Sister Carmelle - a kind, generous, and thoughtful person, who gave much love and joy.  We at GreenMicrofinance were privileged to know her during our time in Fondwa Haiti.  

Sr. Marie Carmelle Voltaire passed away on Saturday, March 10, 2012. 

We are thinking of our friends in Fondwa on this loss to the Community of Little Sisters of Antoine and the Fondwa community.   The Sisters’ now number about 20 members and – among other ministries – are responsible for managing the Fondwa medical clinic, the Fatima House orphanage, and the St. Antoine elementary and secondary schools that enroll nearly 600 students.

Andy Kristian's...Photo of the Day!! 

 http://andykristian.com 

GreenMicrofinance 
Center for Green Excellence™ 

GreenMicrofinance Center (GMfC™) is our legally registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Under this umbrella we have created the Center for Green Excellence.  Our mission remains the same.

Our mission is to address climate change and environmental justice by providing education and sharing knowledge on microfinance and environment - The Missing Bottom Line.

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May we, like this beautiful bamboo structure by Architect Simon Velez, not sway or collapse, but continue on with steel-like strength.  May we together address climate change with speed and sequester carbon, restore our land, and create beauty from the gifts of the earth.  Like the woven reeds, all of us our intertwined.  May we strive for excellence on this earth.  

We cannot tire or give up. We owe it to the present and future generations of all species to rise up and walk!”

Wangari Maathai (1940-2011)  
Kenyan Environmentalist and Nobel Laureate 

Wangari Maathai. Courtesy of the Green Belt Movement

Wangari Maathai is best known for founding the Green Belt Movement in Kenya in 1977. The initiative empowered rural women by getting them engaged in management and protection of forests. Over the past three decades, the Green Belt Movement has planted tens of millions of trees across Kenya and trained thousands of women in agroforestry, bee-keeping, and other sustainable livelihoods.   For her efforts, in 2004 Maathai became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. The award further boosted her status as one of the most prominent voices in the increasingly global movement to involve local communities in the management and conservation of forests. 

Read Entire Article...Courtesy of www.mongabay.com 
September 26, 2011

The Cracking the Nut Conference in DC last week was excellent!   The aim was to accelerate the impact of the world’s leading rural and agricultural development and finance leaders by uniting them in a collaborative pursuit of learning, leverage and large scale change. The conference is named "Cracking the Nut," as rural and agricultural finance have long been tough nuts to crack. 

Downloadable Brochure

GreenMicrofinance was invited to join others during the Financing Climate Smart Agriculture Panel 

Facilitator: Mark Wenner (Inter-American Development Bank)
Panelists: Ademola Braimoh (World Bank), Elizabeth Israel (Green Microfinance), 
Chandula Abeywickrama (Hatton National Bank, Sri Lanka)

Photos
Panel Introduction (Mark Wenner)
Opening Remarks  (Ademola Braimoh) 
Panel Discussion (Mark, Chandula, Ademola, Elizabeth) 

Ademola Braimah, Senior Natural Resource Management Specialist at the World Bank, shared in his presentation that Climate Smart Agriculture Offers Triple Win! 

• Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) addresses the challenges of food security, and climate mitigation and adaptation together, rather than in isolation.

 The CSA transition requires

• Transformations in the management of soil, water and genetic resources to ensure higher productivity.
  
  
• Maximizing synergies and minimizing trade-offs between productivity and emissions per unit of agricultural product.

The Future of Global Food Security

Climate change has pronounced effects in agriculture, such as shifts in temperature and precipitation patterns, and prevalence of pests and diseases. Developing countries that get by with minimal productivity and limited technology are in danger of enduring lower and erratic production, aggravating both the farmers’ livelihood and the population’s food supply.

Conservation agriculture is the core of climate-smart agriculture for both mitigation and adaptation. (Photo credit: Creative Commons)

In celebration of the launch of UNEP's Green Economy Report: This short animated film highlights the role forests can play in national development, a green economy and climate change. The film also reviews the impact of forest on business as usual and on transformative solutions. Narrated by David Attenborough.

             
  2010 Haiti...today moving towards Ecological Sustainability! 

Roy Morrison is Southern New Hampshire UniversityDirector of the Office of Sustainability.   He recently completed work including,  Seven Postulates for An Ecological Civilization  - published by Center for Ecozoic Studies Monthly Musings / February 28, 2011 - not on-line)

Roy talks on how Ecological Sustainability, Peace, and Social Justice are inextricably connected.    Some of his key points support GreenMicrofinance's mission. 
         
*   An ecological democracy pursues sustainability in all aspects of life. 

*   We must build the road as we travel towards an ecological civilization and those who would realize and maintain it, must pursue sustainability as their ongoing goal and guide. 

*   An ecological civilization is characterized by the ongoing pursuit of sustainability in the economic, ecological, and social realms.  Success in all three realms is completely interdependent. We cannot succeed in one without succeeding in the others.  

*    Economic growth must mean ecological improvement.

 *   We have the technological, economic, political and philosophical means for an ecological turn. Our challenge is to decide to employ them for ecological ends. 

*   A fundamental marker of progress toward an ecological civilization will be measured by a progressive annual decrease in global carbon emissions, and an annual increase in global economic output that leads to ecological improvement.

*   A global sustainable order requires technical assistance and transfer of resources and capital from rich to poor to make possible a sustainable global convergence. 

*    Without justice and fairness and sustainability for all, there ultimately will be sustainability and prosperity for no one.