An incredibly important update by Project Jatropha

Dear subscribers, viewers, and fans of Project Jatropha,
We bring you good news-with the pre-monsoon rainfalls having occurred, the first 7000 seedlings of Phase II have been planted successfully. The other 5000 seedlings of Phase II will be planted this summer when the first monsoon rainfall occurs-and that time, Apoorva and I will be there to supervise the whole process and check in on the progress of 5000 plants planted for Phase II and the 1000 plants from Phase I as well.
I'd also like to apologize for the lack of blog posts during the first few months of the blog. I could not update the status of Project Jatropha due to time constraints created by all of my schoolwork, since I do this project independently of any school work. However, when Apoorva and I go to India, we will give updates every other day on the progress of our project. When the school year starts up, our updates will reduce to around once a week.

Sincerely,
Adarsha

Is a Popular Carbon-Offset Method Just a Lot of Hot Air?-Scientific American

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=a-mechanism-of-hot-air#comments

Although this article, which talks about the drawbacks and shortcomings of carbon trading, does make several good points, I'd like to point out the comment made by rwilliston. To summarize it briefly, it says that although carbon trading may not be the best possible solution for climate change, merely complaining about the inadequacies of the system is not productive. In addition, the poster points out that the system in place is necessary because only once there is such a system established can we try to improve on it.

Kudos to rwilliston.

Think twice about 'green' transport

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090608/sc_afp/climatewarmingtransportcarbonlifestyle

I decided to post this article because it highlights a major misconception about green transportation that many of us have.

In addition, the article, which talks about the hidden emissions in our transportation systems, implies that the problem of emissions will have to be tackled on more than one front. There is no magic bullet for the issue of climate change even in the context of just the transportation front. However, Project Jatropha is one of the attempts to help combat this problem. We believe that only through a combined effort by multiple sectors of the energy market, including renewable energy and energy efficiency, can we solve the problem of global warming.

Project Jatropha Campaigns for the Raise Your Voice petition

Raise Your Voice Mobile -- Get involved now!

The apparel sector has some of the best corporate performers on climate like Nike, as well as some of the worst. Go Green’s partner Climate Counts has scored seven major apparel companies representing brands like Gap, Juicy Couture, Banana Republic, Hurley, Abercrombie & Fitch, Converse, and Old Navy. Of the apparel companies scored by Climate Counts, two -- VF Corporation and Jones Apparel Group -- are in the "stuck" category. VF owns well-known brands like Lee, Wrangler, Eastpak, Vans, and North Face. Jones Apparel owns brands like Nine West and Anne Klein.

It's time for all companies in the apparel sector to rise to the challenge and reach for the bar that's been set by Nike and others. Your cell phone is all you need to send a message to the world's largest companies that climate change matters to YOU.

Sign the petition to tell the apparel industry to get serious about global climate change.

To take a stand, text "GOGREEN" to 66937

Sirona Fuels Partnership

Posted on www.sironacaresblog.com 4/6/2009:
Things move very quickly with Sirona and last month we had a noteworthy meeting that is only now making it into my blog. We met with Adarsha Shivakumar, Apoorva Rangan and Callie Roberts of Project Jatropha. Although the three members are very young, all students at the College Preparatory School in Oakland, they have accomplished much of what we are attempting to do in Haiti. It was a fantastic opportunity to collaborate and exchange knowledge on farming in developing countries.

In an effort to save the environment and alleviate rural poverty in southern India, Project Jatropha has presented farming jatropha as a desirable substitute for tobacco farming to farmers in southern India. The process of drying tobacco leaves destroys the environment by causing massive deforestation. Project Jatropha traveled to India and forged relationships between Parivarthana, an NGO involved in rural poverty alleviation, environmental protection, and sustainable rural development and Labland Biotechs, a biotech lab that produces highest quality jatropha seeds and seedlings. This collaboration has already led to the planting of jatropha and the beginnings of change for this community. In addition, Project Jatropha works with high school students in India to raise awareness of what Jatropha can do for a community that needs to wean itself from tobacco farming.

Sirona is happy to collaborate with Project Jatropha. We will partner with them and assist them in any way possible, and we have already received valuable information for our farmers in Haiti through their connections in India. In August we plan to travel to India together to see how far our collaboration can take us.

Michelle Lacourciere
Director, Sirona Cares
sironafuels.com