Hope is like an unseen compass that points us in the direction of something beneficial to our future

Newsletter #6

Hello Friends,

Welcome to issue #6, where you will learn about the Great Green Wall, a Bio Designer in Spain, Gamechanger Chef José Andrés, exciting recycling news from an unexpected source in Wales and why I love my local fish farm. Hope you are inspired and hopeful after reading this newsletter. There is a lot of good going on out there in our beautiful world!

#1-The Great Green Wall

Do you know of the Sahel, a semiarid region that stretches across Africa south of the Sahara? Currently it is threatened by desertification and The Great Green Wall is working to stop it.

The Sahel

 This multinational project is helping farmers in Niger to plant trees, manage water and make their agricultural practices more sustainable.

The Great Green Wall is an African-led movement that began in 2007. The plan is to plant trees along the 8000 km route, the entire width of Africa, and have it completed by 2030.

More than a decade in and roughly 15% underway, the initiative is already bringing life back to Africa’s degraded landscapes at an unprecedented scale, providing food security, jobs and a reason to stay for the millions who live along its path. 

Women tending to the saplings

More than anywhere else on Earth, the Sahel is on the frontline of climate change and millions of locals are already facing its devastating impact. Persistent droughts, lack of food, conflicts over dwindling natural resources, and mass migration to Europe are just some of the many consequences.

Men preparing the tree planting sites

 The Great Green Wall isn’t just for the Sahel. It is a global symbol for humanity overcoming its biggest threat – our rapidly degrading environment.

It shows that if we can work with nature, even in challenging places like the Sahel, we can overcome adversity, and build a better world for generations to come.

Trailer of a film by Fernando Meirelles about the Great Green Wall 

Read more about The Great Green Wall

#2- Weaving the Future

For her final year project, designer Paula Camiña Eiras worked with basket makers and a bio designer to revive the folk crafts of her native Galicia with an eco-friendly approach that married age-old traditions with innovative materials.

Galicia is a coastal region in the northwest of Spain, where the local population relies on ocean treasure, which leads to some 602 tonnes of shells being thrown away each year. The sheer waste contributes to marine pollution, a major danger to the environment in that region. In addition, the use of modern fishing techniques, mean the local artisan basket weavers are non longer in demand.

Local artisan basket weavers

Paula invented a flexible biomaterial that is made from seafood shells, to be used by basket makers, all the while reducing the amount of toxic waste, and helping preserve traditional crafts. Her project, Co-Obradoiro Galego, combines traditional and contemporary techniques, materials and processes of Galician basket making with the principles of sustainability: preserving an equilibrium between the activity’s needs and natural resources taken from the environment.

Co-Obradoiro Galego opens out new perspectives and holds the promise of innovative new resources that will help establish a new form of artisanship.

“I can envisage a future where designers and artisans work had in hand to fashion a regenerative system,” says Paula.

Via MILK magazine

Photos by Sabela Andrés and Rodri Porcelli

#3 Gamechanger: Chef José Andrés

José Ramón Andrés Puerta is a Spanish-American chef, restaurateur, and founder of World Central Kitchen, a non-profit devoted to providing meals in the wake of natural disasters. He was awarded a 2015 National Humanities Medal at a 2016 White House ceremony for his work with World Central Kitchen. WCK is first to the frontlines, providing meals in response to humanitarian, climate, and community crises. They build resilient food systems with locally led solutions.

In response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Andrés formed WCK to provide healthy food to families and individuals, and has since organized meals in the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Zambia, Peru, Cuba, Uganda, Cambodia, and currently is in Poland, on the border with Ukraine, serving thousands of fresh meals for Ukrainian families. Nearly one million meals have been served as relief effort grows.

The new WCK Relief Kitchen is located in Przemyśl—a Polish city just a few miles from the border with Ukraine that is receiving tens of thousands of refugees every day. From this kitchen, our team has the capacity to scale up and cook 100,000 meals per day utilizing 12 massive WCK paella pans and 12 large ovens.

A distant relative of mine, Chef Marc Murphy volunteering at one of the kitchens.

