Cleaning the air and fighting climate change with biochar – chatting with Michael Shafer
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By
Matthew Rickard
- 1 min read
- Jan 25, 2022 9:32:34 am
In this episode we speak with Michael Shafer, the founder and director of Warm Heart, a community development organisation serving Phrao, one of the poorest districts in northern Thailand.
Micheal spent 30 years teaching the international political economy of development and at 55 decided that it was time to put theory into practice.
Having spent time consulting for USAID, the State Department, the EU and others on issues
of higher education reform (the Baltic States, Poland, Moldova, and Lebanon) and with direct or partnered grant support from East-East, Prudential, USIP and others on issues of community rebuilding (ex-Yugoslavia, Ethiopia, and South Africa), Michael felt it was time to live with my recommendations.
Since 2008, Warm Heart has been transforming the lives of many people, addressing issues such as family care, education, micro-enterprise, environmental sustainability, and health care for the elderly.
And Michael, who gave up his US career to do something positive in the world, is now also working on helping us find a way out of our pollution problems. He is on a mission to reduce smoke pollution by teaching famers how to create biochar – and on this episode that’s what we discuss.
- What is biochar?
- Why is it important?
- And how does it help remove carbon?
You can find out more about Michael at these links:
