Happy New Year!
Well, we’ve started the year off with a big pile of snow up here in Maine, but it hasn’t slowed us down – things are already heating up for WVI in 2010! A lot has happened since the beginning of the new year, and it looks like we’ll stay busy through the spring.
The biggest news is that we just partnered with Zerofootprint to start a big tree-planting project in the Ruzizi Valley. In February, we’ll be planting 23,000 trees in the Ruzizi Valley. Most of the trees that used to grow throughout the valley were destroyed in the conflicts over the past decade, and having new growth is an important step towards peace and stability. This is a fantastic way to kick off our reforestation efforts in the new year, and will have a positive effect on the local soil and water table as well. It’s an exciting project, and will only be more so with time.
Alex will be busy throughout the spring as well, going first to a TED conference in Long Beach, and then to Congo at the end of February. It looks to be a fascinating conference, and, as always, should make some very thought-provoking videos. Directly after that, Alex will head to the Ruzizi Valley Project with several guests from TED. This is the first time that anyone will be staying in the new houses at Itara, so it will be very exciting to hear how everyone makes out!
Aside from that, the Ruzizi Valley Project has had a strong start in 2010; we have some new photos up at community webshots, including pictures of the truck in action. As you can see from the photos, the truck has already proved its worth many times over, and we’re very grateful to have it.
We’ll keep you posted as things progress – stay warm!
Cheers,
Laura