“The WCK team remains in awe of our partners across the region working day and night to feed people in need—we've seen incredible courage from Ukrainians showing up every day to cook in cities under siege. It's our honor to be able to support these teams in ensuring that everyone is met with a warm, nourishing meal, and we are so thankful to all of our supporters who have come together to show the power that a plate of food can hold in even the darkest times. Thank you.”

Join me in supporting the work of the World Central Kitchen

#4-A Highway paved with Recycled Diapers

The world’s first highway to be paved with 100,000 used disposable diapers, a pilot project, was recently completed in Llanarth, western Wales. These particular diapers were rinsed, then shredded into fibrous gray pellets and mixed with asphalt that a work crew slathered over a 1.5-mile stretch of winding highway.

Did you know that 140 million disposable diapers are tossed in the bin annually in Wales, in Britain as a whole, that number is estimated at 3 billion, and in the United States, adding up about 50 million diapers each day, for a total of more than 18 billion a year. The majority of those end up in landfills, where even the ones billed as biodegradable can take years to break down.

NappiCycle, a Welsh company that supplied the pellets for the trial, is one of only two diaper recycling companies in the world. (The other is in Italy.) Director Rob Poyer said diapers are difficult to break it down into plastic, cellulose and super absorbent polymer parts. But perhaps the biggest challenge for potential recyclers has been finding a market for the output left behind. Poyer recycles about 40 million disposable nappies a year and has used the fibrous pellets to make construction panels, pinup boards and coasters.

Analysts say what really drove up rates were a threat of hefty fines if the recycling goals aren’t met. Local authorities have flexibility on how to meet those targets. In Swansea, for instance, officials carry out what they call “clink tests” — they go around shaking trash bags to see if there are any clinks or clanks, identifying recyclable objects. Culprits have to pay 100 pounds, or nearly $140.

Other Welsh towns have slashed the frequency of trash pickups, while maintaining weekly recycling and food waste collection. The first place to introduce once-a-month rubbish collection was Conwy, a region in the north with a striking medieval castle. Since that move in 2018, Conwy’s food waste collection is up 31 percent and the recycling of dry materials is up 16 percent. The region recycles more than 70 percent of household waste.

“You’re not sure what to expect when you turn up to a nappy road,” said Ben Lake, a politician who represents this area in Britain’s Parliament. But, taking a deep breath as he strolled alongside the freshly paved, still glistening road, he pronounced: “It smells like — road.”

Lake said the nappy road “could be a game-changer for how we approach infrastructure in Wales.”

Source: The Washington Post

More exciting trash recycling stories:

Several countries have experimented with roads made with plastic garbage. India led the way — glue made from shredded plastic waste has been holding together a street in Chennai since 2002, and since 2015 the Indian government has required road construction in populous urban areas to incorporate plastic waste. The Netherlands, a country of keen cyclists, opened the world’s first bicycle path made with recycled plastic. And California used discarded plastic bottles and other packaging to repave 1,000 feet of a three-lane stretch of Highway 162 in Oroville (north of Sacramento). The project used liquid plastic from 150,000 bottles in a mix to repave three lanes.

#5- Hudson Valley Fisheries

I’m fortunate to call Hudson Valley Fisheries {in upstate New York} my local source for fresh steelhead trout which is a premium fish loaded with omega-3s. I especially love their fish because it contains no mercury, artificial dyes or micro-plastics and they do not use pesticides or antibiotics.

They are a self-contained farm with strict biosecurity control; the fish and their waste have zero impact on ocean ecosystems and wild fish populations. Their sustainable aquaculture system filters and converts fish waste into organic fertilizer.  In addition, coupled with dedicated animal care, including the use of BAP-certified fish feed, they raise the healthiest fish without the use of growth hormones. These harsh chemicals (including antibiotics, and pesticides) are often used in open sea-based farming where fish are exposed to harmful pathogens, parasites and sea lice. 

The fact that it’s so local reduces the time and distance that it takes to get their fish to my fridge. A much shorter supply chain means less carbon emissions and a smaller carbon footprint. Local farming allows customers to enjoy fresh fish all year-round.

They offer recipes as well!

Wishing you and your loved ones a wonderful rest of the month

Stay in touch with more news by following me on Instagram @PriscillaWoolworth

All the very best,

Priscilla

P.S. Paid subscribers will receive information on how to make their own Solitary Bee Nesting House, like this one: