Terra Foundation 1994 - 2009

15 years for the EarthAvinyó, 44 - 08002 Barcelona

Tel. (+34) 93 601 16 36 | Fax (+34) 93 601 16 32terra@terra.org | www.ecoterra.org www.terra.org

Terra Foundation 1994 - 2009. 15 years for the earth

Text: Jordi Miralles

English Translation: Leandres D. Christopher

Photos: Grafi c archive Terra Foundation

Barcelona, Spring 2010

For more information, visit www.ecoterra.org or our pictures gallery, and subscribe

to our newsletter.

Terra Foundation is registered at the Ministry of Culture of the Spanish Government under the registration number

238.

10 visions10 images

15 yearsOne dream

living in harmony with the planet

Water jugs against climate change (2008)

Small changes are powerful

The wetlands of Molins de Rei (1995)

Creating a natural city respectful of biodiversity

In favor of small changes

In the spring of 1994, 3 friends with a long history of partici-pating in diff erent ecological organizations decided to invest 1 million pesetas (6.010 euros) to create a private cultural foundation.

Our objectives are, on the one side, to contribute ideas and activities that permit society to be proactive in reducing their consumption of energy resources and raw materials, and on the other side, to stimulate the development of renewable energies. Ultimately, we wish to encourage a more austere style of living in a non-consumptive society. That initial inves-tment and the capacity to incorporate new wills allows us to capture public, and private economic resources in order to carry out the foundations objectives.

The Terra Foundation, ¨Fundacio Terra¨in Catalan, was foun-ded for an indefi nite period and although it has no partners as such, it has provided the fi gure of the Friends of the Foun-dation. It is headquartered in Barcelona, but enrolled in the Protectorate of the Ministry of culture with the aim to cross over territories. The statute highlights environmental aware-ness electronically; one year before the foundation was established, the world wide web was born, and our potential grew.

We defend that small changes are powerful becau-se the major strategy of planet conservation comes from assuming changes in our own behavior. Our books: Simplicidad radical (Radical Simplicity), Cradle to Cradle, Economía solar global (Solar Glo-bal Economy) and Autonomía Energética (Energy Autonomy). Our energy: the energy of the sun in all of its forms.

1994, fi rst logo of

Fundación Tierra

Solar photovoltaic plant head offi ce (1998)

Compensate for the consumption of our energy with clean solar energy

Cooperation as a vital principal

We are convinced of symbiogenesis by Lynn

Margulis, or a generation of symbiosis, or at

the least, the physical contact between two

diff erent living organisms that cooperate and

end up as a new living being, because this is

Gaia: an interwoven network of life in its diff e-

rent forms; cells, bodies, and societies. As E.F.

Schumacher said, author of Small is Beautiful,

an ounce of practice is worth more than a ton

of theory. Terra Foundation has put a good part

of this practice, symbiotic or cooperative, into

action with other organizations.

To be useful for training in environmental

issues, we have established an agreement with

the Association of Mestres Rosa Sensat, who edits a

prestigious newspaper, Perspectiva Escolar (Scholarly

Perspective), to co-produce a quarterly monogra-

phic supplement on environmental education, titled

Perspectiva Ambiental (Environmental Perspective). They brought over nearly 4

thousand of their members and we arrived at a multiplied audience. From 1995

up until today, they have published 48 issues, all with themes that have advanced

over time. From 2006, these monographs have been published on paper certifi ed

by the Forest Stwardship Council (FSC). For this they created the Group of Custo-

dy Chain which was set up and in eff ect between the years 2006 and 2009.

Cooperation as a strategy of action has marked many of the activities of Terra

Foundation. In 1998 it was designed for single action, to encourage the separate

collection of the paper ¨Fem una muntanya de paper¨. The newspapers, television

stations, radio stations, City Council of Barcelona, and Mariscal Studio all partici-

pated. We acted as catalysts, each bringing what we had and what we did best

to the table. On the 28th of March of 1998, in the Plaza Catalunya of Barcelona, 5

tons of newsprint were collected with the participation of 20,000 citizens.

