Earth Day + Protect Our Species = Stop The Smoke
What do all of these species have in common? (Hint: It is related to Climate Change)
Answer: They are all facing extinction! (Click on any image to read about their plight)
All species on earth are impacted by Climate Change. Since humans are assumed to be the most intelligent of the species, it is our responsibility to help bring our environment back to a healthy balance where every species can thrive and survive.
Up to half of plant and animal species in the world’s most naturally rich areas, such as the Amazon and the Galapagos, could face local extinction by the turn of the century due to climate change if carbon emissions continue to rise unchecked. Even if the Paris Climate Agreement 2°C target is met, these places could lose 25 percent of their species according to a landmark new study by the University of East Anglia, the James Cook University, and WWF. Source
You can help eliminate the extinction of these, and thousands of other species, by donating* to our Protect the Species – Reduce Global Warming campaign on GlobalGiving, our solution to reduce global warming through the reduction of agricultural burning, a major contributor to the Greenhouse effect that is impacting Climate Change.
How are you celebrating Earth Day?
Here in Chiang Mai we are working together on a solution to end the smoke from agricultural fires and the smoke that pollutes our world. We will have a celebration on April 27th, check out our event Chiang Mai Earth Day.
Connecting the Dots…….
A little bit of History
Our first design for a biochar oven was a monstrosity! It worked great as a demonstration for local farmers and government officials to see the process of disposing of crop waste, with no smoke, and ending up with a valuable product, biochar. Not practical for a small farmer though.
We continued our research and development, to come up with an oven design that would be easy and cheap to build.
We trained hundreds of small holder farmers.
We posted an instructional video “How to Make a Biochar Machine“, which has had 30,000 views to date.
One of those viewers was Sister Miriam, a Nun in Malawi, Africa. She sent us a video of the first oven she made in action.
She has has sparked interest in her community and surrounding villages in making biochar to clear the air, restore the soil and provide smokeless cooking charcoal. Sister Miriam Paulet is the force behind bringing Biochar to Malawi.
Working with over 100 farmers last year, we proved farmers can and will make biochar when taught how.
We have continued our research and development to design the simplest way for poor farmers to make biochar if they could not afford to build an oven.
In December 2018, Warm Heart Foundation trained thirty subsistence farmers in a village outside of Paga, Upper North Region, Ghana, to make biochar from waste millet stalks and rice straw using trenches in the ground snuffed using sheets of roofing zinc.
We have been to China, and Malaysia, to help with setting up biochar systems.
#StopTheSmoke2019
Climate Change is a complex issue, with many different factors impacting the problem. Global Warming is just one of the factors, but it is one we can actually do something about.
Every year the March-April “burning season” blankets north Thailand with choking smoke. It not only kills tourism, it kills people. The smoke is nasty – it stings the eyes and irritates the throat, but its most important constituent, PM2.5 – particulates so small that they pass right through the lungs’ walls – kills 4.3 million people around the world annually, many right here in Chiang Mai.
In Chiang Mai, forest fires make a lot of smoke, but North Thailand grows 3,125,000 rai (500,000 hectares) of corn that leaves behind 7 million metric tonnes of waste. Mae Chaem alone grows 100,000 rai (16,000 ha) of corn, producing 34,999 metric tonnes of husk and cob, and 60,000 metric tonnes of stalk. According to a 2018 study of Mae Chaem, 41% of all corn stalk burned. Much of the corncob and husk burns, as well.
Burning 60,000 tonnes of corn stalk produces 375,000 kilograms of PM2.5. One kg of “haze” is equivalent to the smoke of 71,429 cigarettes; 375,000 kg is equivalent to the smoke of 26,828,732,400 cigarettes.
Global Impact
Chiang Mai is just one of thousands of farming communities around the world that contribute to global warming through the release of the smoke from their burning fields.
When you live in an area where there is agricultural burning, it is obvious how bad it is for the immediate environment.
But don’t be fooled, it also has a direct impact on you, wherever you live, and on every species that we share our home with that we call mother earth.
Cumulatively, small farmers around the world are unknowingly major contributors to the Greenhouse Effect, also known as Global Warming.
Finding a Solution
Warm Heart Biochar Project has been working towards a solution at our local level. When we can end the burning in our community, by providing a better method to dispose of crop waste, other communities will follow suit.
Change is slow, but we must keep doing what we can to make a difference. We can not just sit back and ignore Climate Change. Not when there are actions we can take to reduce, and even reverse, Global Warming.
Read more about our #StopTheSmoke2019 campaign, and join our efforts to help stop the extinction of any species, including us humans, before it is too late.
Wildlife lovers! Share your favorite wildlife shots at Wildlife Exchange!
Subscribe to Environmental News
Environmental Progress News Archive
We would love to have you join our Environmental News mailing list. We only use it to send out an announcement each month when our newsletter is published.
Please, if you do want to sign-up remember to add us to your email contacts so you will actually receive our emails and they will not end up unseen in a dark hole somewhere on the internet.
We use Mailchimp for our newsletter delivery, from our email address info@warmheartworldwide.org. Thanks!
Notify Me When A New Issue is Out!
*Warm Heart Worldwide is a registered 501.c.3 non-profit organization in the United States, our tax exemption number is 26-2059241. All donations are tax-deductible for U.S. Taxpayers.
Leave a Reply