This book tells the incredible story of one community's attempt to change their world for the better.
Faced with the challenge of making the English village of Chew Magna a 'zero waste' society, the author developed a groundbreaking non-profit scheme that twinned it with a rural area of Tamil Nadu, a state in southern India. He helped set up a system of wind turbines for India that would not only reduce the community's reliance on fossil fuels but also provided a local source of sustainable income. The carbon credits produced through this scheme were then sold in Chew Magna to individuals and businesses to offset emissions they cannot yet reduce - all part of a larger local zero-waste effort.
The effects of this scheme have been dramatic and exhilarating - while Chew Magna gets closer to zero waste, the Tamil Nadu community's carbon emissions and poverty levels are diminishing accordingly.
John Pontin OBE is the founder of the JT Group, a non-profit urban renewal social enterprise which has been engaged in socially enlightened property development for over 40 years.