The “ecopapelera” designed by

Mariscal Studio to collect used

paper and recycle.

Noctisolar solar lamp (2000)

Turning on lights of hope, because more than 1 billion people are

without artifi cial light at night.

Lovers of the Earth

Love is the most powerful force that a human posesses. The fi rst years of Terra Foundation were dedicated to the exaltation of nature. In 1995 we created the largest lake of freshwater near Barcelona, with six hectares of marshy ecosystem. It was recovering an old bend of the river Llobregat in the city of Molins de Rei (Barcelona). All of what we had learned about the restoration of riverbanks was located in a single manual at that time (Co-rredors blaus i verds). This natural space has had to fi ght to survive throughout two major works; the fi rst highway and the continuing route of AVE. However today it has an even greater surface area and houses more than 34 species of birds.

We had the chance to acquire 3,000 hectares of Pyrenean valleys full of wildlife; the Àrreu valley. None of the institutions supported the acquisition for only 90 mi-llion of the old pesetas; a real bargain. Today it is in the hands of the skiing spec-tators. Also, almost 3 decades ago we proposed the reintroduction of the falcon in Barcelona. We were told that it was unheard of. Many years later the project was succesfully initiated by another organization. In addition to this we proposed the recovery of the only natural space located within Barcelona; el Sot la Fuixarda on the mountain of Montjuic. The town hall of Barcelona however, was always dragging their feet. Today is just as bad as it was then.

The original idea of the protection of nature gave way to a new form of love: to change the habits of our style of living. Meanwhile other foundations entirely dedicated to protecting the environment were created and have done well. Therefore in 1998, with the inauguration of our new headquarters, and with pro-per standards of ecological rehabilitation that were unthinkable at the time, we launched a new ideal to protect the earth that still remains in force: to feed the vital simplicity from our hearts. Because the earth is the only planet that we have to love.

Project to recover La Fuixarda,

a natural space in Barcelona city,

created in 1997.

Parabolic Solar Cooker (2002)

Imagining the barbeque of the 21st century

Internet at the heart: from Terra.es to Terra.org

When Terra Foundation was created in April of 1994, there were no more than 100 organizations connected to the internet in Spain. One of the objectives of the organization was environmental dissemination by electronic means. Terra Foundation registered under the domain www.terra.es for use as an environmen-tal website in 1995, seeing as how www.terra.org was occupied by an American maritime company. At that time there were no rules for .es domain registration. All domains created before August 1st, 1996 became known as historical do-mains.

During the summer of 1999, a domain registering company requested the transfer of www.terra.es. We arrived at an agree-ment on September 24th. The domain re-gistering company gave the domain www.terra.org , which they owned, in addition to providing fi nance for environmental activity. On September 30th, 1999 Terra Networks was presented in partnership with www.terra.es.

One year later, certain contents of the website www.terra.es were reported and identifi ed as responsible to Terra Foundation, for being its domain. To resolve these ambiguities, in November of 2000, it was signed that each institution assumed ow-nership of the domain transfer until then. The gains of this new pact kept the link to www.terra.org in the page of Terra Networks and it also assumed sponsorship of diff erent environmental activities of Terra Foundation between 2001 and 2002. On July 16th of 2005, after six years of controversy, Terra Networks was merged by Telefónica corporation.

Actually, Terra.org is one of the most visited ecological websites in Spain, with more than 1.5 million visits a year.

Homepage of Terra Foundation’s website at

the domain www.terra.es in 1996, and the

logo adopted for the new site Terra.org of

Terra Foundation in 2001.

Rotor and Duopower (2004)

Some day all bicycles will come equiped with an anti-deadlock pedaling

system like the Rotor and with healthy ergonomic saddles like the

Duopower.

