When I was a sophomore in high school, for a chemistry project, I studied baking. I decided to research the chemical properties of flour, sugar, eggs, butter, baking powder vs. baking soda, etc. I then ignored printed recipes and attempted to create tasty treats. The first few were [...]]]>

Students at work! Photo courtesy of Fundación EcoScience

Do you remember doing hands-on science experiments?

When I was a sophomore in high school, for a chemistry project, I studied baking. I decided to research the chemical properties of flour, sugar, eggs, butter, baking powder vs. baking soda, etc. I then ignored printed recipes and attempted to create tasty treats. The first few were far from delicious: a cake chock-full of chalky cocoa powder, concave lemon cupcakes, a mushy cake with too much mint extract. Eventually, by cake number 25 or so, I had created two real recipes: mint chocolate chip cake and apricot muffins.

Why am I telling you this?

Because it’s one of the few school lessons that I can remember in detail.

Why do I remember that baking soda is a base, and it needs to be combined with acidic ingredients like lemon or buttermilk or cream of tartar in order to produce the carbon dioxide bubbles that enable the cake to rise?

Because I didn’t just read this in a book; I discovered it with my own hands and nose and tastebuds.

I believe that hands-on science education is absolutely critical for the next generation of citizens, everywhere in the world. One must have a fundamental understanding of ecology, biology, and other disciplines to be able to make good decisions about food, transportation, and the world in general, but students will only truly remember those lessons if they discover them with their own hands!

My friend María Cuellar is developing a fabulous science education project here in Chile. It’s a bus specially equipped with science experiments, and it will travel to underprivileged schools throughout the country, to reach 10,000 kids per year. I love the name: Con = with, Ciencia = science, and ConCiencia sounds the same as conscience.

María’s enthusiasm is contagious; here’s her description of the project.

Dear friends,

I’ve told you a little bit about this before, but I’ll explain it again briefly. I am part of a group of scientists and entrepreneurs working on a project called el Bus ConCiencia, a mobile laboratory on a bus that will take scientific experiments to the most remote and impoverished schools in Chile.

Although we have enough funding for the investment part of the project (i.e. the bus, the laboratory modification, the development of the experiments), we still need to find funding for the operational costs for 2012 (i.e. gasoline, materials for experiments, teacher trainings, printing costs, etc.). So, we launched the Bus ConCiencia fundraising campaign! It’s on a lovely Argentinean website called idea.me: http://idea.me/proyecto/89/busconciencia

What we want to achieve with the website is crowdfunding. This means that we are interested in having lots of donations, even if they are small. So, if you want to donate 20 or 5 dollars, that’s really helpful!

Here are the instructions, just in case:
1. You go to this website: http://idea.me/proyecto/89/busconciencia?siteLang=en_US
2. Click on the green button that says “I WANT TO SUPPORT!”
3. Go down and click on your “Reward”, that is, how much you want to donate.
4. Choose whether you want to pay for the shipping cost (for us to mail your reward).
5. Go down and click on “CONTINUE”.
6. Write down your information for ideame (this is what we will use to send you your rewards).
7. Click on “I have read and accept the ideame terms and conditions.” Then “SAVE”.
8. Choose your payment method (I highly recommend PayPal).
9. Write down your information and pay with a credit card.

Please share this link with your friends!

Thank you!!
xoxo,
Maria

I have a dream that one day throughout the whole world, renewable energy sources will take [...]]]>

I have a dream, a common dream of the people devoting to renewable energy source around the world, that for the blue sky and white cloud of the later generations, qualified products are used to realize renewable energy substitution.

I have a dream that one day throughout the whole world, renewable energy sources will take the dominant position.

I have a dream that one day my entire country fellows, even the global citizens, know about solar energy and make full use of it.

I have a dream that one day solar industry will be as advanced as IT industry, as mature as electric home appliances industry, and as large-scaled and automatic as automobile industry.

I have a dream that one day the sky will be much bluer, the water will be more limpid; our homeland will be full of sunshine, tranquil with no war.”

– Huang Ming

This quotation really touched me. I found it endearingly Chinese and idealistic (not mutually exclusive.)

The world faces a massive challenge, a common challenge, to channel the power of the sun, wind, and sky, into resources to power our modern lives.

This photo shows Huang Ming in January 2011, when he accepted the CCTV China economic innovation prize.

