Harvesting the future: Gabriel Salazar at TEDxGuatemalaCity

Gabriel Salazar presents the multiple benefits of the Moringa olifeira plant, a highly-sustainable plant native to India. Moringa flour, which is extracted form this plant has some interesting nutritional that can be a powerful tool to fight malnutrition in communities around Guatemala. the testing phase of the project took place in San Basilio Suchitepequez and it has had very good results. This ambitious project seeks to attract the attention of businesses and individuals so that they to take action to fight social problems. This social program is carried out with no environmental impact.

(Applause)

Good afternoon, thank you.

Thank you for the introduction.

As you just heard, we sell packaging

that is disposable, organic and environmentally friendly.

I don´t know who amongst you, either during your coffee break or lunch hour,

had the chance to use one of these cups.

Everyone. (Applause)
I´m going to hand them over to you

so I can explain some of the material's characteristics

and so you can touch them and see

that they were Green Pack cups.

can you do me the favour of passing them around.

The disposable organic compounds that we sell

are substitutes for plastic

but with superior characteristics

If you have ever bought coffee in a styrofoam cup

or in a plastic one, you will have ingested more than 23 different toxins

which is not ideal for drinking coffee.

So, we are focused on developing new technology

to make a product that is 100% organic

which is what we are made of.

We use an inedible corn starch

which is not approved by the FDA
- in case anyone wants to attack me

for making prices go up -

Because that's not the case.
If we didn´t use this rejected corn

to make packaging, it would be burned.

So we use an inedible corn starch

and inedible tuber starch.

How does this work?

Well, in reality, thanks to the technology that we have developed

for packaging material, we have made a product that

has a microscopic porous texture,
which enables micro-organisms

to degrade it

and that is what it really means to be "biodegradable",

it's the ability for a raw material

or a finished product to be degraded

by micro-organisms over a certain period of time.

Certain plastics have added substances
- "OXO" is an example -

which enables the plastic to degrade

and to break down,

but it is never consumed by micro-organisms

so we're talking about something that is worse

because it's harder to collect

and only a small percentage

of these "OXO" products are compatible

with normal plastic recycling systems.

So, it's worse

but really,

I don't want to talk to you about how harmful plastic is

because I think that we are all aware

of how harmful plastic is to our ecosystems.

I took the liberty of including some slides

so that you can see the things

that happen every day but which we don't see

these are really alarming pictures.

In this one, it's not that the bags are

really well coordinated. (Laughter)

It's a photoshopped image alluding to what animals eat

because there are animals that eat jellyfish.
There is a food chain

and it is sad to see animals eat plastic

and then end up dying.

Two million turtles die every year, solely due to the consumption of plastic

It's a truly alarming statistic

Can someone tell me what this is?

No, How about now?

60,000 plastic bags are eaten

every 5 seconds, that's astonishing!

Personally, ever since I was a boy

I thought it was incredible to be given something disposable

whose purpose is to be useful for a very short period of time

and then have to throw it away

and that this raw material takes some 600 to 800 years to bio-degrade.

To me something doesn't add up, I don't know about you...

I don't know if you remember before the iPod came out

what we used to use? Walkmans, Discmans...

The Walkman was huge.

If you went jogging with a Walkman, you would end up like Julio Martinez.

like this... because your shorts would be down here

(Laughter)

And if you were mugged you could hit the thief

with the Walkman and knock him out.

Steve Jobs had a phrase that I really liked,

when he introduced the ipod he said:

"I like to think that in our own small way

we are making the planet a better place", and that way of thinking

is what I'm so fond of.

This is the way we think every day at Green Pack.

We believe that we are making a change with the product we sell

and, actually, I don't know if you can tell

but I speak about this with great passion

and I love my product.

I'm actually going to change the subject briefly.

I think the last time I messed up an appointment,

I remember it was a few years ago,

was when we went to a hennery to develop a new egg box

and the manager told me: Look, your product is very good

but I need my eggs to be on display.

(Laughter)

We didn't have a good start right?

So, we obviously didn't fulfill this requirement

because our packaging isn't transparent.

There's a statistic here in Guatemala, that one in every two kids

under 5 years old suffers from chronic malnutrition.

That's alarming!

If you think about it, that's 50% of all kids

under 5 years old suffering from chronic malnutrition.

I think it's incredible.