Without bike there is no paradise

Terra Foundation was born on a bicycle. Two of the three founders arrived to the notary on bicycles, it was their vehicle for years. The bicycle is the most effi cient machine ever invented, a cyclist is 3 or 4 times faster than a pedestrian and burns a total of 5 times less ca-lories. With a bicycle, as claimed by Ivan Illich, a man can outperform any machine or animal.

The bicycle has been present in many as-pectects of life at Terra Foundation. In our headquarters there is parking for twelve bikes. In the organization there are 3 folding bicy-cles at the need of the staff . We have endorsed projects that promote health by using the bicycle as a system of transportation. We promoted a system of anti-deadlock pedaling, developed by the Spanish company Rotor Componen-tes Tecnológicos and the ergonomical seat, Duopower, that was also designed locally. These along with other technologies, were designed for the campaign Pon salud a la bicicleta (put health on the bike).

We have acquired various tricycles for transporting children and merchandise to demonstrate their benefi ts. One of the objectives is to show the possibility of taking your children to school by bike. We promote the project Liliana, together with Espaibici, to demonstrate the benefi ts of the tandem technology Hase Pino for people with disabilities. We are not a company of cyclist, but cycling runs through our veins.

A sustainable world can be maintained by investing in bikes, especially in cities with endless possibilities. Owning a bike makes us aware of our limits and this is essential for a society that needs to decrease. There is no paradise without bike and for this reason we will continue supporting the applications of bike mobility solutions. Our ultimate goal is to promote the development of a compact porta-ble bike and to lead by example.

NO OIL (2005)

A permanent cry to remember that we need to quit our addiction to

fossil fuels

Plugged into the Sun

The earth cannot exist without the sun. The use of solar energy by humanity, has only been applied in the technological industry for less than 50 years. Ten years ago Terra Founda-tion plugged into the sun. We connected our headquarters to the electronic network as the fi rst domestic photovoltaic installation in Spain. With this instalation we saved around 10,000 kg of CO2. We do not sell the electricity, but we consume it, as we believe that small producers of green energy should not be bureaucratized. We have saved more than 25,000 nuclear and fossil kWh.

But to claim the rights to energy democracy has cost us an administrative dispute and when the courts were in favor of our reason but said that it was a problem for the legislature, we initiated a solar strike. With the approval of the Kyoto Protocol, in February of 2005, we decided to plug back in for our own consumption. We defended that the photovoltaic energy is a key tool for sustainability. The public has the right to their green kilowatts.

To promote the publics participation in renewable energies, we came up with the concept of the popular central solar photovoltaic, the Solar Wave. In Barcelona, in the Mercat de Carmel, 140 people contributed 300,000 euros; in smaller quanti-ties 3,000 Euros. The initiative raised a lot of interest and we initatiated another in April of 2008, at the University Autónoma in Madrid, which became operational in 2010.

But September 30th of 2008 came and the government approved the RD 1578, which should have been titled the “Prohibition of Photovoltaic energy decree“. The Solar Wave of Madrid, with 100 people, fell into the clutches of the energetic bureacracy. For its implementation, 18 months were required, and it was fi nally connected in January of 2010. For this we have radicalized the fi ght for the right to plug into the sun, with the action of the Guerrilla Solar. We need more citizens who are aimed at the campaign, purchasing the Phototonic Kit GS120 for the democracy of energy. 10 years ago we were demanding this right, and today we continue to be solar activists. We do not want a radioactive future.

Scheffl er refl ector (2006)

We welcome the largest solar cooking demonstrations in all of southern

Europe

Generating ideas

To think and act accordingly requires verifi able informa-cion and good structure. In 1995 the collection of books, Documentos Tercer Milenio, grew to pioneer a thematic approach in the environmental scope that stimulates new behaviors in multiple publics. In 2005 we published Simplicidad radical (Radical Simplicity) to promote the austerity and the economic decrease. We contributed so-lutions to live with less, 5 years before the economic crisis.

