The Converging World: How one community's path to zero waste is helping save our planet - Tapa blanda

The Converging World 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, Pontin developed a groundbreaking non-profit scheme that twinned them with Tamil Nadu, a poor rural community in southern India. He helped set up a system of wind turbines for Tamil Nadu 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, Tamil Nadu's carbon emissions and poverty levels are diminishing accordingly. Pontin's story presents a model of action for any individual or community concerned about climate change, environmental damage, social inequality and the plight of the third world. If you want to make a difference, The Converging World is a book you must read.

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. He developed The Converging World programme three years ago. This is his first book.