'Garbage - The Revolution Starts at Home' - interview with the director of the film, Andrew Nisker

One of the problems with Garbage is that we don't see it after we throw it away. What happens with it afterwards? What are the environmental impacts of our garbage? And actually how many garbage we produce? Tough and important questions, but unfortunately we rarely ask ourselves these questions. Now a new film helps us to get some answers.

Andrew Nisker, a Canadian director, decided to check what happens when you don't throw the garbage away and leave it at home. His good friends, the McDonald family volunteered to keep the garbage at home for 3 months and keep track of their garbage. The result of this fascinating experience is the film 'Garbage! The Revolution Starts at Home'.

This film was released three months ago and already gets a lot of media attention and already was seen by many people all over the world, and even more important - it moves many people to think about their garbage and take action!

I wanted to learn more about the film and its vision and interviewed the creator and director of the film, Andrew Nisker -

How did you come up with the idea to the movie?

There was a garbage strike in 2002 and I walked through a park where the trash piled up and started to think about all the waste we generate. I started to wonder what would happen if the garbageman stopped picking up my trash. Would that have a profound impact on my consumption habits?

So instead of subjecting myself to self imposed garbage strike, I found some willing victims (the Mcdonald family) who were willing to succumb to my experiment and keep their trash for three months. I figured if I could document the process and share it with audiences they too might start to think about the impact their lifestyles is having on the environment. The film is not just about garbage its about all the waste a typical household creates by driving, cleaning, eating…

What was the thing that surprised you the most during the making of the film about garbage and its environmental impacts?

I realized that we create a lot more trash then we think we do and how easy it is to cut that trash output. Anybody can take a pollution audit and say “ what can I do to change and create less pollution?”.

When I clean my house, can I get rid of those chemical cleaners and use more natural ones? When I buy take out food, can I bring my own container? Can I drink tap water instead of bottled water? When I get a new car can it be more fuel efficient or better yet can I get rid of it all together?

Aren't you afraid that by focusing on the environmental impacts of individuals, you're giving companies and governments the legitimacy to continue in their acts? shouldn't we first demand from companies and governments to make changes because of their ability to significantly influence our lives?

I say do both. Demand but lead by example. The only way governments and business big and small are going to change is by pressure from below. By voting and voting with your pocket book, governments and corporations will have no choice but to change. Every vote counts and every choice you make during the course of the day matters, as far as the environment is concerned. The most important thing is to realize you have the power to make a difference. Take it as a personal challenge and have fun making the changes you believe are important.

I saw your interview with Fox News, where you explain that the film doesn't try to make people abandon their modern lifestyle, but rather than that, just wants people to reexamine their lifestyle and start thinking about things differently. Do you think that we can really achieve significant results from taking small steps (like stopping using plastic bags)? don't you think we need a more radical change in the way we live and consume?

Radical change would be nice but its not realistic. Underwhelming not overwhelming people with the issues at hand will lead to positive results. Like the title of the film says, THE REVOLUTION STARTS AT HOME. Taking small steps at home, as I point out in the film make huge difference.

How did the film changed the McDonald family? are they still good friends of yours?

Yes, they are good friends and they have gotten rid of one their SUV’s. Stopped drinking bottled water, using plastic bags and are much more environmentally aware of the impacts of their lifestyle. They avoid over packaged goods. Have gotten rid of chemical cleaners. Simple steps that over the course of a year add up to a big savings for the environment.

You want the film to be more than just a film - you want it to make a difference and you try to distribute it in a very unique way that is using social networking to spread the word about the film. How is that working for you? how many people have already seen the film? can you give us few examples how the movie inspired other people to make a difference?

Since the release of Garbage! a mere 3 months ago over 70 communities have screened the film world wide, 20,000 visitors have come to our website at www.garbagerevolution.com , over 2000 people have joined our mailing list, Super Channel licenced the film for nation broadcast in Canada, it has been programmed for the 2008 Hot Doc’s film festival , sold over 1000 dvd’s through the online store and at local screenings and over 100 schools, universities and colleges have bought the film throughout the English speaking world.

We don’t want people to just see Garbage! we want our audience to take action and join our online community and help us have our film screened world wide by hosting screening parties.

We also want viewers to upload videos that inspire others to change. Tell us what you are doing to reduce your environmental impact.

Here are some example of how the film has inspired our audience…

Tappening – is a movement to put an end to bottled water. It was inspired by Garbage! They have over 1.9 million pages view on their site thus far and have sold ten of thousands of reusable water bottles.

