Current Environmental news that matters Ocean Plastics November’s issue of Environmental Progress News looks at ocean plastics and why it is such a big deal, why you should care, what is being done, and what still needs to be done. Long Term Problem In 1907 when Bakelite first started the plastics revolution, they were not kidding…
Current Environmental news that matters Just Say No Last month we highlighted the story about Rise for Climate and how they were organizing rallies in cities and towns around the world to say “No more fossil fuel!”. Results? September 8th on 7 continents, in 95 countries, with 900+ actions, people worldwide demanded real climate action from…
Young Smart Farmer is a program to help set a role model for a new generation of farmers who want to upgrade Thai agriculture. Recently the Thai government has made it a big priority to provide local organic foods to government based organizations such as schools and hospitals. This push is becoming more apparent after…
Current Environmental news that matters Time for Action “We have to wake up to the fierce urgency of the now” Jim Yong Kim, President, The World Bank Mother Nature has been giving us a glimpse of what to expect in the way of climate change impacts from global warming. Extreme flooding in July, raging forest…
Smile! What is a smile worth? There is no Tooth Fairy in rural Northern Thailand to make sure that kids grow up with healthy teeth. Where Warm Heart works, the only dental care available is extraction. Children get cavities. (What children don’t get cavities?) The cavities go untreated. The tooth breaks. The child gets…
Small-scale biochar: making it alleviates big problems and using it alleviates more. Cool the Climate, Clean the Environment, Improve Public Health, Reduce Rural Poverty with Small-Scale Biochar – Part 5 The Case for Small-Scale Biochar So far, I have focused on the effects of burning corn waste and what to do about it. Here…
Demand creation – what it will take to establish a strong biochar market. Cool the Climate, Clean the Environment, Improve Public Health, Reduce Rural Poverty with Small-Scale Biochar – Part 4 What’s a Market Anyway? We know what a market is. It’s where sellers exchange stuff with buyers and both leave feeling richer because…
Biochar Social Enterprise – Part 3 Can this be a solution for corn crop waste burning? Cool the Climate, Clean the Environment, Improve Public Health, Reduce Rural Poverty with Small-Scale Biochar – Part 3 Corn is here to stay. There is no “better” crop to replace it for farmers of the marginal lands at the…
Corn crop waste, Part 2 looks at the impact on our environment Cool the Climate, Clean the Environment, Improve Public Health, Reduce Rural Poverty with Small-Scale Biochar – Part 2 Why Care that Corn Crop Waste Burns Dirty? This, the second in a series addressing the climate, environmental and human health consequences of the…
August 2018
Cool the Climate by Dr. D. Michael Shafer is a series of 5 articles proposing an actionable plan to reverse global warming. Cool the Climate, Clean the Environment, Improve Public Health, Reduce Rural Poverty with Small-Scale Biochar – Part 1 The Ubiquity of Corn Introduction This article is the first of a five part…
Organic fertilizer is the best soil amendment you can add to your garden. Do you want to grow healthy, nutritious vegetables in your garden? Of course you do! Organic fertilizer is easy to make It does not take much to set up a biochar oven, we even show you how to make one. There are…
[columns] [span8] A jewelry and bead collection was recently donated to Warm Heart Worldwide in honor of Lisa Carp. Lisa Carp was a talented jewelry maker. Upon her death her daughter chose to donate her unsold collection to Warm Heart. An account has been set up at eBay where you can view and purchase…
Styrofoam R&D Repurposing styrofoam into a useful product has become a serious pursuit at Warm Heart. Biochar is not the only area of research and development at Warm Heart. Styrofoam is actually one of the worst contributors to ecosystem destruction. Styrofoam is non-biodegradable and non-recyclable. According to Washington University, styrofoam takes 500 years to decompose;…
In August we challenged the kids to create a self-portrait. The kids had 1 hour to work on their project. Needless to say this was a new concept for the kids, and we think they did an extraordinary job! With a little over 1,000 votes the winners were announced, And the self-portrait winners are… 1st…
[columns] [span8] [kad_youtube url=”https://youtu.be/QSma0eleZ4Y” ] 20 Questions Just for fun we asked our kids some questions. Below are Praew’s answers to some of the questions. Who’s your best friend? A friend from school What do you want to be when you grow up? Tour guide If you had three wishes, what would they be? Good…
[columns] [span8] 20 Questions Just for fun we asked our kids some questions. Below are Jidapa‘s answers to some of the questions. Who’s your best friend? Jangum and Attitaya What do you want to be when you grow up? A doctor If you could have one superpower, what would it be and why? Water and…
