EcoLogician Frances Moore Lappé:

A conversation with the writer, activist and EcoLogic supporter

Frances Moore Lappé is a well known writer and activist who first became known in 1971 for her groundbreaking book “Diet for A Small Planet” which argued persuasively that the industrial food system was largely responsible for world hunger and food insecurity, not natural disasters or environmental limits. In 2001, she founded the Small Planet Institute with her daughter, Anna, to promote a world-wide movement toward “Living Democracy.” They define Living Democracy as an ethos in which “citizens infuse the values of inclusion, fairness and mutual accountability into all dimensions of public life” leading to a just and sustainable society.

EcoLogic Founding Director Shaun Paul and Frances Moore Lappé

In August 2002, Frances Moore Lappé travelled to Johannesburg, South Africa to attend The World Summit on Sustainable Development — otherwise known as Rio+10 or the Earth Summit. She stayed with friends from Vermont who had brought together a group of visitors to share a place to stay for the week. There, over breakfast, Lappé and another attendee, EcoLogic Founding Director Shaun Paul, struck up a conversation. They had much in common including a passion for social justice and a commitment to protecting the natural world. They were also both living and working in the greater Boston area, and Lappé had recently begun looking for new office space for her nascent organization, the Small Planet Institute. As it so happened, EcoLogic had extra space to offer. Thus began a mutually beneficial relationship between the two organizations which has provided camaraderie, a cross-pollination of ideas, and as Lappé observes, a “fecund work environment of mutuality and respect.”

No doubt that many EcoLogic supporters know you as an author—of 18 books now!—and a speaker and an activist. How would you characterize what you do and why?

FML: My life's mission is to help people find their power, so they can engage in the world in a meaningful way. Unless we can see what is the causal pattern creating needless misery, it is very hard to feel that our individual actions add up to anything. People say, "I'm just a drop in the bucket," and disparage themselves and their impact. The Small Planet Institute counter is, "Hey, buckets fill up really fast on a rainy night." So my whole life has been devoted to helping people see the "bucket" of Living Democracy emerging so they can believe in the power of the rainstorm.

So almost ten years ago now, you moved into a shared office space with EcoLogic. You'd worked largely in private spaces before. What was the change like?

FML: It was easy. I immediately felt so aligned with the goals of EcoLogic, because it seemed to me—and still does—that what EcoLogic does and how it does it, is the expression of all the different elements that I try to describe in Living Democracy. EcoLogic is not just about the ecological dimensions and land considerations, but also encompasses the social dimension—how people relate to one another, make decisions that are inclusive, and take action. You can't have healthy ecological communities without healthy social communities. All of that requires learning. Agroforestry is learning. Finding new and sustainable ways to do things is learning. EcoLogic actively creates a learning culture about the land, and flora and fauna. And for almost ten years our shared office space has provided a living example of our principles, not to mention the cross-pollination of ideas that happens, and the camaraderie and celebration of our similar purposes. And we also have fun sometimes, too!

Obviously we're fans of the prefix "Eco" and the meaning of "ecology" it conveys, but tell me about the reasons you titled your latest book, EcoMind?

FML: I went to a huge conference a few years ago with persuasive speakers and a massive amount of information about the global environmental crisis, and I came away so heavy hearted it felt like I was wearing a suit of lead. I realized that if I felt this way—and I'm a cheerleader for "we can make this change"—then how much more paralyzed must other people feel? So I wanted to learn about the assumptions underlying the way we think about things. I focus on our frames of thinking about particular issues which are often articulated and understood through metaphors that either free us towards solutions or constrain us. I realized a lot of our metaphors are still locked in the mechanical world view—what I call the "scarcity mind"—which says that reality is made of distinct entities that are not interconnected and that are fixed. We've "hit the limits", as an example, that is a quantitative "more or less" way of looking at something rather than a systems view focusing on the interaction of all elements. I realized that even our way of thinking about ecology is not ecological.

So you wanted to help people change how they view the problems?

FML: Yes, the reason for the book is to try to answer the question, How do we think like an ecosystem? As an example, in ecology everything is both cause and effect, both acted on and an actor. From this perspective, you recognize that human beings are organisms, too. And so just like a tree that depends on its environment and responds to it, humans are the same way. We can be kind and magnificent and cruel and barbaric. What are the conditions that bring out the best, or bring out the worst? With every organism it depends; many people can behave nobly even under adverse conditions. But we don't know until we're put to the test, whether we're the majority that will go along with evil or not. So we have to create the conditions—the environment—so we're not put to that test.

How do EcoLogic and Small Planet interconnect?

FML: I wanted to say that having co-started two organizations before Small Planet Institute—I've been so aware of the culture of organizations. EcoLogic is an organization that creates a culture of mutual respect and accountability, exactly what's proven to bring out the best in our species—I feel like I'm a beneficiary of that every day: a work community where the norm is mutuality instead of finger pointing. I'm not privy to everything EcoLogic does, of course, but I think you all have internalized some of that idea, that our problems are not because of the bad egg—we all have a role to play in creating a working environment that is conducive to achieving our goals and improving the world. I see EcoLogic embodying that in the work you do, helping to foment cultures of learning, questioning, and mutuality, not just pointing the finger at the other guy. You don't just bring resources to a place you work, but this culture of learning and cooperation, so that the people you work with feel responsible. Why am I aligned with EcoLogic? You do everything I write and talk about! You integrate Living Democracy principles into your projects. That's why my partner, Richard Rowe, and I have been long-time supporters and donors to EcoLogic. And why I hope Small Planet and EcoLogic have another ten productive years together!

 

Looking back and moving forward

Annual Report - 2010

We are pleased to share with you EcoLogic's 2010 annual report! We are very happy with our publication, and this year's new look and feel. Within we highlight some of our achievements, introduce you to a few of the extraordinary people and organizations we work with, and tell you about some of the ways we are helping rural communities restore and protect the natural habitats around them. We hope you enjoy it, too.

Read our annual report and find out more about our work.

Photos highlight projects and progress

 

 

 

 

 

We are also introducing you to our new photo gallery with images of some of the faces and places that make up EcoLogic. Here you can find out about some of our new and ongoing projects including our Oak Foundation-supported binational effort that brings together Guatemalans and Belizeans to find ways to sustainably manage the mangroves and coastal waters they share along the Sarstún River.

You can also learn about our work establishing PIBOTEX, a biological corridor that connects three parks in northern Honduras which are home to a diversity of threatened wildlife including toucans, spider monkeys, and jaguars. This area also provides critical wintering grounds for many species of migratory songbirds.

 

Look through our photo gallery highlighting our work.

 

Latrines Get Illustrated!

In this issue of EcoLogic’s eNews we’re giving you a sneak preview of one of the illustrations we’re using in this year’s annual report. We like the beauty of the artist’s work and thought the illustration and text might be a good way to give you a different vantage on some of our specific project work in the field.

Going to the bathroom is dirty business if you don’t have the right plumbing.
Groundwater gets contaminated. Diseases spread. Mangroves die off, as do
the fish and wildlife that rely on them.

But not with a composting latrine, where liquids are channeled through a
layer of rocks and eventually reenter the water table, while solids go to a separate
receptacle where they are treated with sawdust or leaf litter and allowed to
decompose for six months. Using composting latrines means drinking water
is uncontaminated by sewage, compost is available for crops, mangroves stay
healthy, and wildlife thrives. 

What do you think? Do you like the photo or the illustration better? Is it just a pretty picture? Is it a pretty picture? Drop us an email and let us know your thoughts!

“It moved my heart,” says Regional Program Director Gabriela “Gaby” González about a site visit she made shortly after joining EcoLogic, in October 2010. “We went to a remote village a few hours from Livingston, Guatemala. EcoLogic had just started helping the people build a nursery for guama (Inga edulis) trees to increase their crop yields.* After hiking for a couple of hours, we arrived at a village in the jungle. It was preciosa—a place full of natural beauty. We were quickly surrounded by young children. I remarked to one, ‘What beautiful land you have,’ and he said back to me, ‘Yes, but without a future.’”

Born in Quetzaltenango (or Xela), Guatemala, and raised by parents with an abiding love for trees and natural places, Gaby grew up with an understanding that “you have to give back to the world.” She earned undergraduate and master’s degrees in business administration from Rafael Landivar University in Quetzaltenango and then worked at the university for seven years as the director of finance and administration. Her brother, who works for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), told her of an opening at EcoLogic, “an American environmental nonprofit that was known for respecting people.”

As the regional program director for EcoLogic, Gaby appreciates working at an organization that “strikes a balance between helping people and protecting the natural world.” Almost a year after the site visit to Northern Guatemala, she reports that the guama trees have grown to saplings and the people are transplanting them with this season’s crops. “I realized during the visit that by helping families grow enough food for both the table and to sell for additional income, EcoLogic helps give children hope. That’s an important part of our mission: helping people believe that there can be a better future.”

* An agriculture technique known as agro-forestry or intercropping uses certain tree species, such as guama (Inga) and Andean alder (Alnus) to help food crops grow without chemical fertilizers by fixing nitrogen and providing leaf litter to enrich the soil. These species also thrive with heavy pruning and so provide a fuel wood crop as well.

EcoLogic Expands Its Efforts in Honduras

Community consultations are set to begin in November near Mt. Celaque in western Honduras, the site of EcoLogic’s newest project in Honduras. EcoLogic is partnering with The Municipalities of the National Park of Mt. Celaque (MAPANCE), an organization established in 2009 to co-manage the park with the national government. EcoLogic and MAPANCE signed an agreement to preserve the forest and water sources in and around Mt. Celaque and to identify sustainable livelihood alternatives for the communities in the area. 
Read more about our work with MAPANCE.

Rainforest2Reef joins EcoLogic

EcoLogic and Rainforest2Reef (R2R), a leader in the protection of the  Calakmul Biosphere in Mexico, announce that R2R will  become a part of EcoLogic "to create a more powerful force for saving species and habitat," said David Leventhal, President of R2R. 
Read more about our collaboration with R2R!

Praise for an EcoLogic Stove: A Testimonial by Serbelia Caal

“My name is Serbelia Grave Caal. I am ethnic Q’e’qchi. In 2010, I received an EcoLogic fuel efficient stove. For its construction, I contributed two bags of sand, 20 bricks, two bags of clay, and my time assisting the mason who built my stove.  I also agreed to plant and tend an agroforestry plot. The trees I plant there will help provide the firewood for cooking and will mean even less wood taken from the forest. Read more about Serbelia's testimonial.

Why Plant Trees?

Or perhaps the more relevant question for our readers: Why help EcoLogic support and encourage remote villages and communities to plant trees?

Don Diego García lives in the village of Tiak’tak, one of several communities established around a 37,500 acre forest in northwestern Guatemala. The forest is part of a half-million acre stretch that EcoLogic’s partner, the Northern Border Municipalities Alliance (MFN), hopes to establish as the Maya Chuj Biosphere Reserve. A few years ago, Don Diego volunteered for EcoLogic -sponsored training to become a “guardabosque” or forest guardian, because, as EcoLogic field technician Daniel Herrera reports, “Don Diego sees the forest disappearing and says we can’t let that happen or we will disappear, too.”

Read more about how EcoLogic has helped communities plant more trees.

Project Spotlight: The Gulf of San Miguel, Panama

Since 2008, EcoLogic has worked with communities in the Gulf of San Miguel to help them find ways to better balance their lives with the health of the gulf ecosystem upon which they rely, and to better protect it from exploitation. 

The Gulf of San Miguel is an area of more than 30,000 hectares of mangroves and coastal habitat on the Pacific coast of Panama; it represents 17 percent of the mangroves found in Panama, which has the most mangroves of any country in Central America.  The gulf is fed by the Tuira, the largest river in the country, and given the rich biological diversity present, many small fishing villages have established themselves here over the years.  The gulf also lies within the easternmost province of Darién which includes lands traditionally inhabited by indigenous peoples including the Kuna, Emberá, and Wouanaan. 

Read more about EcoLogic's efforts in Panama.

Beware Illegal Loggers: A Plan to Protect Totonicapán Forest Is Underway

Identifying the Problem

For a week in early spring, the Guatemalan environmental police staked out a road that enters the San Miguel forest to count how many illegal logging trucks were entering and exiting. The news was not good: on average, approximately fifty pick-up trucks left each day filled with logs and wood equal to thirty medium-sized trees.

This means that via this access road alone, illegal loggers harvest almost 11,000 trees a year. And this is only one of four official entry points into the San Miguel forest; it is likely that almost 44,000 trees are disappearing from the forest every year due to illegal theft via these access roads alone. Many additional trees are taken illegally from several other access points along the forest perimeter, thus this number is likely only a fraction of the total number of trees illegally cut down and removed every year.

Finding the solution.

The Totonicapán Forest: What's at Stake

Located in Totonicapán department in Guatemala, the Forest of Totonicapán is a 52,000 acre old-growth forest: in a space a little more than double the size of Manhattan a variety of ecosystems from humid lowlands of mixed broadleaf trees to high-elevation tracts of conifer have flourished largely undisturbed for hundreds of years. Found here are many species of birds, plants, mammals, reptiles and insects which are endemic to the region including the largest remaining stand of the endangered Guatemalan fir (Abies guatemalensis). Recognizing the ecosystem’s critical importance, in 1959 the government of Guatemala designated just over 16,000 hectares as Los Altos de San Miguel Totonicapán, a national park.

More than fifty thousand people..

EcoLogic in the Field and on the Town

EcoLogic Development Fund spent a sunny Saturday in May reaching out to new friends and supporters at the 18th Annual EarthFest, a daylong free concert event in Boston. EcoLogic staff and volunteers were there to raise awareness about EcoLogic’s work collaborating with local communities in Latin America to protect threatened ecosystems and sustainably manage natural resources. “EarthFest provided an opportunity to be out there in front of a crowd that has an environmental ethic,” observed Barbara Vallarino, director of development. “We want to increase our name recognition in the Boston area, and this is a big group of people with like-minded concerns and goals.”

Read more about this event.

A Change Will Do You Good

In February, Chris Patterson could be found sitting at his desk in Cambridge, Massachusetts, writing grant proposals, or talking via Skype to regional staff in Latin America, or using Google Earth to evaluate a new, potential project site or perhaps doing all three at once.  Now his daily experience is rather different.

Currently, Chris is half way through a four month stay in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, working out of EcoLogic’s regional office there. He is gaining valuable insights into the lives of the people he used to only speak with through a computer, and the forests he formerly only saw in photographs and satellite images.

In the next two months, Chris will visit EcoLogic project sites in the Sartsoon region of Belize, as well as Totonicapan and Huehuetenango in the Guatemalan highlands. He’ll be talking to community leaders from our partner organizations and farmers and fisherfolk who are now using more sustainable production methods.

Read more...

Special thanks to contributing writer Susan Boni.

Leveraging Forest Partnerships!

EcoLogic’s project partner, the Association of the 48 Cantons, in Totonicapán, Guatemala, has received a grant from Rainforest Alliance for US$30,000 to expand reforestation efforts. The Association will use the funds to construct two greenhouses with a capacity to produce approximately 17,000 trees a year; EcoLogic will provide the funds for a third greenhouse. Ecologic will also train Association members and others in best practices for managing the greenhouses and for the reforestation of the surrounding areas with the trees produced. The three new greenhouses will be in addition to five existing ones which produced 110,000 trees in 2010.

The funding from Rainforest Alliance is provided by USAID. The signing of the grant agreement was witnessed by senior USAID officials, the US Ambassador to Guatemala, Stephen G. McFarland, and EcoLogic staff.

The 48 Cantons of Totonicapán is a traditional Quiché governance authority that serves and represents the villages around the Communal Forest of Los Altos de San Miguel, where EcoLogic has worked since 2003. This old growth forest has been protected for centuries by indigenous communities, utilizing a traditional management system based on the interrelationship between forests, people, and water.

“This is an excellent example of how we can work together with our partners and other donors to leverage EcoLogic’s successful track record of protecting environmentally sensitive forests in Guatemala,” said to Sebastián Charchalac, EcoLogic Regional Director for Central America and Mexico. “We are grateful to Rainforest Alliance and USAID for joining us in this effort.”

The construction of the greenhouses is scheduled to be completed by June 15.

Read more about our work in with the 48 Cantones.

March, 2011

EcoLogic Wins International Prize

EcoLogic Development Fund has been awarded $50,000 in recognition and support of its work in Honduras securing reliable, potable water for rural communities. The SwissRe International ReSource Award, from insurer SwissRe of Switzerland, is an internationally recognized prize for leadership in implementing the principles of sustainability in watershed management. The ReSource award is given to organizations that raise awareness of the ecological, social, and economic significance of water sources and watersheds in developing and emerging countries. EcoLogic beat out 194 projects to make the final round of 9 and receive the runner-up prize.

For more information please visit http://www.resourceaward.org/node/120

February, 2011

Empowering women in Guatemala 

Daria Maribel Lopez has always been house proud, but never more than now. Recently, her home experienced a radical makeover. No walls were torn down; no professional designers involved, just two changes: a new stove and a faucet with clean running water.

Before these home improvements, the smoke from the open pit Daria cooked over coated everything in her kitchen with a film of soot. Keeping her children out of the kitchen while she prepared meals so they didn’t inhale the smoke was a challenge, especially on cold days when they craved the warmth of the fire. Water was used sparingly since transporting it entailed frequent and tiring walks to the river. In spite of her best efforts to keep home and family clean and healthy, she could not stay ahead of the squalid and toxic effects of the smoke. Persistent coughs and severe eye irritations were facts of life in the dingy dwelling.

Read more about Daria's journey.

February, 2011

Community Leader Ovina Hurtado in Panama

Why is the environment important to you? Because the environment is everything that surrounds us. Without it, we could not live.

How is life different today from when you were a child? It was very different before. It was tranquil. There was no agitation. We lived on agriculture, fishing, and hunting. Nowadays almost all of that is finished. There is nothing. We have damaged all the habitats and the things we get from the sea are scarce because of the contamination.

What problems do you and your community face? We need water and electricity, first and foremost.

What problems threaten the local environment? Pollution from garbage,  [and] over-fishing, the nets that are put at the mouth of rivers, and the new method of using nets that extend all the way to the bottom of the water.

Read more about Ovina and her work in the community.

January, 2011

Bi-national Initiative Hits Milestone with Funding Boost

This month, EcoLogic received critical funding from Oak Foundation to move forward on conserving the precious biodiversity of Amatique Bay, located at the mouth of the Sartstoon River on the border of Guatemala and Belize.

The land surrounding the Bay faces constant pressure from oil exploration, agro-industry, and the daily needs of local people. Communities depend on small scale fishing as one of their main commercial activities. However, the fisherfolk on either side of the river have a history of poor communication, and there is inadequate coordination of fisheries management, such as no-fish zones or closed seasons.

Read more about our work in the Sarstoon Region.

December, 2010

EcoLogic's projects now on Global Action Atlas

National Geographic has launched the non-profit giving site, Global Action Atlas, an interactive website that allows users to click anywhere on a world map to find and support projects in all areas of the globe.  Projects range from environmental conservation to supporting human rights.

EcoLogic is currently featuring seven of its projects throughout Central America, including including bringing clean water to coastal Panama and protecting a biological corridor in Honduras.

Read about our projects and how to support our work through the Global Action Atlas.

November 2010

Board of Directors Elects New Member

Gregory Ch’oc was elected to the EcoLogic Board of Directors this month during the Board’s quarterly meeting in Cambridge. Mr. Ch’oc, a Q'eqchi Mayan leader, has a long relationship with EcoLogic as the founder of the environmental organization Sarstoon Temash Institute for Indigenous Management (SATIIM) in southern Belize. With his first-hand knowledge of indigenous cultures, environmental protection of at the community level, and land rights, Mr. Ch’oc is a welcome addition and valuable new member of EcoLogic's Board.

"Greg brings a unique perspective to our work. We are so fortunate to have his counsel and insight into our various regional projects," said Executive Director Shaun Paul.

Read more about EcoLogic's work in Belize.