Catherine Porter a reporter for the Toronto Star who interviewed me about the film was inspired by the west Virginia coal story and went down to Coal River Valley, Wv and wrote an expose for the paper.

Fleming college held a coffee cup garbage audit to reduce coffee cup waste after viewing Garbage!

A group of students at a local high school where the film was screened is now pressuring their cafeteria to get rid of disposable plates.

There are more examples with video on our website at http://www.garbagerevolution.com/

What would an acceptable "garbage footprint" be for a family like the McDonald family?

I don’t know. Everyone is different and its not for me to tell others what is acceptable.

If people do the best they can to decrease their trash"garbage footprint" - what's next? what would you recommend they do further?

Get others to do the same. Host a screening party and share you experience.

You end the film with an optimistic message and a sense that we can change things. I actually finished watching your film and felt very gloomy after seeing all environmental damage that we're doing without noticing it. How did you manage to stay so optimistic?

My son represents the future for me and I can only be optimistic about the world he about to inherit. It’s not easy knowing what I know but I know we are finally starting to change. Remember when I started this film in 2003 green ideas were dismissed by mainstream media. 2007 was the year the Green revolution arrived and it is here to stay.

How did the making of this film influenced you (and your garbage) personally?

I have curbed my drinking of bottled water by 95%; I purged my home of chemical cleaners; I use my car less and walk more. I think about everything I buy and choose products based on packaging and how they are manufactured.

What's next? I saw you're already thinking about a sequel - Garbage 2! can you elaborate about your plans?

Garbage 2 is going to be a film made up of user generated content submitted to our site. A film by the people for the people so I encourage everyone to take action and tell us what you are doing to change your world. The best pieces of content we will put together in a video mash that
will hopefully inspire others to change the lifestyle for the sake of future generations.

Thank you Andrew!

You are welcome to check out the film's website for further information, and of course - watch the film! Awareness is always the base for action and 'Garbage! The Revolution Starts at Home' is a great way to increase the awareness on garbage, its environmental and social impacts and what changes we can do in our life style do reduce the amount of garbage we produce.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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Parrots and Books

Anyone from San Diego? Award-winning animal welfare journalist and author, Mira Tweti, will be signing her new children's book this Friday at The San Diego Zoo's ZooStore gift shop. Here, There and Everywhere is a colorful invitation for children and parents into the world of Sreeeeeeeet the Lorikeet and other parrots of his kind. Simply put, it's gorgeous.

This is part of the store's Spring Book Fair on March 14–17, which also includes a 15% discount on all books in the shop, including this one.

Eco-Libris will be there as well! As part of a collaboration with Tweti's Parrot Press, Eco-Libris stickers will be offered at the event. So when you buy a signed copy, you can buy a sticker and put it right there on your new book.

When: Friday, March 13, 3-5 p.m.
Where: San Diego Zoo's ZooStore gift shop.

How green is the Book Publishing Industry? A new report provides the answer!

This is a very exciting week for the book industry and anyone involved in the efforts to green it up. The reason? 'Environmental Trends and Climate Impacts: Findings from the U.S. Book Industry' has been published.

This 86-page report was prepared by The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) and The Green Press Initiative (GPI) (with support from a number of industry sponsors). 76 publishers, representing just under half of the market, participated in the study, along with 13 printers (about 25 percent) and 6 paper mills (about 17 percent).

Why is this report so important? because this is an up to date analysis of the industry's ecological footprint. This is the most detailed survey someone has done for years to receive a clear picture of the book publishing industry's environmental impacts.

These measurements will help not only to know better where the industry is standing now, but also to better plan how to move forward and green up the industry as well as to evaluate the progress later on. In one word: Benchmark. Or as BISG describes the report on its website - "a benchmarking survey which will establish a baseline for tracking climate impacts and progress by the U.S. book industry in environmental improvements."

The report also gives us a better perspective on the steps taken by few of the big publishers, such as Simon and Schuster, Random House and others in the last two years, and how much at all is already done within the industry both on the level of creating green policies and greening up the operations.

Here are few highlights from the report that were published by AP on their article 'Report: Book publishing industry getting greener':

- The book world (in the U.S.) uses up more than 1.5 million metric tons of paper each year.

- Just over half of publishers have set specific goals for increasing use of recycled paper. About 60 percent have a formal environmental policy or are in the process of completing one.