[columns] [span8] 20 Questions Just for fun we asked our kids some questions. Below are Jangum’s answers to some of the questions. Who’s your best friend? Attitaya, Jitapa What do you want to be when you grow up? Flight attendant If you could have one superpower, what would it be and why? The power to…
[kad_youtube url=”https://youtu.be/CaWr32-xsuM” ] [columns] [span8] Recent Report Card Aom just completed 8th grade and we couldn’t be happier with his efforts. He earned a 3.27 overall GPA and got 6 A’s! He excelled in English, Math, Art, Sports, and Health. He is another star at Warm Heart. He was on the team with Nuey Sutinan…
[columns] [span8] [kad_youtube url=”https://youtu.be/Cvmv3Zu-YvU” width=500 height=300 ] Warm Heart is lucky to have Saa. She is the best friend of one of our superstars, Naan, who fought to get her a place at Warm Heart. We are so glad she did, although we are not surprised that Naan’s best friend is a superstar herself! Saa…
News Archive August 2018: Environmental News that matters Rising Waters July brought many weather related disasters around the world. Two major crisis, both related to rising waters, were covered internationally. “Global warming isn’t a prediction. It is happening.” James Hansen The Power of Water The flooding in Japan demonstrates the striking…
Nagomi Art Dawn, a volunteer at Warm Heart from Singapore, introduced the children to Nagomi Art, a form of Japanese art healing founded in Japan, using pastels and fingers to create a gentle, transparent, warm and heart-touching art through simple yet unique ways of painting techniques. The kanji character of “NAGOMI” is ‘和’, which means…
10th Anniversary Warm Heart celebrated our 10th Anniversary on July 4th, 2018 with a big party! We would like to thank Franck Legale for hosting our event at The Edge. We had great live music from local bands throughout the evening, all arranged for us by our friend Brad Chamberlain. His band Jen Yai,…
10 Year Retrospect We are so grateful to all of our supporters, with your help we have been able to establish the following programs over the past 10 years: Our Children’s Homes – we are able to provide a loving home to disadvantaged hill tribe children, and provide them an opportunity for life-changing education….
This recent headline caught my attention: “California has a recycling crisis. The only way to solve it is to stop making so much trash“. Since China stopped accepting recyclable materials, California is not the only place that is accumulating excess garbage, it is becoming a problem everywhere. While recycling can help put a dent in…
June 2018 Archive June 2018 Archive of Environmental Progress News offers two articles, “How We Think About Green Matters” and “Environmental Attitudes and Behaviors Across Cultures”. Where Do We Go From Here? We are living in an unsustainable world. How do you get 6 Billion People to wake up before it is too late? What…
This is a chulah, the basic cooking stove in rural India. It is fueled with dung, fuelwood, and trash. It is estimated that over 100 million households use these stoves to prepare their meals 2 – 3 times a day, every single day. As you can imagine, it is a major source of air pollution…
Balance of Nature Unintentional consequences A case in Borneo illustrates the delicate balance of nature and the unintended consequences of human intervention.Back in the early 50s an outbreak of malaria in Borneo led the World Health Organization (WHO) to bring in massive amounts of DDT to kill the malaria carrying mosquitoes. They were successful in…
Smoky Season in Asia Smoky season in Asia is a real drag. I live in Chiang Mai, also known as the “Rose of the North”. It is located in Northern Thailand, offers lush landscape, a city full of culture and friendly people. It is a wonderful place to live. Until smoky season erupts, much like…
Cheers for The Plastic Bank I fell in love with The Plastic Bank because I like solutions that solve several problems simultaneously. Plastic Bank is a sustainable way to stop ocean plastic pollution before it happens by helping the world’s poorest people help themselves. What are the keywords here? • Sustainable: The Plastic Bank program will…
Beyond the 3 R’s By Carol Culver De Leo Where did we think our garbage was “going”? When I was a kid I had the unfortunate experience of visiting landfills with my dad a couple of times. The garbage was piled in disgusting mountains, the stench was awful. My father told me the garbage would…
Earth Day 2018: End Plastic Pollution Plastic pollution litters our beaches and landscapes, clogs our waste streams and landfills, seeps its way into our oceans, killing marine life, infiltrating our food supply. Unless we take meaningful, positive steps to address the issue continued exponential growth of plastics threatens the survival of our planet. In response,…
Carbon Imbalance Last month our Environmental Progress News focused on the impacts of climate change. This month we are looking at what is triggering global warming, and causing drastic changes to our climate. There is no question about the damage excess carbon in the atmosphere (known as CO2) is causing. We have identified the problem, now…
Impacts of a Changing Climate There is no debate about whether our climate is changing. What we need to do is look at how climate change is impacting our world, understand what further changes to expect, and find ways to adapt. How do we survive, thrive? We can start with the most obvious, the melting…