During the european Day Without Cars of 2000, a proto-type of “Solinera”, or a station to recharge electric vehicles in cities to promote vehi-cles with zero emmissions, was presented. That day, Solinera suceeded in generating enough kilowatts to power 3 vehicles. In 2009, the municipal government of Barcelo-na anounced that they were installing recharge stations. We advance ourselves then 9 years.

In 1999, we worried for the more than 1 billion people without electricity to light the night. We promoted the development of a portable solar lamp. The product result was a solar lamp called Noctisolar, which produced 220 units. It was distributed in cooperating projects but the project was not consolidated due to lack of market. Today other models are sold at low cost in commercial areas, although they are not of very good quality. We advance ourselves then 10 years.

In 1995, before the packaging laws, we launched a promotion for the separate collec-tion of beverage cartons. The countries ecological pack attacked us, arguing that to encourage recycling, we were encouraging the use of packaging for only one use. It ruined an incipiente R+D for recycling this type of package. In 1998 we reconstructed our headquarters lining (in place of plates of wood or plaster boards) with a partition of recycled cartons. In 2010, a paper company from Barcelona managed to get the separation and total utilization of all the components of this beverage cartons, an unfortunate delay of 15 unforgetable years.

We have not had all the luck necessary to consolidate certain projects, but we conti-nue with the dream of working in favor of small changes.

Worm composter (2007)

The natural function of cycles and the fertilization is one of the keys for

guaranteeing our food. The intrepid worms help us with this labor.

Ecological practice in action

There are increasingly more people who are realizing that their style of living is not sustai-nable and that they must take action. Energy autonomy (especially photovoltaic energy), solar cookers, bicycle mobility, and urban hor-ticulture, are our practical tools.

For energy autonomy, the 1st appliance, the

Phototonic Kit GS120 for the Guerrilla Solar, has been promoted for producing green electricty. For this initiative Terra Foundation

was honored with the 2009 Eurosolar Award (Spanish and European edition).

The promotion of food processing that uses solar power started in 2002, with an uncondi-tional support of the parabolic solar cooker. With this symbol, 5 editions with the name

Encuentro Solar, were organized, and in the year 2006 we coorganized an international conference about the theme. In 2008 we contributed to the creation of the small solar

company AlSol, dedicated to the production of solar appliances for cooking.

The urban horticulture was started in 2001 with the publication of the manual El re-bost de la ciutat. In 2002 we supported the launch of the horturbá cultivation tray, and

in 2007 the 1st worm compostor of Spain, Vermicasa, was created and put into local

production with recycled materials, in colaboration with the company Zicla. In social organizations we urged growing food on terraces, cooking that food with solar energy, and composting the organic leftovers, to return in fertile form to the urban garden.

To promote the bicycle we urge the interactive exhibition: iBici, transportation so-lutions, that presents diff erent types of bicyles for use in urban areas and to transport goods.

The innovation towards simple living has been a constant along these 3 decades of

activity. In 2005 the fi rst program of household environmental audits was initiated to teach the residents how to save energy, water, and reduce waste. To visualize the do-

mestic energy consumption, the instalation of intelligent counters, smart-meters, was promoted. They allow you to observe instantly and in real time the electric consump-tion of the dwelling.

Instalation of a smart meter in the pro-

ject “Measure and reduce the electricity

against climate change” of 2008

Participitory share (2007)

Popular capitalism to fi ght against climate change with renewables

A comfortable truth

To curb global warming is one of the principal challenges facing human civilization, as the experts recognize. To reduce emissions fi rst we need to calculate, change our habits and fi nally compensate for it.

In March of 1998 we published a monograph about climate change. In it was written: “it is unknown if we can promote a global climate change, but there is enough evidence to be cautious and stop the causes that induce it.” Spain exceeded in 50% of its com-promise to reduce emissions. In 2005 we launched a campaign to visualize the importance of using the bicycle to reduce emissions and to improve air quality in the cities with the bicycle registration symbol of NO OIL.

