Meaningful Making: Eco-Innovations in Africa

To date, Global Minimum has received project proposals from 1,792 students from Kenya, South Africa and Sierra Leone. We are excited to announce that we recently selected 105 student finalists, who will be working on 30 innovations that tackle various community challenges.Through the judging process, we observed that the majority of project proposals pertained to addressing environmental challenges.

In Kenya, students will be working to create a water-heating system for fish farmers, paper logs made out of recycled paper, biodegradable plastics from starch extracted from mango seeds, chip boards made out of maize cobs, and solar powered water purifiers.

In South Africa, students will work to create a water-purifying system from rainwater, to remove alien plant species to protect local ecosystems, and start an organic garden to promote balanced and nutritious diets.

In Sierra Leone, students will be working to create charcoal briquettes made out of solid waste and biomass to replace wood charcoal, plant trees to combat deforestation, and participate on farms to gain hands-on experience in Agricultural Science.

We are excited to see how these projects develop and unfold over the next three months. We remain grateful for your financial support in enabling our youth to pursue their endeavors while creating solutions to real-world environmental problems in their communities!

Thank you again for your interest in the Captain Planet Foundation (CPF) & Global Minimum's (GMin) co-project, "Meaningful Making: Eco-Innovations in Africa."

This is the best time of year for GMin's "Innovation Challenges" as they are actively visiting schools and meeting students who are excited about creating environmental change in their corners of the world! Students are already buzzing with ideas on how to tackle some of the most pressing environmental challenges in their areas, such as deforestation, air pollution, and water contamination. 

GMin has also been encouraged by their finalists from 2013 who have continued to prototype their eco-innovations into the current year. For example, one finalist team developed a foot-pumped, environmentally friendly kerosene Pressure Cooker and have already donated it to their school kitchen where it is now fully functional and allowing the school to provide daily meals for students.

Another finalist team created bamboo coffins, and are currently in a redesign phase. They are also planning to plant bamboo trees in their school garden as an alternative to buying new material when manufacturing each coffin. Another 2013 team was able to transform their community by creating a cleaner burning, higher energy content charcoal substitute. Since the 2013 competition, this team has begun formal production and is already earning profitable returns!

In the next progress report, we look forward to sharing additional innovative and inspirational environmental solutions, similar to those listed above, that we hope to get from our 2014 finalists. Until then, we hope you will consider further supporting or sharing this project with your friends and family. Keep in mind that another bonus day is around the corner on May 7th. By giving on a bonus day, you can make your donation go further!

Links:

• Update Video on Tom, Green Charcoal Innovation