Environmental Progress News January, 2018 “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” ~ Socrates New Year’s Resolutions What were your New Year’s Resolutions, if any? Some people pledge to themselves to quit smoking, eat less, lose weight, exercise more, spend more…
Environmental Progress News December, 2017 “The language may be different but the heart is the same. We are all one. We have a responsibility to each other and the world.” ~ Akiroq Brost – 195 Countries – – 6,909 Languages – – 4,200 Religions – – 6.5 Billion People – – 1 Mother Earth –…
Environmental Progress News November, 2017 “Let us take advantage of the opportunities presented by climate action and lay the foundations for a more prosperous and secure future for all.” ~ UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon Do Something! The 2016 Paris Climate Accord represented a huge diplomatic step forward as 168 countries agreed that we need to address…
Environmental News October, 2017 “All the human and animal manure which the world wastes, if returned to the land, instead of being thrown into the sea, would suffice to nourish the world” ~ Victor Hugo Ew! Getting down and dirty When you think of recycling, what comes to mind? Aluminum cans, glass bottles, plastic bags, newspapers,…
Environmental News September, 2017 “There’s one issue that will define the contours of this century more dramatically than any other, and that is the urgent and growing threat of a changing climate.” ~ U.S. President Barack Obama What Can One Person Do? When you fully embrace the consequences of what we are facing with climate…
The Warm Heart biochar training program now extends far beyond Phrao and even Thailand In February, 2017 Warm Heart Environmental Program provided a biochar training program for a diverse group of interested large farm holders from Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. The training was held at our facilities in Phrao. Dr. Michael Shafer led the…
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…
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…
Learning about biochar We visited Hod High School in Chiang Mai and introduced biochar burners to students. They had great fun while learning new DIY skills. Also check out our step by step video on how to build your own biochar burner.
Doing Green – How’s it cooking? This update to our story Hospitality Embraces Biochar about how a local 5 Star resort, 137 Pillars House in Chiang Mai, is setting the trend for moving beyond “Going Green”, they have embraced “Doing Green” with a Backyard Biochar System. The new system they are using for addressing their biomass waste (i.e….
Doing Green: Setting Up A Successful Backyard Biochar Program The first thing you may ask yourself is how dies a biochar oven work? Biochar ovens are based on heating of any organic material (biomass) in the absence of oxygen. Because no oxygen is present the material does not combust but the chemical compounds (i.e. cellulose,…
Taking Action The US Consulate in Chiang Mai has been a big supporter of Warm Heart’s Environmental Program going back to October 2015 when they funded our Breath of Fresh Air Grant. We are very pleased that the US Consulate recently announced they are going set up their own biochar program to handle their biomass…
Pursuing A Breath Of Fresh Air 137 Pillars House, a local 5 Star luxury hotel has shown a real commitment to corporate responsibility by recently setting up an onsite environmental program to do their part to reduce the haze and smoke that plague Chiang Mai every year. The tourist industry in Chiang Mai is largely…
RazorTV For a few months every year, the tourist magnet of Chiang Mai turns to a living hell, as smoke from open fires during the dry season settles into the valley and creates a uniform, ash-coloured horizon.
Reducing Health Hazards for Women and Children As part of the efforts funded by the US Department of States’ “Breath of Fresh Air” Grant, Warm Heart held two days of training for women of the Mae Pang sub-district. Over the course of two days, roughly 45 women were trained in how to use the TLUD…
Community Comes Together Warm Heart completed two successful trainings for roughly 120 people of the community on January 26 and 27. Both days were spent learning how biochar works, and how to build a TLUD (“top lift up draft”) model. The trainings were an important step towards having the Phrao community (and beyond) use…
Giant Steps Forward for Warm Heart’s Biochar Project Warm Heart was given the opportunity to present the biochar project as a complimentary solution to the “Action Plan 2016,” aimed to prevent and resolve smog in Northern Thailand. The Deputy Governor of Chiang Mai as well as representatives from the forestry department, district offices,…
Funding for Biochar Project On October 1, Consul General Michael Heath announced a State Department grant award of $69,974 (2,099,220 THB) to Warm Heart Worldwide, Inc., to support efforts to assist farmers in reducing seasonal airborne particulate pollution in northern Thailand. The “Breath of Fresh Air” project intends to reduce pollution-based health risks to…