At the end of 2009, the carbon dioxide concentratioin in the atmosphere was around 390 ppm, far over the 350 ppm of 1987, scientists fi gure that this view is secure. The comfortable truth is to continue as now, consuming gas until death. From 2006, Terra Foundation promotes 12 citizens gestures that allow us to save up to 10% of the daily emmisions, in the campaign “Jo sóc la solució” (I am the solution).

Every time there are more people convinced that there is more that their govern-ment can do, we have to take matters into our own hands for the sake of our chil-dren. With this conviction, we put new tools at the disposition of the public. At the end of 2008 we had the opportunity to edit a book that collected the interviews of the experts in the documentary The 11th hour by Leonardo DiCaprio, which was highly inspiring. The Terra Foundation edition is the only in the world with this form of book and DVD. During 2009 , the tour Acción en la penúltima hora (Action in the penultimate hour) was performed for the presentation of this fi lm to diff erent Spanish universities and science communication centers.

We have to rebel againts this comfortable truth of, simply, talking for our elbows about climate change and not adopting a style of living more simple and austere.

Phototonic Kit GS120 (2008)

All dwellings have the right to produce their own forms

of clean energy

Reinventing the present

To reinvent means, above all, to give a new sense. To reinvent means also to involve the citizens in the resolution of the problems. To reinvent means to convert our intelectual and emotional strength into pure energy to be put into action. To reinvent is synonymous with to innovate with ethical commitment, because we are lovers of the earth. We need to reinvent because, fi nally, the future is not a dream, but a hope for those who come after us or, better said, for those who we should always put ahead of us.

We need a fundamental change in our way of thinking, despite being caught in the desire to consume. The large uncomfortable truth is not climate change, but that we do not want to recognize that there are limits to our behavior as a civilization. There are limits for our capacity to consume food, goods and even information. There are limits to our capacity to be happy, because happiness is not an infi nite pleasure pump, but to know that we form a part of a collective who loves us. While we continue believing that we are something separate than nature, the ecological crisis continues to grow. The current ecological crisis is a signal that we need a profound transformation of our values and of our imaginations, a transformation of our ways of understanding the world, and of learning our place in it.

We cannot think that we are ecologists simply because we recycle, we buy ecological food, and effi cient appliances if, after all that, we fl y on vacations to some exotic place where it is necessary to go thousands of miles (one airplane, generally per kilometer and passenger, uses 10 times more greenhouse gas than a train).

The true freedom consists in dedicating our time to improve our social and ecological environment. Sufi cciency for the planet however, will not arrive with the resignation for the planet in front of the pleasure of having a larger house, a more powerful car, and a more advanced cellphone. To become a sustainable

Terra Foundation campaign

“Guerrilla Solar: plug it to the Sun”

was awarded with

Eurosolar Award 2009 .

The 11th hour (2009)

Will we be able to realize that we have

to change before it is too late?

society requires that we relocate our civilization, not like some alien against nature, but completely the opposite. Some indigenous people have been guided by the so called 7th generation: in other words, keep in mind the impact of our actions for the seventh generation that follows us. To speak of sustainablity is not to discuss our actions in the present, but of the consequences that there will be in the near future. Hence, we need to promote a new culture of approach to nature and to understand from it.

The work both informative and educative of Terra Foundation has its roots in this necessity of inspiring a cultural change based on the respect for nature that, certainly, has been essentially the principal common denominator in many of past civilizations. Because the culture of predation by blood and fi re has only existed during the last century and a half, and is the product of a lively culture based on the power of fossil fuels. Addicted to petrol like we are, we have lost all sensibility to progres in a harmonious form with our environment. For this reason, we need to continue working, so that we see nature not as something inert to use and then throw away, but as something that has bequethed to us so that we only use it and not to exploit. For this moment, we shall continue in this challenge.

Project Liliana’s tandem bycicles

for people with visual disabilities.

www.ecoterra.org