We are a team of three passionate environmental enthusiasts who want to contribute to reducing global warming and poverty. My brother Adarsha and I are the cofounders of Project Jatropha. We visit India very often. Our grandparents live on a farm in a village near Hunsur, in south India. Every year we spend time with them on the farm. During that time, we regularly visit the nearby villages in the Hunsur Taluk area to see the work done by Parivarthana, a non-governmental organization (NGO), which helps the rural poor by teaching them the mechanics of sustainable agriculture & organizing women's Self Help Groups (SHGs). Quite a few of the villagers in this region grow tobacco for a living, as it is one of the few crops that can generate income. However, in order to process tobacco, the leaves of the plant must first be cured in heated barns. The farmers accomplish this by burning large quantities of firewood in kilns. This generates a a large amount of air pollution. The farmers have little firewood on their small plots of land, so after using the available firewood, they turn to the agents who illegally sell them firewood by cutting down trees in the local Nagarahole/ Rajiv Gandhi National Park, a large and pristine wildlife sanctuary which is also the home of the Asian elephant and tiger. As a result of deforestation, in the recent years, the incidence of animal-human conflicts has escalated sharply. Each year that we go to India, we see the effects of the deforestation on the borders of the park. We realized that if we do not make an effort to slowly wean the farmers off tobacco, then the whole forest and its incredible biodiversity would disappear. We already had a pilot plantation of Jatropha in a small area in our grandfather's farm. As we knew the advantages of growing Jatropha, an idea hit upon us to see if we can motivate the farmers to grow Jatropha curcas on an economically viable scale

Carbon dioxide emissions are local, but their effects are global. There are one hundred and ninety four countries on this globe, big and small; their boundaries are fixed but the air that they breathe is shared. No matter who contributes how much to the CO2 burden, all nations suffer together. The USA is one of the largest producers of carbon dioxide in the world, and if we don't start decreasing emissions and transitioning away from fossil fuels, the repercussions will be felt throughout the world. We are looked upon as a world leader but if we do not lead by example, we are destined to be followers. It is of the utmost importance that this transition starts now, because if emissions are not curbed significantly by 2050, then the tipping point of climate change will be reached. In addition, a transition away from fossil fuels is key to not only creating countless new jobs in green industries, but also in mitigating the impact of peak oil and decrease the amount of pollutants in our atmosphere. During a time when there are major differences between developed and developing nations as how to mitigate global warming, Project Jatropha aims to demonstrate the commitment of the youth in developed countries to environmental issues that affect the developing nations as well.This is where Project Jatropha comes in. Jatropha curcas is a carbon sink, taking carbon dioxide out of the air and putting it into the ground. The bio fuel produced by the seeds provides a clean, alternative source of energy that not only helps reduce emissions, but also is able to be used in all kinds of vehicles. In addition, by providing an alternative crop to tobacco for rural farmers, the burning of large quantities of firewood, which releases large amounts of carbon dioxide, can be reduced. By demonstrating that biofuels can be produced in a sustainable and economical way, Project Jatropha hopes to start a mass movement to mitigate climate change across the entire world.

My brother Adarsha Shivakumar and I cofounded Project Jatropha, which has recently acquired a non-profit status by the generous sponsorship of Sirona Cares. The goal of Project Jatropha is to provide an economically viable and environmentally friendly poverty alleviation mechanism. To accomplish our goal, Adarsha and I came up with a plan to introduce the villagers to an alternative crop, Jatropha curcas. It can be grown on marginal lands with much fewer agronomic inputs and without displacing valuable land producing food grains. From the economic stand point, our project provides a viable alternative to tobacco farming for local farmers. If the tobacco cultivation is reduced, the farmers dependence on firewood from the forest will eventually decreases,thus helping the prevention of Nagarahole/Rajiv Gandhi National Park deforestation. By doing so, we will be helping to preserve this precious wildlife sanctuary and protect its biodiversity. We are proud to say that we have successfully accomplished our first phase within an year and well on our way into the second phase. After forming a successful international collaboration with Parivarthana and Labland Biotechs, we have motivated scores of farmers from two villages to participate in our project. We have taken the interested farmer leaders to Labland Biotechs and demonstrated the biofuel extraction process. We have distributed 35 liters of biofuels from the extraction of 100 Kg dried seeds to the villagers to run their farm equipments to give them a firsthand experience in biofuel usage. The farmers have given us a very positive feedback. In their own words "Smoke emission is very less compared to regular diesel. The smoke smells pleasant. The pump set ran smoothly and efficiently." The farmer leaders also got training in the agronomic practice of Jatropha cultivation and are competent to advise the other participating farmers. We selected 5 self help group leaders for our first phase and distributed 1000 high quality Jatropha seedlings. These plants are around a year old now and are doing very well. We have conducted many town hall meetings, and presentations in nearby rural high schools to involve the local teenagers to become a part of the team. We have raised more than $15000 to meet the payment for second phase. Using these funds, we have purchased 12,000 seedlings and planted them over this summer. Our project has become quite popular among the farmers of neighboring villages. They are approaching Parivarthana staff to see if they can participate in the phase II of our project. However, we have already chosen more than 50 self help group members from two and planted the 12,000 seedlings for the second phase. We do not have additional funds at this time to include the farmers from the neighboring villages. In December of 2008, a close friend and environmental enthusiast, Callie Roberts joined our team to help us expand our project. We are trying to raise additional funds to accommodate more farmers. We have visited the nearby rural high schools in Hunsur area to give presentation about our project. We are also educating them about the danger of global warming and the importance of our project. We have reached out to scores of students and motivated many of them to participate in our project. The students who are willing to participate are the sons and daughters of the local rural farmers. We have held town hall meetings in the villages and even did a press conference in Mysore to spread the word about our project. In USA, we have contacted nearby middle and high school officials, members of the global education committee at our school to bring awareness of the project for the purpose of fund raising and education. We have written articles in school news papers and done a press release about the first phase of the project. We have also held meetings and given presentations to the officials of Sirona Fuels, a California based biofuel company and its sister organization Sirona Cares. They sponsored Project Jatropha to attain a non profit status.

Participate in our Global Youth Call! The Project Jatropha Team is asking all youth from each and every corner of the globe to take responsibility and participate in the fight against climate change by planting at least one useful seedling. Let's plant one seedling at a time. You can start at your own backyard, school, or anywhere-you pick the place. If you try to understand the magnitude of the situation, and the difference that one action can make and how that action can influence others, then you can find a place to plant even one seedling. We are asking individuals, groups, organizations, schools to join us in this venture. If you do decide to do so, please let us know by dropping an email or writing on our blog so that we can include you as a participant member in this effort. We are setting a goal to plant one million trees in 10 years. Project Jatropha has kick-started this endeavor by planting 15,000 seedlings in Kirijaji and Thippalapura, two villages in South India. In order to achieve our goal, we are looking into all the possible collaborations. For starters, we have partnered with Sirona Cares to start a fruit orchard program. In this program, we are donating useful seedlings to selected schools and orphanages in Haiti, India, and USA, which need financial assistance. Please contact us and join the fight against climate change. The ways in which you can help: 1. Donating funds (which are tax-deductible, thanks to our NPO status) to purchase seedlings 2. Volunteering to help us plant in different schools