It’s June! And there’s a lot I’m looking forward to. Starting with my TED Talk in just two weeks.
One of the stories I’ll be sharing about is Antwan’s. I tell a lot of success stories of people working on climate solutions and resilience, but Antwan’s isn’t one of those stories. I met him because I saw he was burning trees to turn into charcoal and I saw the smoke from the roadside.
Every three years he cuts down all the trees around him for more charcoal.
I share this encounter though, because his reasons for doing so were simply to feed his family. This was the only activity he’s found that could bring in adequate cash when needed. It was a reminder to me that not everybody involved in deforestation is a greedy honcho with a cigar and gold chain. They’re out there, I’m sure. But the more we can humanize each other and understand causes, effects, and motivations, the more effective our solutions will be.
