government’s blasé indifference to the state of the things. Then it all ends, so fast and so unexpectedly. I felt his strong emotions about having to quit his adventure before he had planned, thanks only to violent militant actions.

I wish I could come up with a better word, but this book was simply very well done. You can purchase the book on Amazon.com (in both electronic and hardcover formats).

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris
Plant a tree for every book you read!

From our planting partner RIPPLE Africa: Geoff and Force - 24 hour Sponsored Silence!

We wanted to share with you a new effort from our planting partner RIPPLE Africa to raise money and this time it involves an interesting challenge - keeping Geoff and Force from RIPPLE Africa silent for 24 hours. Can they do it? Susie, a previous RIPPLE Africa volunteer, thinks they can and has given them the challenge. She has a JustGiving page where anyone can sponsor them to keep quiet for a whole day!




Please click here to sponsor Geoff and Force and join the effort to make Malawi a quieter place for 24 hours :) http://www.justgiving.com/geoffandforce

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Planting trees for your books!

Our planting partner RIPPLE Africa presents the Kandoli Forest Conservation Project in Malawi

Our friends at RIPPLE Africa, an organization that is working in Malawi and is also a planting partner of Eco-Libris have just released a very interesting video on their efforts to conserve 130 square kilometers of forest in the Kandoli Hills in northern Nkhata Bay District, Malawi.

We invite you to watch the video and learn about the important work RIPPLE Africa is doing in Malawi in collaboration with local communities, generating substantial environmental and social benefits.

To learn more about RIPPLE Africa please visit their website - http://www.rippleafrica.org/



Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant trees for your books!

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!

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!

3,000 trees will be planted in Africa for the Swedish edition of Muhammad Yunus' new book 'Building Social Business'

We are happy to announce on our latest collaboration with the Swedish publisher BookHouse Editions. We have the privilege of collaborating on a special book of a special author - 3,000 trees will be planted to balance out the Swedish edition of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus' latest book: 'Building Social Business: The New Kind of Capitalism That Serves Humanity's Most Pressing Needs'.

The Swedish edition of 'Building Social Business' (In Swedish it is 'Socialt företagande') is released today by BookHouse Editions and can be purchased on their website. 3,000 trees will be planted with Eco-Libris in Malawi, Africa by our planting partner, RIPPLE Africa, on behalf of the publisher to balance out this edition. Inside the book you can also find our logo and details on our vision and operations.

This is the second book of Prof. Yunus we're collaborating on with BookHouse Editions. In 2008 we balanced out the Swedish edition of his book 'Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism'.

What's the book about? (from the Yunus Centre's website):

This third book by Professor Yunus, following Banker to the Poor and Creating a World Without Poverty, is dedicated solely towards the concept of social business, its implementation, and its maintenance. Social business is an innovative business model which promotes the idea of doing business in order to address a social problem, and not to maximize profit. As the title suggests, this complement to traditional capitalism truly can serve humanity’s most pressing needs, especially poverty. Each and every social business creates employment, good working conditions, and of course, addresses a specific social ill such as lack of education, healthcare, and good nutrition.

In simple terms, a social business is a non-loss, non-dividend company dedicated entirely to achieve a social goal. In social business, the investor gets his investment money back over time, but never receives dividend beyond that amount. The Grameen Bank is a prime example of social business, with the Grameen borrowers themselves being its shareholders!

Building Social Business consists of case studies, anecdotes, and solid advice from Professor Yunus himself. This “Social Business Manual” is a must read for anyone who wants to use his or her creativity to make a positive impact in their neighborhood, town, country, and world.

About the author (from the Nobel Prize website): Professor Muhammad Yunus established the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh in 1983, fueled by the belief that credit is a fundamental human right. His objective was to help poor people escape from poverty by providing loans on terms suitable to them and by teaching them a few sound financial principles so they could help themselves.

From Dr. Yunus' personal loan of small amounts of money to destitute basketweavers in Bangladesh in the mid-70s, the Grameen Bank has advanced to the forefront of a burgeoning world movement toward eradicating poverty through microlending. Replicas of the Grameen Bank model operate in more than 100 countries worldwide.

Born in 1940 in the seaport city of Chittagong, Professor Yunus studied at Dhaka University in Bangladesh, then received a Fulbright scholarship to study economics at Vanderbilt University. He received his Ph.D. in economics from Vanderbilt in 1969 and the following year became an assistant professor of economics at Middle Tennessee State University. Returning to Bangladesh, Yunus headed the economics department at Chittagong University.

