At the invitation of the organisers for the event, Green Business Barbados (GBB) will feature in a panel discussion and plenary session during the conference, with Green Business Barbados Programme Coordinator, Ms Lani Edghill, representing her work with GBB and providing two case studies. Lani will provide an insight into the process of the development of this FCT implemented programme and share some of the great work achieved by KPMG and Harris Paints in their respective businesses.

GBB has been in place officially since April 2010 and now has some 14 businesses involved in the programme. For more information on the programme, please visit this page and download our web appropriate booklet and a printable brochure: http://futurecentretrust.org/main/resource-centre. You can also visit this link at businessbarbados.com to read more of the GBB approved businesses: http://businessbarbados.com/tag/green-business-barbados/.

Thank you to KPMG and Harris Paints for recognising the benefit of being included in this excellent Caribbean wide promotional opportunity where your hard work and team contributions to improving the environment of Barbados can be shared regionally!

Share on Facebook

Lorraine Ciarallo once again shared her knowledge of Permaculture Principles with the small but successful group.

Thanks to Lorraine, Lani, Robert, Nicole, Beverley, Sarah and Kris for their efforts on the day. Today there was a contribution of some 15.5 hours of volunteer time! Thanks everyone!

There will be one more garden day in early June before Lorraine leaves at the end of June, with the details posted here and on our Facebook page. Please keep an eye out!

Share on Facebook

Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening to all Friends of the FCT,

The FCT’s Little Edgehill site has been receiving a garden transformation to become a Permaculture demonstration site and we need your help this weekend.

Recently, the FCT, has had the pleasure of working with Ms. Lorraine Ciarallo of Canada. Lorraine, is a Permaculture Designer, Consultant & Educator and obtained her Permaculture Design Certification (PDC) in 2009 and in December 2011, completed the Permaculture Internship Program at the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia www.permaculture.org.au. Lorraine, along with Ms. Lani Edghill, have been developing the garden at the FCT with Permaculture principles and we need your assistance this Saturday.

Come join us on Saturday the 12th of May in the Little Edgehill Permaculture garden from 7:30 am to 11:00 am. We will be working to develop the swales along the contour lines of the site and develop hot compost piles to kill the weeds we have removed and placed in heaps. Please bring picks, hoes and mattocks (very important), water, snack, hat, sunblock and friends to share the work load.

For more information and to advise your ability to attend, please contact Lani at 836-6189 or by email at lani@futurecentretrust.org by copying and pasting this email address.

Looking forward to seeing you all in the garden to build and develop sustainable agriculture right here at home.

Share on Facebook

For those who continue to watch out for the updates on the garden and any work that might be happening, we appreciate you! Please continue to watch the website and the Facebook page for more information.

Enjoy your weekend!

Share on Facebook

At a presentation chaired by Director of the Museum, Ms Alissandra Cummins, (who kindly invited the FCT to be present at the book which is dedicated to the life of the late Dr Colin Hudson, founder of the FCT) the Honourable Prime Minister, Freundel Stuart, remarked that today, even moreso, the environment and its care is critical to our survival.

We are pleased and very grateful for the invitation to the event and even moreso to be fortunate to have such a great resource now available for borrowing from our library. We wish the museum the very best of luck in the sales of this wonderful contribution to the environmental education of Barbados.

Share on Facebook

Recently, the FCT, has had the pleasure of working with Lorraine Ciarallo from Canada, who is a Permaculture Designer, Consultant & Educator and obtained her Permaculture Design Certification (PDC) in 2009 and in December 2011, completed the Permaculture Internship Program at the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia.

Lorraine, has been volunteering her time at the Hudson Permaculture Garden for over a month and sharing her knowledge with us. We have been clearing the garden of bush while building mulch boomerangs for the trees to retain moisture in the soil, spreading coconut mulch, growing heirloom seedlings and surveying the land to determine contours for placement of swales and beds.

Join us on Saturday the 5th of May in the Little Edgehill garden from 7:30 am to 12:00 noon. Lorraine shows us how to determine contours to capture maximum moisture and develop swales and beds along the contour lines. Please bring picks, hoes and mattocks, water, snack, hat, sunblock and friends to share the work load.