Huang Ming earned the 2011 Right Livelihood Honorary Award:

“… for his outstanding success in the development and mass-deployment of cutting-edge technologies for harnessing solar energy, thereby showing how dynamic emerging economies can contribute to resolving the global crisis of anthropogenic climate change.”

Here’s his bio:

Huang Ming is a visionary, dedicated, and passionate entrepreneur and change-maker in the field of solar thermal energy. He set up the Solar Valley in Dezhou as a national and global example for solar as a realistic alternative to fossil and nuclear energy and rising CO2 emissions. In 2005, Huang Ming was instrumental in getting the Renewable Energy Law passed in China, thus building a strong case for his country to take a leading role in preventing growing climate chaos.

Huang Ming was born on March 10th 1958. He worked as an engineer at the Petroleum Research Institute of Dezhou. After the birth of his daughter, he became worried about the living environment of her and other children because of the pollution. He started his career in the solar energy field secretly, without quitting his job at the institute, because he needed to fund his initial solar research by his salary.

I like that keep-your-day-job-while-you-scheme strategy, something I hear about more often from bloggers-turned-solopreneurs than onetime engineers at Chinese government institutions!

Parque Eólico Totoral

On Ruta 5 Norte between Los Vilos and La Serena, you can see these turbines at the top of the hill.

Built by Norwegian developer SN [...]]]> Our trip to Chile’s IV Region has brought us up close and personal with Chile’s most high-profile wind energy projects.

On Ruta 5 Norte between Los Vilos and La Serena, you can see these turbines at the top of the hill.

Built by Norwegian developer SN Power, it contains 23 125m wind turbines, and generates 46MW of electricity. The project required an investment of $140,000,000 and opened in January 2010. The developers submitted the Declaración de Impacto Ambiental in 2007, and the project was approved in 2008.

The wind farm’s economic viability depends on carbon credits. The operation of this site implies a reduction of 65,000 tons of CO2 per year, which is equivalent to eliminating 15,000 cars from the streets of a city like Santiago. (Note: I am not sure if any plants were actually taken off the grid in response to the construction of this site. My guess is that this project adds extra electricity to the SIC, alongside electricity generated by other power plants – coal-fired, hydro, etc. Let me know if you have more information about this.)

I saw a Vestas truck driving around the property, suggests that these are Vestas turbines.

The scene was so dramatic that it made me wish that I had a fancy camera on hand to capture these images, instead of just my iPod Touch.

Here’s a map of Chile’s IV Region. (Click it twice to see a bigger version.)

115 MW Ovalle Project

In the September 23 edition of El Día, La Serena’s regional paper, I read that Ovalle will have the biggest wind farm in South America. More than 20 wind turbine towers will be installed on the coast of the jurisdiction to generate clean energy. 115MW will be entered into the SIC. The developer, an American company called Pattern AEI,  has been studying sites in this area since 2008, has determined that this site has the best wind in the zone. The company has held citizen consultations and has pledged to improve the roads in the area, which will benefit all residents.

100 MW Vestas Project in Limari 

From the Press Release: 

Vestas has started the construction of a fully owned wind project for 100 MW in Chile, the Talinay Oriente (‘Talinay East’) Wind Power Plant, which will be located in northern Chile in the Limari Province. This project, which will be constructed with the Vestas 2 MW platform, will at its completion be the largest wind power plant in Chile.

Vestas acquired full ownership of Talinay Oriente from a local developer. This is a strategic environmental decision following the Vestas principle “As green as it gets” and the company’s goal to continue increasing the share of renewable energy sources used to cover Vestas’ energy consumption worldwide and in the countries where Vestas operates, while contributing to reducing the carbon footprint. [more]

Barrick’s Parque Eólico Punta Colorado 

This wind farm is on the northern edge of the IV Region, in an area that is full of mines and some villages but otherwise a bit desolate.

Barrick is one of the world’s largest mining companies. The company invested $70 million in the 242- hectare site near the village of La Higuera. The first phase includes 10 turbines, and the complete project will include 18 turbines, and contribute 36MW into the SIC.

The slogan, “Un aporte de la mineria a las energias renovables en Chile” translates to “a contribution from the mining industry to the renewable energies in Chile.” The copywriter in me notes that this wording emphasizes the corporate social responsibility and public relations aspects of the project.

We got a lot closer to these turbines than those at Totoral. So pretty against the bright blue sky and rolling clouds.

For more information about Chile’s renewable energy laws and electrical grids, read this post: Chile’s Renewable and Non-Conventional Energy (ERNC) Law: Translation and Notes. 

I found this brilliant paragraph by Matthew Nordan, whose bio reads “I’m a venture capital investor at Venrock focused on [...]]]> Yesterday I wrote about failure, and how it could be one of the keys to success. This connects to the recent controversy over Solyndra’s failure, as well as to energy and innovation in general.

Solyndra headquarters. photo via totalsolarenergy.co.uk

I found this brilliant paragraph by Matthew Nordan, whose bio reads “I’m a venture capital investor at Venrock focused on energy and environmental technologies. Earlier, I co-founded and led Lux Research and forecasted technology futures at Forrester. I really do live and breathe this stuff.”

Failure is a fact of life in venture investing – and energy innovation. VCs provide capital to high-risk businesses that can’t be funded any other way. Most venture investments either fail completely or deliver mediocre returns. Cases like Solyndra come with the territory, and they say no more about all the other VC-backed energy start-ups than Webvan said about Amazon: The whole point is to risk failure, because you have to take on many (informed, balanced, and uncorrelated!) bets for a shot at a big outcome. Those outcomes, in turn, pay for the failures many times over – while improving lives and creating jobs. There’s a legitimate argument about whether taxpayer money should be deployed in this pursuit, but to treat even a very costly cratering like this one as anything other than de rigeur seems silly. [more]

Below are some several excerpts from reports about Solyndra’s failure.

First, the company’s original announcement. Emphasis mine. Solyndra Suspends Operations to Evaluate Reorganization Options

August 31, 2011 – Solyndra LLC, the American manufacturer of innovative cylindrical solar systems for commercial rooftops today announced that global economic and solar industry market conditions have forced the Company to suspend its manufacturing operations. Solyndra intends to file a petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code while it evaluates options, including a sale of the business and licensing of its advanced CIGS technology and manufacturing expertise. As a result of the suspension of operations approximately 1,100 full-time and temporary employees are being laid off effective immediately.

I think it’s interesting that the press release emphasizes the macroeconomic nature of the problem, as well as the specific shutdown of manufacturing operations, since other operations could continue.

But this won’t be easy. This Greentech Media post distills Solyndra’s situation into a clever subhead: For sale: factory. In Fremont. Little used. IP portfolio as well. Serious inquiries only. Here are my favorite lines:

Any potential acquirer would also inherit a titanic-sized bookkeeping and public relations headache. Solyndra has received more than $1 billion from VC partners and over $535 million in loan guarantees from the Department of Energy. Congressional opponents of green policies like Michigan Congressional Representative Fred Upton regularly hold up Solyndra as an example of why the U.S. shouldn’t support green energy policies.

The only green jobs that have been created, one wag told me today, have been ones for accountants and bankruptcy attorneys. [more]

Well, Obama and other politicians do always tout “green jobs,” and accountants and bankruptcy attorneys need work, right?

Solyndra’s failure has become a political football, which is a valid debate but not without some misconceptions. In  a Washington Post piece, “Five myths about the Solyndra collapse,” Brad Plumer writes: 

 the fact that China hurls money at solar isn’t necessarily a bad thing, since cheaper solar prices can benefit the United States too. The Energy Department seems to have recognized that going toe-to-toe with China on direct subsidies may be futile and is instead trying to focus on complementary efforts to bolster innovation, through programs like its Sunshot Initiative. Also, for all China’s subsidy frenzy, the United States still exported$1.9 billion of solar products last year and actually has a trade surplus in solar with China. [more]

Also, a lot of the controversy has focused on the loan guarantees that the Obama Administration gave to Solyndra. Bryan Walsh, writing for TIME’s Ecocentric blog, says the Solyndra “Scandal” is Washington Business as Usual.

My response: meh. TIME’s Michael Grunwald has covered this from the start, and while he’s unhappy—to say the least—with executives at Solyndra for misleading the government on its financial health, the solar industry more broadly is doing well, thanks in part to the money the Obama Administration has channeled towards more successful companies. And it’s worth noting that in addition to government loan guarantees, Solyndra also scored over $1 billion in private capital—including from GOP-friendly investors like the Walton family of Wal-Mart. Solyndra turned out to be a bad investment—the company failed in part because it made the wrong bet on solar technology, failing to foresee that silicon prices would drop drastically. Bad investments are a part of business, especially a cutting-edge industry like renewable energy, and failure is a necessary ingredient for innovation. (Just ask the famously fired Steve Jobs.) The idea that the collapse of one solar company discredits the entire solar industry is absurd. [more]

What do you think? What does Solyndra’s failure mean for the future of solar energy in America and beyond? 

I’ve been busy helping Chinese and Chilean businessmen communicate more effectively, as a freelance Chinese-Spanish interpreter. Several well-intentioned people have suggested names for my hypothetical future China-Chile translation and consultancy business.

First option: ChichiSolar, as in China-Chile Solar Services, or something like that. This inspired way too many giggles, [...]]]> Whoa, this has been a crazy week!

I’ve been busy helping Chinese and Chilean businessmen communicate more effectively, as a freelance Chinese-Spanish interpreter. Several well-intentioned people have suggested names for my hypothetical future China-Chile translation and consultancy business.

This photo illustrates one of the many meanings of China in Chile.

First option: ChichiSolar, as in China-Chile Solar Services, or something like that. This inspired way too many giggles, since in Spanish “chichi” is a childish word for breasts or urination. And in Chinese, the sound “chichi” brings to mind two things: sadness and Valentine’s Day. Therefore, ChichiSolar sounds like some sort of nude tanning salon or a Valentine’s Day pity party. Totally not OK for a serious business started by a young woman! (For more notes on the connotations of these sounds, check out this post by Fritinancy.)

Second option: TransLeslie. Now this one sounds like some sort of transgendered lesbian. Not that I have anything against transgender or lesbian, but the name seems to distract from the value proposition of connecting China and Chile.

Any other suggestions?

Also, my last post on the Top 10 Reasons Why Start-Up Chile Rocks was cross-posted on the Start-Up Chile blog and here on Oh Hey World. I mentioned that I connected my dad to Ken Seville, a Start-Up Chile entrepreneur focused on connecting military veterans with good jobs. I am happy to report that my dad responded immediately with three friends who are military veterans and MBA / tech entrepreneur types in Silicon Valley, which totally proves my point about how Start-Up Chile connects people to those inside and outside the room.

Have a wonderful weekend!!

If you’re interested in the laws that regulate and incentivize renewable and non-conventional energy in Chile, read on!

I’ve If you read my blog for the fun travel photos (you know who you are ) please feel free to skip this rather nerdy post and go straight to My 7 Links.

If you’re interested in the laws that regulate and incentivize renewable and non-conventional energy in Chile, read on!

I’ve recently landed in Chile to work on a solar energy project, and one of my tasks is to learn about the legislation that guides this emerging industry. On March 20, 2008, President Michelle Bachelet signed Law 20.257 to encourage the development of renewable energy in Chile.

Photo of wind turbines in Coyhaique by Amanda Maxwell, Latin America Advocate for the Natural Resources Defense Council. Amanda's blog ( http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/amaxwell/ ) is an incredible resource for anyone researching renewable energy in Latin America.

I translated the first page of the law from Spanish to English. The full text (in Spanish) is here: Ley_ERNC_LEY-20257.

Quick disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, and it’s been almost six years since I took a Spanish class, and the following translation is based on my initial read of the law. However, I think that translating it has been a useful exercise, and I’d like to share it with anyone that’s interested.  The indented boxes below are notes to explain some technical terms in the text.

–

Introduction of Modifications to the General Law of Electrical Services, with Respect to the Generation of Electrical Energy from Sources of Energy that are Renewable and Non-Conventional

April 1, 2008

This law obligates the companies that generate electricity, with a capacity of more than 200 MW, to make sure that 10% of the energy sold comes from renewable and unconventional sources or from hydroelectric plants with less than 40,000 KW. This energy must be produced or procured, starting from January 1, 2010.

This law will apply to the generators that supply energy to the  Sistema Interconectado Central (SIC) and the Sistema Interconectado del Norte Grande (SING).

“Power generation in Chile is organized around four grid systems: 1) Sistema Interconectado del Norte Grande (SING), the northern grid, which accounts for about 19% of national generation; 2) the Central Interconnected System (SIC), the central region’s grid, which accounts for 68.5% of national generation and serves 93% of Chile’s population; 3) the Aysén Grid in southern Chile (0.3% of total generation); and 4) the Magallanes Grid, also in southern Chile (0.8% of total generation).” (Source: Global Energy Network Institute)

Chile's SIC Electrical Grid. The SING is in Chile's northernmost regions, which are not shown on this map. Source: GENI

This law signals that the percentage required of the electricity companies will increase gradually: 5% from 2010-2014, then +0.5% each year stating in 2015, until it reaches 10% in 2024.

