World Environment Day

Yesterday was World Environment Day.  Every year the UN Environmental Programme chooses a new theme.  This year the topic is ' The Green Economy, Does it Include You?'.

Tuesday night is my time to program family time* so naturally, I thought to talk about the Environment on World Environment Day. 

*Family time happens 5 times a week for the Enrichment year students, usually from 9-10pm.  Usually they hear announcements, talk about their days, their challenges, tell stories, talk about the core values, or other topics like how to avoid getting pregnant, HIV etc.  On my night I usually bring a song to learn or a game because otherwise half of them sleep. (and who would blame them... they are up at 6 am and don't go to bed until after family time, and they are teenagers.)

Environment Club clear a new walking trail in the Nature Park

First we talked about 'what is the Environment?'.  Why is the Environment important?  What are the major problems facing the Environment?  Now, with the exception of of one of the girls in the ASYV Environment Club, I'm not sure if many of the girls had ever thought about forests, clean water, clean air, soil health, pollution, climate change in that way before. (or had even heard of those terms before)  Many of them knew about erosion (likely because this is the land of many hills, and many, many farms), and many knew that we needed oxygen to breathe.

Sometimes in discussions with the Enrichment year kids, it is difficult to know if they are actually ignorant of a subject, the subject is outside their personal experience, or if they are lacking English vocabulary for the new subject matter.  It may be a bit a combination of all of the above. 

For example, in school they have been doing sketches (skits, or theatrical performances) that they have written and performed.  Most of them are about orphans, teen pregnancy, HIV and sugar daddies.  Now, these are complicated subjects, but subjects that they have experienced (maybe not personally, but very closely), and have learned the English vocabulary for their sketches.  The performances are very good and you can see they they understand the topic very well.   Afterwards, there there are always questions for the performers.  Here, although they seem to understand the questions, their ability to articulate their opinions in a coherent manner (outside the practiced lines of the sketch) are a bit more difficult.  The answers end up sounding simplistic, even though you have just seen them perform a complex sketch.  But slowly, slowly... the language will come, the ability to put their thoughts into words will come.

Shady bench sitting area in the Nature Park

So, back to family time.  I guess I am saying that it is not surprising that we did not have a riveting discussion in English about the Environment for many reasons.  Which is why  I brought in some videos clips to help me explain.

Before they can understand the Green Economy, I wanted them to understand the business model where 'the Environment is your enemy'.  In order to gain, you must destroy.  This is the mentality with many extraction industries.

First I showed some clips from Manufactured Landscapes.  This movie  is about the work of   Edward Burtynsky, a famous Canadian landscape photographer. He doesn't take pictures of what inspired the Group of Seven, but of large scale industrial landscapes. 


Manufactured Landscapes is mostly about the large industrial manufacturing industries in China. What Edward Burtynsky is so gifted at capturing is the scale of these processes.  It will blow your mind.

So I showed them some clips from the e-waste part of the movie.  Over 50% of the world's e-waste goes to China, where it gets smashed and scavenged for metals that can be melted together to be sold again.  The only problem is that there are many toxic substances in the computers that are released in the process of breaking them apart to get at these metals.  In the movie, in one town, the toxins had run into the local aquifer so that they could no longer drink the water, and it had to be trucked in.

This also points out that Environmental problems are not just issues of middle class Americans, Canadians, Europeans that drive hybrid cars, carry a to-go cup, wear birkenstocks and wax poetically about hiking and eating organically. As with many things in the capitalist system, the Environmental and social impact of business does not get accounted for in the price of an item.   The problem is that because these costs don't show up in the price tag, the costs get socialized, and usually the are felt by the poorest people.  Hence, when you are using you smart phone, you get to benefit of updating your twitter account on the fly, while indentured laborers slave away in the Congo for the Coltan. When you buy a new computer and get rid of the old one, you are not the one who's water, soil and body gets poisoned by the e-waste, it is the poor people of China.  When you buy those non organic grapes from Chile, you may ingest some chemical residues, but the majority will be felt by poor farmers applying them and killing their soil.  While the oil companies make money off the tar sands, it is the Aboriginal people of Canada that feel the effect because they can no longer drink the water or fish in the Athabasca river.

African Tulip tree planted last year in the Nature Park

Then I showed them clips from Taking Root, a movie about Wangari Maathai.  The beginning of this movie illustrates the effects of how population increases and cultural changes towards the Environment were some of the causes of deforestation, desertification, erosion, loss of clean drinking water in Kenya.  This in particular, impacted (and still impacts) poor women because they generally fetch water and wood for cooking and had to go further and further to get it.  This is why Wangari Maathai started the Green Belt Movement, a movement to teach women to plant trees to reduce and reverse the social and Environmental impacts of deforestation.

