This Sun is On Fire
Australian entrepreneur Dorjee Sun thinks that he can change the world by saving one forest at a time. His logic “the more forests we save the more money we make”. The forests that he references in particular are those in Indonesia where huge tracts of rain forest (as much as 300 soccer fields per hour) are being burned down. Local farmers make money burning the land to produce cash crops like palm oil. However, the destruction of the natural eco-system could be putting the global climate in peril.
Sun’s plan is to convince financiers to back his program involving carbon credits. His organization, the Carbon Conservation, aims to “maximise the contribution of land and vegetation-based carbon storage to reducing and absorbing greenhouse gas emissions, while being guided by the principles of biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.” The entrepreneur has been lobbying local Indonesia politicians and the surrounding farmers to embrace the carbon credit scheme. Yet, in a country where the pressure to make a quick buck stems from the need to survive, environmental concerns hold tepid amounts of interest.
Tonight, in the USA, PBS will be presenting a short documentary on Sun’s works. I imagine it will be released online for the rest of the world in the coming weeks. Check it out, here.
Tags: Carbon Conservation, Dorjee Sun, entrepreneur, Global Entrepreneurship Week, Indonesia, PBS
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:21 pm
I was very interested in the PBS presentation which I saw this evening and about Mr. Sun. I am thinking that there could be a tie in with “Terra Preta de Indio” or indian black earth which was left by the Meso-american indians in the Amazon basin. They found that adding raw charcoal to their soil made it much more productive. Its huge surface area acts as a growth site for beneficial soil organisms. It helps the land to reatain moisture, it also holds and furtishes mineral nutrients and improves soil texture as well.
In addition, this is pure carbon which simply does not decompose like most organic matter. This carbon has been sequestered for hundreds of years. If Indonesian farmers could make some charcoal from ag waste product instead of burning their forests, it could be used as a soil suppliment to increase ag productivity, and, it would provide a very long term carbon sink which might also be eligible for carbon credits.
October 16th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Just to let you know that at the beginning of the article: “Australian entrepreneur Dorjee Sun thinks that he can change the world by saving one forest at a time” Dorjee’s name is given as a link. The link is not correct - should begin with http - not hhttp. Perhaps a correction could be made for those like myself who have become interested in Dorjee’s work since seeing ‘The Burning Season’ on ABC1.
Best wishes
Mary
October 17th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
All fixed! Thanks Mary!