- Around 150 publishers, along with 10 printers and four paper manufacturers, have backed a treatise (initiated by GPI) supporting recycled paper and fiber from forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

This is the first part of our coverage of this report. I intend to dive into the 86 pages and bring you next week my point of view of the results. If you want to order the report, you can do it on GPI and BISG websites.

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris

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Green Options - Great Children’s Literature: Mbutu’s Mangos

Eco-Libris is a proud content partner of Green Options. Today we bring you a review of Jennifer Lance of a great green children's book. The post was originally published on Monday, March 3.

Mbutu's Mangos by Zaccai Free and illustrated by Vidya Vasudevan is another excellent book by Solar Publishing (see My Mom Hugs Trees). The story is a reflection of Zaccai's experiences living in Central America, in which he learned about "plants, people, and the simple life". Mbutu's Mangos also comes with a CD of Zaccai reading the story.

Mbutu loves mangos, just like my children. He notices that when the mangos are ripe, a lot of fruit is wasted rotting on the ground below the trees. He pledges to stop this waste and not let a single mango rot. I've had similar thoughts when I see the rotting apples below my fruit trees. Mbutu devises a "mango saver" by assembling fishing nets under the branches to catch the fruit before it hits the ground. His mango saver is a great success; however, the mangos begin to rot on the bottom of the net. Eventually, the mangos all fall on Mbutu's head when the net breaks, much to the laughter of my children when we read this story. Mbutu feels disappointed, until his father teaches him about the cycle of life:

Mbutu, that's part of life. A mango starts off as a seed, and then it builds up flesh and skin to attract birds, animals, and people like us. We eat the sweet, juicy fruit and throw away the seed, which soon sprouts and becomes a new seedling. Some of the seedlings mature into new trees. We can't eat all the mangos, so some of them have to rot. After the flesh rots, the seed has a chance to become a new tree. See Mbutu, everything in life goes in a circle. The fruit must rot so a new tree can begin.

Earth: The Sequel - Book Review for Monday's Green Books

The new book, co-authored by Environmental Defense Fund's (EDF) Fred Krupp and Miriam Horn, brings a fresh and well researched perspective on “the race to reinvent energy and stop global warming.” With it's focus on technology, innovation and all encompassing speculation, It's only fitting that the first interview to promote Earth: The Sequel was published in Wired magazine. On the other hand Red Herring might have been a likely candidate as well.

Earth: The Sequel is not only a primer on the various new technologies being developed to produce clean energy, reduce pollution and increase efficient energy use, but also a celebration of the spirit of entrepreneurship around these developments; a spirit embraced and promoted by EDF for several decades since its founding in 1967. Neither a textbook nor a scientific investigation, Earth: The Sequel is more than anything a journalistic journey that follows the unfolding saga of various energy start-ups and technologies through the shifting sands of venture capital, big $$$, crazy R&D dreams and policy nightmares.

Take for example Amyris Biotechnologies, a hot little California start-up with $70 million in recent round B funding in the bank, and a new CEO promising to “grow it into a $10 billion company in five years.” Building on a platform developed as post-grads in UC Berkeley, the leading scientist-founders of Amyris are developing a large scale yeast-based fermentation process that turns sugar into gasoline and diesel substitutes that contain more energy than ethanol. The promise? With the current controversy over the production of ethanol from food sources, Amyris' sugar cane based process will not only help keep food prices down, but will also bring about net carbon emission reduction, which is seven times that of corn ethanol. The process is not without potential controversy though as it is based on DNA manipulation, in which yeasts are programmed to ferment the fuels.

Thinking dot coms? The comparison is valid up to a point. As far as location, when it comes to bio-tech and solar it seems that California in general, and Silicon Valley in particular, are definitely the places to be. But while a dot com can arguably get to scale and market with an investment in the tens of millions, an energy start-up requires at least ten times that amount. Building a power plant based on totally new tech is often times the challenge.

That is where more traditional and conservative entities such as banks and utilities come into the picture. According to the authors, in order to enable the market to take the right course, that will enable investments, lending and collaboration on that scale for new energy technologies, policy must be put in place. They know exactly what that policy should be – carbon cap-and-trade, a system whereby emission levels are limited and regulated, and companies that achieve emission levels that are lower than the limit can sell their credits to companies which do not meet their quota. Such a system should put a tangible market price on carbon emissions and encourage innovation and investment in new processes and technologies. They cite the Clean Air Act of 1990 as a similar system that helped to decrease sulfur dioxide (the cause of acid rain) significantly:

“Within five years, U.S utilities cut emissions 30 percent more than the law required, even while increasing electric generation from coal by 6.8 percent, and the U.S economy grew by a healthy 5.4 percent. Dire predictions that the program would eventually cost more than $6 billion a year proved wildly off base.”

