HILLTRIBE ORGANIC TEA (H.O.T)

Today we constantly hear words like global warming and climate changes etc yet very little is actually done about it. A small state like Singapore can do very little to stop industrialised countries like India, China, USA etc from polluting our world.

As individuals, there are 2 steps we can take to reduce glocal warming. One is to reduce our use of carbon producing fossil fuels and the other to plant more plants and trees.

We have started a project called H.O.T (Hilltribe Organic Tea). It's a win-win project for both poor hilltribe villagers in Northern Thailand and more importantly, to slow down global warming.

Tea trees are a valuable cash crop (so nobody will cut them down) and can go on producing for up to 150 years. We intend to give each family 100 tree saplings to plant. It's a modest project (100 families, 10,000 tea saplings).



Our volunteers from the Elephant Nature Park (www.elephantnaturefoundation.org) will help plant these saplings together with the families involved. They can drink the tea and the surplus leaves can be sold to supplement their low incomes and more importantly, these trees slow down global warming.

I have already started planting saplings at the Elephant Nature Park and have visited villages that plant tea to learn more from them. My next step is to start a nursery at the park and cultivate tea, mango, lychees etc from seeds (to reduce costs). A half metre tea sapling costs about fifty Singapore cents (delivered to the park).





We are trying to raise five thousand Singapore dollars to get this project started with 10,000 saplings. If you can help please let me know, here's your chance to make a difference directly.

I shall be going to Chiangmai in late December with 12 friends/volunteers and again in May 2010 with 20 students from SMU to start this project. I estimate that with these two trips, we and other volunteers from Elephant Nature Park, can plant all the ten thousand saplings.

Here's your chance to do something that directly improves lives and slow down global warming. You can also volunteer for the May 2010 if you sponsor saplings, I get a special rate from the Park for our green volunteers.

Cheers,
Grant
Mobile : 65 96840950

“If you think you're too small to have an impact – try going to bed with a mosquita” - Dame Anita Roddick (Founder – The Body Shop)

ELEFRIENDS

I have been involved in asian elephant conservation for more than 20 years. In Thailand the drastic decrease in the population is shocking, in the 1900's there were more than 100,000 elephants in Thailand, today there are less than 5000 ( about 3500 capture and 1500 wild) Just imagine in one hundred years a decline of 95% !!! 

In Africa today there are more than 500,000 elephants that is some African States culling is periodically carried out. I suspect that this is planned mismanagement so that the lucrative ivory trade can continue. 

In the whole of Asia there are at most 50,000 elephants apread over the follow countries: India, Srilangka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Burma, Laos Cambodia, China and Thailand. I formed ELEFRIENDS about 6 years ago to help the Asian elephants and the northern hilltribes and to do reforestation projects to help slow down global warming. 

We work with a conservation group called Elephant Nature Foundation, (www.elephantnaturefoundation.org) that runs an elephant santuary about 70km north of Chiangmai. Right now we have 35 elephants with various disabilities, including old age and some with mental problems due to ill-treatment. 

I arrange regular trips with schools and green groups to visit to do conservation, reforestation and social projects with the hilltribes. The lastest school to attend were SMU, UWCSEA, Temasek Polytechnic and Chong Boon Secondary School and trip varried from a week to 3 weeks.

 

About 4 years ago, we helped raise about $6000 for medicines etc to help 2 bady elephants (Mo-Too,2 ½ years and Mo-Jay, 6 years) who stepped on landmines in Burma.

Our next project would be to buy and rescue a street begging young elephant at Phuket. You can help by fund raising with your friends, School or office colleges. Find out more on this on my next update. 

My next trip to Chiangmai will be around 10th April 2009 to not only visit the Elephant Nature Park but to take part in the annual, really fun water festival; Songkram, where everybody get splahed. If you can, come join me. 

Cheers,

Grant W Pereira
Founder
The Green Volunteers
Mobile 65 96840950