The Khmu, pronounced kəˈmu, people is a large minority ethnic groups that is spread across the central highlands of Asia including sections of Northern and Central Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar (formerly Burma) and Southwestern China. Throughout their range, they are recognized as a separate ethnic group with the exception of those living in China where they fall under the official designation of undistinguished ethnic peoples (rough translation from Chinese). They are known by various names including Khamu, Kemu, Khammu or Khơ Mú depending on the specific area where they live but as would be expected, share a common language with only slight variations in dialects being noted and generally recognizable customs across the entire region. Khmu Population Distribution As can...
For textiles, hemp (Cannabis sativa) is far more eco-friendly than cotton. But the Khmu people in Southeast Asia have been using a fiber for thousands of years that is even better for the environment than hemp. JungleVine® (Pueraria phaseoloides) could well be as much of an improvement over hemp as hemp is over cotton.
Nature Bags are carbon negative, and throughout the process of getting the bags from the remote artisan villages to buyers all over the world, the JungleVine Foundation strives to keep their carbon footprint as tiny as possible. Here is how we keep JungleVine® Products Net Zero.
It is estimated that in the United States alone an extra 25 million tons of garbage is generated during the holiday season. Included in this number is 2.65 billion Christmas cards, which is enough to fill a football field higher than a ten-story building. Enough ribbon to tie a bow around the planet 12 times over and 4 million tons of wrapping paper, which accounts for approximately 30 million fewer trees on the planet.
As most of us move through our daily lives; talking on our cell phones, driving around town, buying groceries in supermarkets and living in heated and air-conditioned comfort, it is easy for us to forget that there is an entire world of people out there that have little to no idea what many of these experiences are like. In the landlocked, Southeast Asian country of Laos, there are many people who would fall into this category. For the most part isolated from the rest of the world by the rugged mountain forest terrain that makes up their home, they still live life much as their ancestors have for the last 5000 years. Subsisting by growing their mountain rice sans mechanical...