I have to say I learned a lot reading this book. Never before did I find such a concise and simple guide to the vast maze of terms and technologies of clean energy. If you read this book you'll get a better understanding of the basic science, challenges, and achievements behind wave energy, geothermal energy, biofuel, clean coal, solar thermal and solar photovoltaic technologies. You will also get to meet a wide and wild array of characters, the most memorable of these being Bernie Karl of Chena Hot Springs Resort in Alaska.

Bernie Karl was crowned both as the mastermind of the dumbest business idea of the year (Forbes, 2004) for trying to build an ice palace that remains frozen year round (he succeeded on the third attempt), and is the person who single handedly reorganized and revitalized the geothermal industry. In Chena, 56 miles northeast of Fairbanks, Alaska’s first geothermal plant is producing electricity from lower temperature water than any other plant in the world. Karl also plans a light show based on the Aurora Borealis but that's another story.

Another story waiting to be told is a global version of Earth: The Sequel, that will describe not only US based companies and policy points, but will also bring a wider perspective to international technological developments and companies, which are sometimes way ahead of their American counterparts.

Title: Earth: The Sequel

Authors: Fred Krupp and Miriam Horn

Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company

Publication Date: March 12, 2008

Pages: 256

Official Website: http://earththesequel.edf.org/book

Enjoy!

Eylon_a$t_ecolibris.net

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

Thepurplebook is going green - interview with Ian Anderson, co-author of the Green Edition

What do you do when you want to buy a shirt made of organic cotton or organic shampoo? If you're lucky, you may have Whole Foods or a local store nearby that offer green products. For many, the best option will be to search for these green products online.

Hillary Mendelsohn, the founder of thepurplebook, and Ian Anderson have published last month a guide made especially for these eco-conscious online consumers - thepurplebook Green Edition. It includes a list of the 400 or so best earth-friendly stores currently doing business online.

The Green Edition of any guide is a great news and especially when it's an online shopping guide such as thepurplebook. I decided to learn more about the new book and interviewed Ian Anderson, one of its co-authors. Ian is a multi-tasking author and web-savvy beatnik with a softspot for grass roots environmentalism. He surfs online and off, traveling extensively and looks forward to an endless summer, just so long as it doesn't come at the expense of the earth's climate.

What brought you to write a green edition of thepurplebook?

I've been interested in doing a green edition since Hillary Mendelsohn first established thepurplebook back in 2000. Pinpointing the best online shops was a great and necessary idea, and tying it in to my environmental interests seemed like a natural fit, no pun intended.

We've been gathering research on various eco-friendly shops all along, but it's only been the past couple years that have really seen green commerce flourish on the web. And boy has it. Between regional brick-and-mortar stores that finally established sites and a new generation of socially-conscious businesses entering the marketplace, we found more than 2,000 shops striving to embrace the green economy. The timing finally seemed right to sort out the best and say, "Okay, which of these are going make a difference?"

Can you tell us what you can find on the book and what makes it unique in comparison with other green guides?

Primarily, we feature the 400 best online shops offering eco-friendly goods, plus 20 others that were just too good to leave out. These sites might offer products made from recycled content, all-natural health and personal care items, goods made with fair trade or fair labor policies, organic foods, fashion and furnishings made from sustainable materials, renewable energy sources and plenty of other low-impact wares. Obviously, that's a lot of ground to cover. Which is why the first two chapters of the book examine the basic concepts and challenges we face as eco-savvy consumers.

We try to answer questions everyday shoppers might have, like how to decipher the meaning of different organic labels, or which natural fabrics have antibiotic qualities. Several books approach these topics with greater depth, and a lot more science to explain it. What makes thepurplebook Green Edition different is that we're not just trying to tell you how to shop green, but also showing you where to go to find these items we suggest.

We also kind of avoid speculating about doomsday scenarios in favor of a more optimistic, even funny vibe. I mean, we're not so much trying to point out the problem as we are trying to offer a solution, and the last thing green-minded people need is another lecture.

Who is the main target market of your book - new greenies or people who already buy green and look for more resources?Is it fair to say both?

It's definitely true that someone with little or no prior eco-awareness could pick up this book and, within a month or two, drastically reduce his or her day-to-day impact, and with very little effort. But I am also sure that even the most seasoned environmentalist has something to gain by browsing our list of shops. I personally gleaned a lot of new knowledge just by researching what's out there. I'd considered myself to be fairly green going into this project, but today I am a decidedly deeper shade.