From 1993 to 1995, Professor Yunus was a member of the International Advisory Group for the Fourth World Conference on Women, a post to which he was appointed by the UN secretary general. He has served on the Global Commission of Women's Health, the Advisory Council for Sustainable Economic Development and the UN Expert Group on Women and Finance.

This is a very interesting book on a fascinating subject that is relevant more than ever - the social business model and its potential to harness the entrepreneurial spirit to address poverty, hunger, and disease. Certainly worth reading, and if you can't read Swedish, you can check out the English version of the book published by Public Affairs.

In this video you can see Muhammad Yunus talking with Tina Brown of the Daily Beast about his book:

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: plant a tree for every book you read!

New video from RIPPLE Africa: Deforestation, bush burning and Forest Conservation in Malawi

Our planting partner RIPPLE Africa is working in Malawi, Africa and is doing an amazing job there. They've just published a new video, showing the effects of deforestation and bush burning, and also illustrates the woodland conservation program that RIPPLE Africa has initiated.

This film 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. You can read more about RIPPLE Africa on their website - www.rippleafrica.org and learn on our work with them on the last assessment we published last year.




Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Tree planting in Malawi - a new video of our planting partner, RIPPLE Africa

Our friends at RIPPLE Africa are completing these days another planting season of trees in Malawi, Africa.

They have published a very powerful video last month on the deforestation problems that Malawi is facing (In Malawi an area of forest the size of a football pitch is cut down every 10 minutes!) and the work RIPPLE Africa is doing with local communities to fight it.

The goal of their reforestation efforts is to plant and grow millions of trees every year and to "train, educate and empower the local communities to sustainably manage their environment to reduce poverty". We are proud to partner with RIPPLE Africa and support these goals and we hope you'll enjoy this video.

More details on RIPPLE Africa are available on their website - http://www.rippleafrica.org/. More information on our work with RIPPLE Africa can be found on our partners' page and on their annual assessments.



Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Check out our green gift giveaway!

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!

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

Celebrating RIPPLE Africa's planting season - last photo

Today we have the last beautiful photo from Malawi, Africa, where our planting partner RIPPLE Africa has finished another successful planting season. About 1.5 million trees being planted on December and January.

In the photo you can see Agnes Nyakayira of the Chigwiti Afforestation club, and I hope you recognize the logo in the sign :)























We hope you enjoyed all the photos we published here on our blog as part of our celebration of the end of another successful planting season in Malawi. All of the photos will be available very soon on our planting gallery, together with many other beautiful photos from our planting partners.

Once again, thank you to RIPPLE Africa for their dedicated work in Malawi. We're proud to be part of it!

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

Celebrating RIPPLE Africa's planting season

Today we have another beautiful photo from Malawi, Africa, where our planting partner RIPPLE Africa has finished another successful planting season. About 1.5 million trees being planted on December and January.

In the photo you can see Walter and Milika with a 3 year old Senderella tree.


Tomorrow we have the last photo so don't forget to check it out.

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

Daily photo from the planting season in Malawi, Africa

We continue to present you with photos from Malawi, Africa, where our planting partner RIPPLE Africa has finished another successful planting season. About 1.5 million trees being planted on December and January.

Today we have a beautiful photo of tree seedlings at Chgwiti tree nursery.


We have two more photos to show you (on Wednesday and Thursday) so stay tuned!

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

The daily photo from Malawi, Africa

We hope you're enjoying our daily presentations of photos from Malawi, Africa, where our planting partner RIPPLE Africa has finished another successful planting season. About 1.5 million trees being planted on December and January!

Today we have another photo that combines hope on one side and the devestating reality on the other side. The photo is of Chiefs Forest guards that RIPPLE Africa organized to visit recently destroyed forests.

We'll continue our celebration this upcoming week with new photos from RIPPLE Africa.

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

Another photo from Malawi, Africa

We continue our daily presentation here of photos from Malawi, Africa, where our planting partner RIPPLE Africa has finished another successful planting season. About 1.5 million trees being planted on December and January!

Today we have a photo of the Makuzi Afforestation club.

We'll continue our celebration this upcoming week with new photos from RIPPLE Africa.

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

The daily photo from Malawi, Africa

Following our promise yesterday, we present here every day for a week a photo from Malawi, Africa our planting partner RIPPLE Africa has finished another successful planting season. About 1.5 million trees being planted on December and January!

Today we have a sad picture of a sad reality in Malawi: We're seeing part of 10 acres destroyed by one man in 3 months.

We'll continue our celebration tomorrow with a new photo from RIPPLE Africa.