For more information please contact Lani at 836-6189.

Looking forward to seeing you all in the garden to build and develop sustainable agriculture right here at home.

For those who are not sure what Permaculture is, try this great resource:http://www.permaculture.org.au/

Share on Facebook

We are happy to provide this snapshot of the the two and half hours of discussions including a presentation by Nicole on behalf of the FCT which included some of the great work we have been achieving over these past few years – and we say we, because without the help of our volunteers, our funders and you, who take the time to support us and read of our work, we could not have achieved such important work.

We include here the comments as recorded by Nicole Garofano from the meeting: Minutes of meeting with Dr Denis Lowe Minister of Environment and Drainage

Show here is the presentation offered to the Minister by the FCT: Meeting with Minister Denis Lowe April 25 2012

And finally, the Submission document of Public Sentiment gathered from the comments of those who chose to attend the Earth Day Morning Gully Walk event: Review of Earth Day Comments which was handed over to the Minister along with several copies of Bri and Luk – Book 1 as seen here with Mrs Gayle Francis-Vaughan, PS of Environment and Drainage:

Thank you Minister Lowe and your team for your appreciation of our work and your commitment to develop a formal agreement with the FCT for mutually beneficial relationships in the future. We look forward to working with you and we look forward to keeping our readers updated on the progress of the development of a draft Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and consideration of subvention for the continued work of the FCT.

Share on Facebook

Some of the pics of the morning event:

Some wonderful thank yous:

For the Morning Event:

The US Embassy to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean and Ms Rebecca Ross – their Public Affairs Officer for their funding of the morning’s event

Debra Brancker of Welchman Hall Gully who provided the use of the gully free of charge to the participants in the mornings activities

Dr Adrian Cashman for his contribution of a very interesting and educational presentation on the importance of water and gullies in Barbados

Ms Lorraine Ciarallo for her presentation on permaculture principles

Ms Lani Edghill for preparing a great presentation on Green Building and for her assistance in organising the day

Ms Cecilia Stallard for assisting with the registrations for the mornings event.

To the contributors of our Public Sentiment Document which was delivered to Dr The Honourable Denis Lowe – Minister of Environment And Drainage on April 25 2012!

And for the evening time:

Corrie Scott for highlighting the global release of the film One Day on Earth and that Barbados needed to be part of it!

Ms Britta Pollard and Jenni Wilson of the Southern Palms Beach Club and Hotel Resort for the kind use of their Conference Room free of charge for the event

And of course for both events, all of you who participated and chose to appreciate Earth Day 2012! It would have been nothing without you!

Thanks lastly to Heather-lynn Evanson for her stories in the Nation following the Monday article shown here. Heather-lynns coverage appeared in The Nation on Tuesday and Wednesday. Thank you Heather-lynn for your continued support of the FCT!

Share on Facebook

We have reached our maximum limit of registrations for this event on Sunday night. Please get in touch with us if you would like to be kept updated on any other showings in the coming weeks. Thank you for your interest and support! There are still places left for the Welchman Hall Gully walk at 10am on Saturday.

We are working with local Barbadian artist Corrie Scott to present the One Day on Earth video which will have its global launch on Sunday April 22 to coincide with Earth Day! Thanks to Southern Palms Beach Club and Resort Hotel, we will be able to present this to you in the Conference Room of this well known South Coast Hotel where drinks and refreshments will be available for purchase at the hotel bar at the conclusion of the event. Plan to arrive for 6pm for a 6:15pm start. For more information on the video, please see this link: http://www.onedayonearth.org/screening Again, this is a limited space event, so get there early!

Thanks to Corrie Scott for her involvement in this project and for alerting us to this great opportunity!

Share on Facebook

This article launches the Green Business Barbados Programme at the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry!http://businessbarbados.com/green-business/barbados-chamber-commerce-industry-green-green-business-barbados/

Welcome the Chamber for their achievement of the minimum standards set by the Green Business Barbados Programme!

Share on Facebook