What did you learn on the green market throughout the work on the book?

First and foremost, the green market is growing, and I am proud even to bear witness to that. There are thousands of dedicated individuals out there, working alone or together to bring more innovative, sustainable products to the light of day. I've spoken to a lot of them, and their commitment to our planet runs deeper than any passing media interest or publicity plan. Which is to take nothing away from the large companies that are coming around and committing their vast resources to sustainability - without them we might just be whistling in the wind.

But one aspect of the book that Hillary and I both relish is the opportunity to support the smaller businesses, which are often family-owned-and-operated. It's kind of stimulating, the idea that, here in the 21st century, there is still room for an entrepreneur to start something on a small scale and have it really succeed amid all the fierce, multi-national competition. But some of these small outfits are really on to something, and we look forward to watching as they establish themselves as the foundation for a new, greener economy. Sounds a little lofty, maybe, but some of these shops are pretty inspiring that way.

Is the book only encouraging people to green up their shopping or also to reuse and buy less when possible, as two other green consumerism alternatives?

I'm glad you ask that. Of course, our chief aim is to promote shopping alternatives, but we also stress the notion of maintaining and recycling what you already own; reusing things such as bottles and bags; minimizing packaging; reducing household waste; and-though it sounds counterintuitive in the context of e-commerce-buying local when possible.

When applicable we mention where in the country a shop is located so our readers can choose to minimize the energy costs of delivery on common terms they can't find at home. We do also offer a special rating for those sites that have adopted recycled packaging and/or carbon neutral business practices.

Another facet of green shopping we like to endorse is the simple act of buying products made from recycled materials. Our culture's gotten pretty good at sending cans and bottles to the curb, but a lot of our outbound recycling still sits in landfills waiting to be reused. Many of the business we've highlighted repurpose used materials in fascinating, ingenious and even fashionable ways.

What's the green shop that made the most impression on you?

Wow, that's tough. I guess, as a writer, I am particularly drawn to a site called NepalesePaper.com. It offers journals and stationery made from Lokta paper, which is made from the leaves of a bush native to the Himalayas. As a single bush may be harvested every two-to-four years, these fair trade tree-free paper products are fully renewable as well as durable and quite beautiful. Then again, I happen to be fond of blank pages.

I could also point to sites offering green travel accessories or rechargeable batteries. Someone else might be more interested in furniture made from retired oak wine casks. We've tried to include a variety of lifestyles and interests.

How important you find the role of green consumerism in fighting climate change and other environmental problems?

Oh, I'd say it's of paramount importance. Like it or not, businesses take their cues from consumers, so it's the people paying dollars who need to initiate the change. I think there's been a perception that the free market has been prohibiting the change to a green economy, which is true to the extent that a lot of bad business practices have not been corrected. But once we, as shoppers, show support for green concepts, and make sustainable products profitable on a larger scale, adopting environmental business practices will ultimately be seen as good business sense.

Short of an act of congress, it's hard to imagine existing companies making any lasting, across-the-board changes otherwise. And since politicians themselves seem slow to respond.. Well, I'll leave it at that or I'll wind up giving one of those lectures I mentioned. It's a tough pitfall to avoid when you're trying to promote a cause.

As a green guide for online green businesses, it seems only natural to have an electronic version of the book online - are you planning to have one anytime soon?

Yes. We currently offer a free subscription to thepurplebook.com, where you may browse and search past editions of thepurplebook for a host of web shops covering dozens of categories. Although our online selection of green shops is currently limited, in time we will find a way to incorporate more earth-friendly selections to this service. For now, it's all about putting the book in peoples' hands. Paper still seems to carry a lot of weight over the net when it comes to ratifying ideas.

How about the footprint of the book? is it printed in an environmental-friendly manner?

Both thepurplebook Green and our other recent release, thepurplebook Wedding, were printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper.

What's next? what's your next project?

More books in the works, and further expansion of our web site. Our Fifth Edition of the Definitive Guide to Exceptional Online Shopping is due by the end of the year. This will cover a lot more ground than the Green Edition, including categories on art, entertainment, travel and more.

thepurplebook will continue its mission to bring the best of online shopping to light, and given the all-around stellar performance of some of our favorite eco-friendly retailers, I'd anticipate seeing a heavier green component in this, and all subsequent editions. The hope is that, one day, the term 'green shopping' will be redundant.

