Pollution in Asia, Are You in Jeopardy?

If you live on planet earth, the answer is a resounding “Yes”! Pollution is spread through air currents. Air pollution is not confined to any one region, which means we need to work together on a global level to combat this deadly problem.

Warm Heart Environmental Program is tackling this issue at the source of a major contributor to pollution with our “Stop the Smoke” campaign. Through grants from the US Embassy in Chiang Mai, and the Canadian Embassy in Bangkok, we have initiated an educational program to help teach local farmers sustainable farming practices that eliminate the smoke from open field burning of crop residue.

It may not seem like much at first. But when you consider the statistics, the impact can be immense. Poor farmers release 25 percent of the world’s total of “black carbon”—clouds of smoke that count as the second-largest warming source after CO2—by burning more than 330,000 gigatons of field wastes every year.

People like you showed how much they care by helping us raise $25,000 with our “Stop the Smoke” campaign on Crowdrise. We thank you for your support!

Contributions to our recent “Stop the Smoke” campaign on Crowdrise helped us complete our Mae Chaem – A First Feasibility Study in the 2017 burning season.

Air Pollution: Converting Smoke to Biochar

How do you tackle the problem of convincing farmers to stop burning their crop fields after harvest?

There is no simple solution to the problem.

Getting to a cooler climate, cleaner air and rural development one step at a time

For the past several years, Warm Heart Environmental Program has been developing a biochar system that farmers can use to convert their crop waste into something valuable instead of burning it.

Addressing the needs of the world’s poorest 2.54 billion people – all very small farmers – Warm Heart has taken on the two challenges that have led big development and environment agencies to dismiss biochar infeasible. First, Warm Heart has worked with poor farming villages to develop distributed production systems to demonstrate that they can produce huge quantities of biochar. Second, Warm Heart has worked with farmers to field-test biochar to demonstrate that they will switch to biochar when its economic superiority to alternatives is proven.

Air pollution doesn’t care about international boundaries. It is a problem for everyone on Earth. How important is clean air to you and your family? We need to remember that just because something seems like a far away problem, it can still affect us wherever we are.

We are making great strides in our drive to reduce harmful smoke, but we need additional funding to expand our program and create a ripple affect across Asia. ( See Beyond the Borders)

There is still so much more work that still needs to be done. You can help us reach our next plateau by making a donation to our Warm Heart Environmental Program, where every dollar counts.