The generators that fail to comply with this obligation will have to pay a charge of 0.4 UTM per megawatt hour (MWh) that does not meet the standard, and this will increase to 0.6 UTM in the cases of companies that continually fail to comply with the requirement.

UTM stands for Unidad Tributaria Mensual. According to Wikipedia it is a unit used in Chile for taxes and fines, which is updated based on inflation. It was created on December 31, 1944. Initially it was used by the Chilean tax authorities for fines and payscales, but since then its use has been extended to the payment of fines, debts, customs duties, and more. A chart showing its value every month for every year on record is here.

It is further provided that such charges arising from the breach of a distribution intended to end users (of the distributors whose suppliers have complied with the requirement) will help to establish a system of incentives that encourages competition in the electricity market.

The law indicates that the label “renewable and non-conventional energy (ERNC)” will correspond to small hydroelectric centers (with a capacity of less than 20 MW), and to projects that utilize energy from biomass, hydraulics, geothermal, solar, wind, tidal, and others.

The law goes on to describe modifications to specific articles, and I decided against translating that part.  The full text (in Spanish) is here: Ley_ERNC_LEY-20257.

–

President Sebastian Piñera just nominated a new Minister of Energy, Fernando Echeverría. In his new role. Echeverría plans to double the production of energy in the next ten years to meet Chile’s skyrocketing energy demand, lower the costs of energy, and strongly increase the participation of ERNC in the electrical grid. Read more here in La Tercera.

–

Excerpt from Obama to Piñera: Make Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency the Base Case Scenario for Building Chile’s Energy Future. By Doug Sims, NRDC. March 17, 2011.

The conventional thinking about energy in Chile is that new coal, gigantic dams and nuclear are the only possible base case scenario given expected increasing demand requirements over the next 20 years.  This way of thinking pushes renewables, or “non-conventional renewable energy” (defined under Chilean law to include wind, solar, geothermal and other renewables but to exclude large dams over 20MW) to the margins – right now the goal for renewables is a pretty anemic 10% of annual generation by 2024.

But this is exactly the wrong way to think about Chile’s energy future given its world class renewable resources, its potential to reduce energy demand and intensity through efficiency measures and the declining cost curves and improving performance of renewable technologies, solar in particular.  In addition to a solar resource that exceeds that of the American Southwest, Chile is particularly fortunate to have excellent geothermal and sustainable biomass resources.  These non-conventional renewable energy technologies are mature and can provide cost effective power at reliability levels (known as “capacity factors”) comparable to coal, gas, hydro and nuclear.

–

Useful resources for further research on Renewable Energy in Chile:

• Amanda Maxwell’s blog
• Chile Renovables
• Comisíon Nacional de Energía
• Energía en Chile
• Global Energy Network Institute

Yesterday, our plane descended through the clouds…

… over the Andes…

… and we landed in Chile!

One of my stated purposes in Chile is to learn about cleantech here. This is the first evidence of cleantech I found, [...]]]> Hola! Saludos desde Chile!

Yesterday, our plane descended through the clouds…

… over the Andes…

… and we landed in Chile!

One of my stated purposes in Chile is to learn about cleantech here. This is the first evidence of cleantech I found, in the ladies’ room in the airport.

Not quite what I was expecting in terms of cleantech discussions. More on that later….

Rafael, our company’s Chilean partner, picked us up at the airport and delivered us to the home of Roberto Edwards, who is generously hosting us. Roberto Edwards is a famous art photographer and publisher, who recently has presented this Painted Bodies exhibit.

After a nap, Brent and I set out for a late lunch (Chile’s famous sandwiches) then joined a Start-Up Chile meetup at a bar called…

As if we already missed California!  The Portuguese entrepreneurs behind schooooooooooools.com presented their platform to connect schools around the world, and we met some Chilean entrepreneurs.

Then, this morning, we strolled past the Universidad de Chile, where students are on strike…

… to Startup Chile orientation, where we joined entrepreneurs from all these countries…

… for an enthusiastic, clear, and energetic introduction to the program. This incredibly committed group of professionals is working so hard to empower entrepreneurs to change the world, and in the process build the entrepreneurial hub of Latin America, and an example for the rest of the world.