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

The daily photo from Malawi, Africa

Following our promise yesterday, we present here every day for a week a photo from Malawi, Africa our planting partner RIPPLE Africa has finished another successful planting season. About 1.5 million trees being planted on December and January!

Today our photo is of Fumbani Ripple Africa manager:


















We'll continue our celebration tomorrow with a new beautiful photo so stay tuned!

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

Photos are courtesy of RIPPLE Africa (www.rippleafrica.org)

RIPPLE Africa finished another successful planting season in Malawi, Africa

Our planting partner RIPPLE Africa has finished another successful planting season in Malawi, Africa with about 1.5 million trees being planted on December and January! Kudos to RIPPLE Africa!

RIPPLE Africa was established in 2003 by Geoff and Liz Furber from the UK. RIPPLE Africa is a non-profit organization involved with environmental projects, education and healthcare in Malawi, Africa. It works in cooperation with local chiefs - traditional authorities and the local communities, who take a major part in RIPPLE Africa’s various activities, including its planting operations.

Malawi is a poor country and 80% of its people live in rural areas. Wood is a necessary part of everyday life, and there is also tremendous pressure to clear forests for agriculture. Hence, trees in Malawi are being cut down at an alarming rate. An area of forest the size of a football pitch is cut down every 10 minutes. RIPPLE Africa’s tree planting project is centered in Nkhata Bay District, Malawi, Africa, an area of 4,000 square kilometers.

We also had a part in this planting season with 26,575 trees being planted on behalf of Eco-Libris' customers (check our first year's assessment for further details)! We hope to bring you soon an interview with Geoff Furber who will tell us more on the planting season and about RIPPLE Africa's work in Malawi.

In the meantime, we would like to celebrate this planting season with beautiful photos we received from RIPPLE Africa, and for one week we'll show you every day a new photo they've sent us. We'll have soon all the photos on our planting gallery and you can already see them all on our Facebook group (which of course you're welcome to join!)

The first photo we have here is of Catherine and team budding oranges.

You're welcome to visit RIPPLE Africa's website at www.rippleafrica.org.

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

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

This is our last post for 2008 and we're happy to close the year with good news - our annual assessments 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.

Our first year of operation ended in July 2008 and we conducted later on these assessments under the guidance of our environmental advisor, Gili Koniak. The process took couple of months and now the finalized assessments are available online at the following links:

SHI's First Year Assessment: http://www.ecolibris.net/SHI_Assessment.pdf

RIPPLE Africa's First Year Assessment: http://www.ecolibris.net/RIPPLE_Africa_Assessment.pdf

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

We will do our best to continue and improve our quality assurance processes. We work closely with our planting partners and will continue to do so on 2009. Our goal for 2009 is to visit the planting operations of at least two of our planting partners.

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

Happy New Year,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

www.ecolibris.net

Blog Action Day 2008: fighting poverty and deforestation at the same time

This year's Blog Action Day is dedicated to poverty and to ways we can and should fight it. This is a great opportunity to give big kudos to our planting partners, who are dedicated not only to fight deforestation in developing countries, but also to fight poverty in these areas.

In many cases, deforestation and poverty goes together. I would like to quote from a letter of Florence Reed, founder and president of Sustainable Harvest International (SHI) few months ago that explains this connection:

"More than 158 million acres of forest were destroyed in Latin America and the Caribbean from 1990 to 2005, the United Nations reports. Slash-and-burn farming devastates communities and the fragile ecosystems where they live... I recently returned from Nicaragua, where I saw smoldering stretches of land where I had seen lush tropical forest only a few years ago. Ancient trees are being cleared to make way for cattle pasture and African palm plantations or simply burnt for charcoal. The cycle of slash-and-burn depletes nutrients from the soil so that farmers are no longer able to grow their crops. Families are forced to abandon homesteads and seek new areas of forest to burn, or travel to urban areas in search of a better life that they rarely find there. The families burning these stretches of land are living in extreme poverty. They are desperate to learn ways to provide food for their children without destroying the forest.

Sustainable Harvest International is the solution to this vicious cycle of poverty and deforestation. Our local staff provide training in simple techniques that enable families to increase their yields, market their crops, improve their health and restore the environment."

This is only one example of the great work done by SHI, as well as the Alliance for International Reforestation (AIR) in Guatemala and RIPPLE Africa in Malawi. We are proud to collaborate with them and thank them for their efforts to fight both deforestation and poverty.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

* The photo is courtesy of Sustainable Harvest international (SHI)