This film I used because the images are close to their lives, their experiences, than say, a tribe in the Amazon rain forest.  Also it shows that Environmental destruction goes hand in hand with social effects.  It also shows a different model, maybe part of the Green Economy, where people are working with the environment, instead of against it to make their living.

Aloe in the Nautre Park

The last thing I showed them was the Earth Song clip from Michael Jackson's This Is It movie.  Although it is cheesy, the footage and song have very simple messages to understand.  Furthermore, Environmentalists get a bad rap for being downers all the time, so I wanted to end on something a little more up beat.  In addition, as these kids are teenagers, and worship what is cool, can sing every pop song on the radio, I thought I wouldn't hurt to cash in on MJ's famous pop star status to sell my Environmental message ( I mean, it is his message too, at least in that song).  MJ says in the film "The time has come, this is it. People always say, they'll take care of it, the government will... they will.... they who? it starts with us, it's us. Or it will never be done."

At the end, I asked if anyone had any questions or comments. I'm not sure how much of any of it they had understood or absorbed... but sometimes they surprise you.  One of my girls, who is also in the Environment Club asked:  "If people in America and Europe know that these industries cause pollution.  Why do they still build them?"

Good question indeed... Why?  The simple answer is greed and myopic decision making.  Maybe the Green Economy will become the new model....one where as Wangari Mathai says 'we are not digging our own grave'.  The UN Environment Programme defines the Green Economy as:

"one that results in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities. In its simplest expression, a green economy can be thought of as one which is low carbon, resource efficient and socially inclusive."

East African Botanical Resources are you out there?

As a plant nerd- I love learning about new plants, their uses, their ecologies, their cultural link to the people that know, use or love them.  I have been looking for resources to know about more plants in Rwanda and the surrounding area and so far have come up with little.  I have been asking local people about the plants, their names, their uses and such but I have yet to find a plant nerd that I can communicate with, that is willing to share some of that knowledge.

The stems of this shrub are hollow and were traditional used for straws

Last week I went on a field trip to different nurseries with one of the staff members.  We were looking into types of trees and prices for the village.  (The village also has a nursery, but doesn't have all the species I was looking for.  If the village wanted to, I'm sure they could make quite a business by collecting seeds, planting them and propagating trees.)  

So any way, we going all around Kigali and the outskirts to look for trees  with me towing along, communicating in Frenglish....yes that elusive language I learned as a French immersion kid comes in handy.... no actually, I was communicating both in English and in French because the person I was with is somehow difficult to communicate with, although excellent with plants.  That's how the day went, lost in translation mime acts along with writing down the names and prices of trees so I can submit a budget for the environment club.

Now, here I am at my computer with a somewhat illegible notebook of names of trees and plants that are in Latin, French, English and Kinyarwanda.  Especially for the ones in Kinyarwanda I am trying to rack my memory for what my co-worker said they were- or if he did.  So to the nets... collectively there must be something to help me out there.

First I try this website http://kinyarwanda.net  This website is the best tool on the net for help with the Kinyarwanda language.  Amazing.... but no luck with Umusebeya

So I put it into google and miraculously somebody has made a one line wikipedia article in Kinyarwanda about Umusebeya.  To top that off, there are latin names in that article.  Oh yes!!  Botany Gold!!   Latin names are the special password in internet searches about plants.... if you put in a common name you are more likely to get fluff, or not very helpful articles.

So here you go- Umusebeya could be Albizia adianthifolia or Albizia gummifera.  These trees are native tree species of Africa, and Rwanda are in their range.  They have large, flat toped canopies, which are excellent for shade (which the village desperately needs).  They also have flowers that attract beneficial pollinators and are important for certain species of butterflies.  They are associated with nitrogen fixing bacteria so they grow quickly, have good timber.  These species have also traditionally been used to treat many different kinds of illnesses.

For more information on these trees:
Albizia adianthifolia
 Albizia adianthifolia
 Albizia gummifera
Albizia gummifera

Also a another resource that has been helpful courtsey of google 'owns the universe' books is A Field Guide to Common Trees and Shrubs of East Africa

 Happy Botanizing!

Growing food in Rwanda

It's hard to believe that we are now into the second week of school. It's true what they say- the days are long here, but the weeks and months race on. Now that the students are in school from 7am to 2pm, I have a bit more time to explore the farm. 

The farm has chickens, cows, bananas, avocados, guavas, citrus, pineapples, kidney beans, maize, coffee, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and more.  It is relatively young, although I'm sure most of this land has been under cultivation at one point or another by previous owners.  Except for a few trees, most fruit trees or on the farm were planted 3 years ago, and some are just beginning to give fruit.

ASYV is physically located in a warmer and drier area of the country.  The area of the village which is not landscaped with grass, hedges and trees, or farmed,  is covered with bushes.  Very few mature trees exist on the land either because it has been cultivated for such a long time, and/or the trees were cut down for fire wood over the years.

In Rwanda, most people use firewood or charcoal to cook.  Given the amount of people and the little land that is still forested...this is quite worrisome. In addition, many people plant Eucalyptus trees here because they are extremely fast growing.  Eucalyptus are very good at sucking up water and nutrients from the soil and doesn't allow for other plants to create an understory.  I think Eucalyptus might have a role as managed pioneer species in combination with native trees or other desirable fruit/nut/forage species, but a pure stand of Eucalyptus does not favour biodiversity.

ASYV has planted trees in the main part of the village and also in an area called the nature park.  This will be wonderful when the tree grow, and hopefully more trees we be planted specifically for shade purposes.  This will moderate the temperature in the village, build the soil, buffer the wind, and create a more enjoyable micro climate.   Depending on the species selected, they may also produce food, forage, mulch, and medicine.  (Especially if this permaculturalist has anything to do with it!:))

The nature park is an area behind the school that some of the past volunteers, staff and students helped to map, plant trees and build trails. This is a place to explore, relax and learn. This is an area that is unlike most of Rwanda.  Natural spaces are few are far in between.


Riding in the bus around Rwanda, you get the sense that the whole country is like one big food garden (with smatterings of the hedges and lawns aesthetic). Bananas, potatoes, corn, sweet potatoes, beans, peas, and cows are everywhere you look. Crops are farmed right up to the road and on incredibly steep hills. If I were skiing some of those hills- they would be double black or black diamond steep. However, I suppose that is what is needed for a country of 11 million people. Lots of food.

The traditional way of subsistence farming seems to involve polycultures of different plants all growing together. However, the plants that they grow (bananas, corn, beans, potatoes) are the same all throughout the country. I wonder how much plant diversity there actually is in the country- and what would happen if a fungus or virus came through for one of those staple plants. I hope there are many different varieties of those staple plants so that if something happens, there is some resiliency.

Something else that worries me is some of Rwanda's agriculture policies.  They want to aggregate farm land so they can grow one crop and it will be easier to mechanize.  Sounds like a familiar Western practice which I don't think has actually benefited any farmers (ask the farmers in the corn belt of the USA)... maybe these policies benefit the pockets of large agribusiness, but farmers... that is questionable. (The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan illustrates this very well)

Although this policy this might make planting and processing more efficient, I'm not sure if it will produce more food. Furthermore, if mechanization is involved- might actually hurt the long term sustainability of the soil.  Steep hills and tractors or rotatillers= soil loss, erosion for sure!  Also it sounds like aggregating farm land would reduce farmer's agency in deciding what they want to plant.  It would make them plant cash crops which are at the whims of international price markets and not allow them to grow food for their families first.  Although I am sure there are lots of ways to improve smallholder production, I am not sure about this policy... (more about this and other policies later).

On a lighter, and less controversial note, I started helping out on the farm this week.  There are about 20 farm workers from the surrounding community.  Most of them have been farming all their lives... so they think I am quite comical because a) I am a westerner and b) because I don't have their same level of dexterity and skill with the farm tools.  One day they gave me a giant stick to use as a pry, and a machete to cut down bushes (to mulch the bananas).  I could not for the life of me figure out how to wield the stick and the machete with any sense of efficiency- even though I had plenty of good role models.
Another day, when I helped to beat the beans (to release the dry beans from their pods), I apparently had the wrong technique, even though I thought I was doing it exactly the same as everyone else.  So I certainly have a long way to go to being awesome with the local tools and techniques, but it is a good way to build relationships and observe the farm.  After all, the first principle of permaculture is 'to observe and interact'.
 
If anyone out there has some ideas of of wonderful permaculture all-star plants that can be grown here to add diversity, resiliency, habitat and an income for the people of Rwanda. I am interested in learning about these plants, finding them and planting them.