There is no
manufacturing. In the Nature
Bag
crafting process everything is done in the homes. No fossil
fuel is used until our project transports the finished bags from the
acquisition centers to our global headquarters in Luang Prabang (no
more than 250 KM (150 miles). Indeed, most rural Khmu have nothing
that consumes power, and if they do, the requirement is for
electricity which, in northern Laos, comes entirely from water &
solar sources.
Each bag weighs less than 70 grams (2.5 oz),
and transport from Luang Prabang to the end user virtually always is
by public transport (within Laos, the bundles of Nature
Bags
are tied to the tops of buses). Most of the containers we use
to ship to buyers are extremely lightweight (and biodegradable or
recycled). Most promotional/instructional inserts are on thin
small-sized paper, although the ink likely has petroleum components.
When you consider that most of our shipments to end users involve
more than one bag, I'd estimate the average gross shipping weight per
bag is not much more than 75 grams.
Of our warehousing sites,
only one, in Iowa USA, requires energy and that is only in the form
of small amounts of electricity for infrequent use of
energy-efficient lighting, occasional dehumidification and rare
pumping of water from a drainage sump (that warehouse is in a
basement that occasionally is subject to ground water penetration
after very heavy & extended periods of rainfall). In Iowa,
about 20% of our electricity comes from our nearly 1500 giant wind
generators, thus even the small amount of electricity we use here is
surprisingly "green."
All of us involved in the
Nature
Bag
Mission frugally use energy-efficient transportation, turn off our
energy-efficient lights, keep our heating/cooling consumption
moderate & use all available energy-saving technology on our
computers & communications devices. Very little paper &
ink is used when something must be in a non-electronic form. We
fly economy class & use public transportation rather than private
vehicles whenever we can. Of course there are a few taxi rides
needed for going to/from airports when there is too much luggage (or
too many Nature Bags) for a person or two to carry on a bus or tram
(or, as is often the case, it is during hours when public transit is
not available.
Other than the Khmu bag users, it is likely
that Bill Newbrough, the Nature Bag Sponsor, is the only person who
has used a Nature Bag so intensively that it no longer had value as a
carrying/storing device. Nevertheless, we recommend burying
bags that are no longer useful. As the buried bag transitions
to nutrients in the soil, isn't it likely that most of the carbon in
the JungleVineTM
fiber is captured by the soil & thus stored?
Bill Newbrough
Volunteer/Sponsor
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