Thank you, Ian!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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Planting updates from RIPPLE Africa

Eco-Libris is very proud of its great planting partners, which are planting the trees for the books

that are balanced out by our customers. We bring you from time to time updates on the planting operations and other interesting news from them, and today I am very excited to bring you the latest news from RIPPLE Africa.

RIPPLE Africa, a UK registered non-profit organization that was established in 2003 by Liz and Geoff Furber, is working in Malawi, Africa. Malawi is heavily suffering from deforestation and RIPPLE Africa is working with local communities to plant trees, which will benefit both the environment and the locals. Besides the planting operations, RIPPLE Afric is also invoved in Malawi in health and education programs.

The trees planting season in Malawi is during December/January, after the trees seedlings are been raised in nurseries for a couple of months. RIPPLE Africa reports on its last newsletter on the very successful planting of December 07/Janurary 08 (which also included 2,000 trees of Eco-Libris customers) as follows:

Tree Planting Programme 2007-2008 - Our tree planting programme has developed very quickly over the past two years and, with the small resources that we have had, the RIPPLE Africa staff and the communities have achieved amazing results.

We have had a very successful tree planting programme during the last 12 months, and 1,250,000 tree seedlings have been raised in 137 tree nurseries — we estimate that we now have about 3,000 people working on this project.

Last year, many of the trees were planted in a variety of areas, and it was difficult to monitor and manage these trees. This year, through the guidance of our new supervisors, we have encouraged communities to plant the majority of trees in a few selected areas. This will mean that monitoring and caring for the trees will be easier. It is important to make sure that communities look after these trees for at least the first two years by clearing the grass from around each tree, preventing bush burning, and preventing goats from roaming freely in these areas.

Also, by protecting these areas, trees that have previously been cut down will be given the chance to grow again. This secondary growth will provide diversity and, because the trees will have established roots, they will grow more quickly and more successfully than the newly planted trees.

We will be changing the emphasis of the project during 2008 to provide much more awareness training and monitoring. We have certainly experienced failures where trees have been planted and then, in the dry season, bush fires have killed a number of them. Our goal for this year is to maintain the existing 137 nurseries and only to establish an additional 23 nurseries.

We now have four supervisors, two assistant supervisors, and two awareness training officers employed on the tree planting programme. All of these staff live locally and are working hard to achieve the goals set by RIPPLE Africa.

RIPPLE Africa has another planting program of fruit trees, which was started recently. Here's the report on this program:

Alupro Fruit Tree Growing Project — An Exciting Start!In June 2007, Alupro sponsored our fruit tree project. Our aim was to establish a fruit tree nursery at Mwaya with a greenhouse for grafting and budding, and to grow fruit trees in some of the community tree nurseries.

The communities and the RIPPLE Africa staff have been so excited and enthusiastic about this programme that we have extended the fruit tree project to all of our nurseries. They have been growing lemon trees as hardy root stock for oranges and tangerines, mangos for grafting, guavas and pawpaws, and some avocados. These improved fruit trees will provide valuable income generation from the sale of the tree seedlings and eventually the sale of fruit. Also, local communities will benefit from eating the fruit.

We held a very exciting meeting with the senior chiefs and gave them navel oranges, purchased from a supermarket in Lilongwe and imported from South Africa. They had never seen oranges like these before, and our aim is for communities to be able to grow large, juicy oranges in the future. We have already organised the purchase of budwood from improved orange and tangerine trees to be budded on to the hardy lemon stock.

In November 2007, Cherry Hamson, the Communications Director for Alupro, visited Mwaya to see how the project was developing. Cherry is very passionate about this project being an enormous success. She is promoting the project with local authorities and schools in the UK, and many of them have featured the project in their magazines and websites.

These are great news from RIPPLE Africa! If you want to read more news on their other interesting and important projects, please check out the February news page - http://www.rippleafrica.org/ripple_news_ripplenews17.htm. You can also find a lot of interesting information on RIPPLE Africa, their work in Malawi, the people they work with and on Malawi itself on their website - http://www.rippleafrica.org/.

And if you want to see some of the green action, here are some great photos from the newsletter:

David Banda, a forest guard, with one of the community tree nursery members

One of the 137 RIPPLE Africa tree nurseries











The Senior Chiefs learning about deforestation and how it is affecting the communities at Chikwawa

One of the heavily deforested and eroded hills at Chikwawa











Recently planted trees at Kachere Primary School — growing quickly!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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