Compared with the last time I was in Chile (as a student for all of 2005) I’m absolutely amazed that almost everyone we’ve met has spoken English. I know this is not a representative sample of the Chilean population, but it’s definitely striking.

Words I’ve heard more times today than ever before in my life:

- “bootstrap”

- “platform”

- “… so we called the Minister of ____ and, basically, changed the law…”

So far, so good. We’ve truly been treated like royalty. Gracias por todo, Chile!

Joey Ellis is a good friend of mine, a sculptor, TED Fellow, and entrepreneur.

His work has consistently communicated China’s environmental challenges, in a way that inspires rather [...]]]> I just pitched in to teach China about the importance of conserving coral reefs, through art. I hope you will too!

Joey Ellis is a good friend of mine, a sculptor, TED Fellow, and entrepreneur.

His work has consistently communicated China’s environmental challenges, in a way that inspires rather than preaches, and reaches new audiences.

In August 2009, he and his Chinese collaborators hand-carved 100 ice sculptures of children from blocks of ice. They were then placed in the blazing summer sun of Beijing’s Temple of the Sun (Ditan Park) to represent the fragility of our childrens’ future due to climate change. The ice consisted of water taken from the Ganges, Yellow and Yangtze rivers. The piece was commissioned by Greenpeace and would not have been possible without their support.

Now Joey has started a new project:

ENDORSED BY THE GLOBAL CORAL REEF ALLIANCE (www.globalcoral.org)

What I and my crew want to do:

We will translate the large international database of coral reef publications into chinese by using graphic design, animation and just plain writing as an instrument for change. Throughout the process we will reconstruct the information into public friendly design and animation that simplifies whats at stake and highlights how to rectify the problem. We will promote awareness but we will focus on the SOLUTIONS!

One might ask “why is it difficult to translate such documents and why is funding needed?

The documents we will be focusing on are the lengthy scientific ones that use science as a way to prove what works and what doesn’t. Remember our goal is to affect the minds of the people in control! To do this we need both community and government support.

YOU: What topics will you actually focus on?

We will highlight the modern techniques of coral restoration (such as the BIOROCK process) and coastal management.

Informing people of such things as…….

1. How coral reefs protect the shorelines from erosion caused by the currents, waves and storms

2. How corals build up land and extend beaches and encourage the bio-diversity of the oceans.

3. How coral reefs dissipate wave and storm energy, which as a result create lagoons and sedimentary environments favorable for the growth of mangroves and sea grasses.

4. How coral reefs help promote tourism, which is the largest industry in the world and sustains 10 percent of all jobs.

YOU: What else?

Highlighting how the economic potential of eco-tourism greatly exceeds that of fishing. In one year it can generate around 25 times more income than all of the world’s fisheries! WOW! In some areas, one square kilometer of coral reef can generate nearly three million Dollars. In comparison, dynamite fishing in the same area would yield a one time only income of US$ 15000. China is one of the worst places for the ongoing use of dynamite fishing!

All in all we need to get the chinese community involved in the international efforts and let them know how it can help the future of China. To do this we first need to make them aware (believe it or not there are no current publications that exist in China!!)

Click here to help contribute to CHANGE!

For more information please email Me@josephfosterellis.com
or Dr. Thomas J. Goreau at Goreau@bestweb.net

Project location: Hainan, China

Image Source

photo: Sean Gallagher

Roots & Shoots students share with UK Prime Minister David Cameron their zealous plans to reduce carbon emissions by 10%. Full story here

Any individual, family, small business can cut carbon emissions by 10% starting [...]]]>

UK Prime Minister and Roots & Shoots Beijing meet on the Great Wall!

photo: Sean Gallagher

Roots & Shoots students share with UK Prime Minister David Cameron their zealous plans to reduce carbon emissions by 10%. Full story here Any individual, family, small business can cut carbon emissions by 10% starting in 2010! Have you committed to 10:10 yet? Does your company want to motivate thousands to reduce their carbon footprint? Support Roots & Shoots’s goal to build a China-wide network to amplify the message to a far wider public, partnering with business and other organizations to build a platform accessible to everyone by providing useful resources and share ideas and hopefully successes. Click here for Roots & Shoots 10:10 Initiative. Act now！Pledge to take action to reduce your carbon footprint by 10% starting in 2010. Download resources to start Contact us on how to get involved