September 2010

Training Community Leaders in Honduras

EcoLogic recently organized and co-sponsored a regional workshop in La Ceiba, Honduras on “Compensation and Payment for Environmental Services (PES) for Communities in Central America.”  From August 9-13, more than 60 community leaders from 32 non-governmental organizations and 9 countries gathered to share their knowledge and discuss their experiences with PES projects in Central America and Mexico. The workshop provided practical, hands-on training on the development and execution of PES projects.

PES is an arrangement whereby the stewards, or providers, of environmental services are compensated by the beneficiaries, or consumers, of such services. This includes compensating communities for activities such as protecting forests and planting trees to sequester carbon from the atmosphere and managing upstream watersheds thus providing safe and reliable water for downstream population centers.  

Read more about the PES workshop. 

June. 2010

Consultation Reveals Solid Waste Problem in Three Panamanian Communities

A community consultation completed recently demonstrated an urgent need for solid waste management plans in three communities along the Gulf of San Miguel in eastern Panama. Currently, there is a lack of proper disposal of organic and plastic wastes, leading to pollution of the communities themselves, nearby mangroves, and the local water supply. Read more about the consultation and the current situation in these communities.

April, 2010

Meet Lacho: A True Environmental Leader

Darcio Puerto, lovingly known in his community as "Lacho," was elected six years ago as the President of the Administrative Water Board of El Nance, a small community in rural Honduras within the municipality of Olanchito. Like all of the members of the water board, he works as an unpaid volunteer. Read about Lacho's struggle to improve his community's water system and protect the rivers and streams that now provide clean water to 130 homes.

October, 2009

New Initiative Aims to Save River by Helping Rural Poor

Last month the new "Save the Papagayo River" Initiative met in Acapulco, Mexico to explore how the affluent residents of Acapulco can support the efforts of the poor communities in the nearby highlands to protect the source of the Papagayo River, which supplies 98% of the resort city's water. Bringing together members of the public, private and civil sectors along with leaders from the communities involved, EcoLogic and the Regional Council of the Sierra de Guerrero (CRESIG) are moving forward with a new model for ensuring that downstream users provide financial support to the rural poor living upstream who are using environmental conservation to protect a common resource. Learn more about this unique and promising project and how EcoLogic is overcoming obstacles to ensure this major river remains healthy for decades to come!

June, 2009

Reforestation Provides Environmental and Social Benefits for the Rural Poor

Planting trees helps to restore degraded lands, expand forest cover, and mitigate climate change by capturing and storing carbon dioxide. But reforestation activities also provide a wealth of benefits to people: protection of water sources, increased food security, strengthened community relationships, increased environmental awareness, and the empowerment of women. Discover how EcoLogic's reforestation projects are improving people's lives while restoring degraded landscapes.

March, 2009

Helping Indigenous People Balance Needs with Nature

For over 800 years, the forest of San Miguel de los Altos has been protected by the Quiche Maya of Totonicapán, who long ago developed a system of traditional forest resource use and protection. To safeguard this vital resource, EcoLogic has partnered with the Communal Forest Commission of the 48 Cantons to further large-scale reforestation efforts in order to restore degraded water catchment areas, construct fuel-efficient stoves, and defend community water rights from the threat of privatization. Learn more about the Quiche Maya and how they serve as stewards to an important resource, despite obstacles from outside threats and a changing world.

February, 2009

Ground-Breaking Initiative Strengthens Bi-national Collaboration

EcoLogic is moving forward with a new initiative that unites communities across a national border for the protection of a common natural resource. The Binational Management Plan for the Sarstoon River Basin builds on EcoLogic's previous successes with local partner organizations on either side of the Sarstoon River to engage communities in local governance of natural resources and to establish sustainable livelihood alternatives that reduce the impact of the rural poor on critical habitats. Learn more about this incredible collaboration, the groups involved, and the plans being made to bridge these communities together.

January, 2009

New Youth Group Leads Communities in Conservation

Ana Florinda Xol is a young K'eqchi woman living in the Sarstún region of eastern Guatemala. A student studying community development, she has the distinct position of leading a new youth association that brings together young adults from 16 different communities for the conservation of local natural resources. Learn more about this incredible new group of students and what they are doing to help their communities in the Sarstun River watershed.<-->