Campbell Plowden of State College Friends Meeting will be speaking, and afterwards have many crafts from indigenous people of the Amazon for sale:
I have been doing work to promote tropical forest conservation and
indigenous rights, particularly in the Amazon since 1985. After doing
this as a "campaigner" with Greenpeace and other advocacy organizations
for some years, I shifted gears from working on the global policy level
in Washington,DC to trying to create positive alternatives to
deforestation at the community level in the forest. While doing field
work for a PhD in Ecology at Penn State, I lived in a native village in
the Brazilian Amazon and with the support of State College Friends
Meeting, I gradually realized that my work to support the basic needs of
the community was just as important as the research.
After thoughtful consultation with a clearness committee at my meeting,
I founded the Center for Amazon Community Ecology in 2006 to help create
sustainable livelihoods, promote forest conservation and strengthen
basic services in native and campesino communities in the Amazon
(primarily in Peru).
One of our main projects is helping artisans develop and market
innovative handicrafts from sustainably harvested local plants as an
alternative to economic activities that damage the forest. We return
20% of our craft sales from partners to support health, education and
conservation needs in their communities. I would welcome the share to
share some stories and photos with your members and display some of our
Christmas tree ornaments and other crafts to invite their support for
our partners, their communities and our work.
It has been my pleasure to do similar presentations with Friends at
Bethesday FM, Langley Hill FM, State College FM, two quarterly
gatherings of meetings in PYM and the annual session of Baltimore YM. I
hope that I may be able to schedule a similar gathering with FMW during
a morning/afternoon time and William Penn House for an evening session.
I am currently available to do these talks on Dec. 1 or 8. If these
dates are not available by the time the committee has a chance to
consider this proposal, I would be happy to schedule the talk for a
later time that is convenient for your meeting.