A few years ago, thanks to my wife,

I got involved in an organisation called
"Un techo para mi pais"

We went to Santa Rosa to help with construction,
and since then I've continued

to be involved,

as of that moment my sense of social commitment was awakened.

that's why I decided to continue to be involved in this initiative.

and I started to experience first-hand

the level of malnutrition that really exists in these community

It's staggering!

The kids are skinny, not because they are from Zacapa

or because it's "cute", no, they're skinny

because they have a high level of malnutrition

and that is really alarming, really alarming.

So, after that I decided

I get in touch with my uncle

who has dedicated roughly 40 years to social service

I said I had to work with him; I had to meet him

to brainstorm some ideas at the very least

and see what came out.

And I he told me about a plant,

a plant that has 3 times more protein per 100 grams than eggs,

it has 4 times more calcium than milk,

7 times more vitamin C than oranges,

3 times more potassium than bananas,

and 2 times more iron than spinach.

How?

Incredible!

And besides this, he told me that

it's one of the fastest growing plants in the world;

it grows 3.5 meters every 9 months.

This is great!

Then he said "pay attention, this is very interesting"

if the seeds are cold pressed

- in other words put through a simple manual press -

oil can be obtained.

This oil has the same properties

as vegetable oil. What does this mean?

It means you can use it to cook. And what's so good about that?

The nutrients will be passed

from the oil to the food

this... this can't be. Well,

it's yet another excellent property of this plant.

Then he says "But that's not all,

after you press the seeds and obtain the oil

you'll be left with the skin, and in the middle of this skin

there's a thin layer that's very, very sticky

that brakes the skin when pressed

and becomes exposed."

He tells me that I can take a bucket of waste water,

river water, lake water, whatever is close to the community;

I can take the skin and put it in the bucket,

stir it for about ten minutes,

and this sticky substance makes the small particles of impurities,

14% of bacteria and the soil stick to it

so that when I remove the skin, all these impurities are removed with it

I won't get a bucket of drinking water,

but I will obtain a bucket of water suitable for washing containers,

for washing clothes, and for many other uses

that have developed in the community.

It's an incredible plant, it can't be true, and he tells me
"that's not all".

(Laughter)

I'm basically drooling,

He tells me "This plant is used in many countries

it's native to India, but it's used in many countries

where it is interspersed with other seeds". What does this mean?

Well, needless to say

if I'm growing Pimiento Chilies, for example,

I can plant Moringa oleifera trees in between the Pimiento Chilies

and during the dry season their roots have such a capacity

that they can store enough water

to feed the crops during the dry season.

This means that not only is the plant good for eating

but it also helps other crops to grow.

Impressive, I thought this was impressive.

From there

we decided to start the project.

I said "I've got to do something with this plant, now!"

and so we implemented it in Green Pack.

And it has been a way to trade

whilst being socially responsible. Why?

Because people are interested in showing our product

because it is very innovative and low cost

and here's where I give you the key word: It's sustainable

This plant foliates year-round

it continues to grow and produce seeds

and the results in the community have been outstanding!

The 3.5 meters that grow every 9 months did even better,

we managed 4 meters in 7 months. This is incredible!

The soil in Guatemala is very fertile

and it's obviously suited to growing this plant.

We introduced it using a very simple method, as I'm telling you.

I repeat: it's sustainable, low cost,

and uses a small amount of resources, yet it's effective.

We take the plant....

we have more than 37 families currently enrolled in the

pilot scheme in San Basilio Suchitepéquez.

And this is just the beginning of what we intend to cover

across the entire region; it's a very, very simple system.

This is literally the first family

that we helped here in San Basilio

and, well, the clip that you see here is our film

it's biodegradable. So it's a social program

with no environmental impact, which is also very important

that's something we're very proud to be able to say.

We also produce a homemade fertilizer.

What does it include? It contains onions, garlic,

detergent for washing dishes, cigar tobacco.

A good use for tobacco, right?

Again, it's something that is very low cost

and it works. This is the first harvest

- we're already growing the plant here -

this is the first harvest that we were able to produce.

After approximately two months

we decided to implement a barrier...

because one of the problems we encountered

was that plagues of ants were eating the harvest
Just like any other project,

there are always flaws in the beginning.
But you have to correct them.

So we decided to introduce one of these biodegradable cups,

we cut it here and placed it around the stem

then filled it with fertilizer.

This means we can optimize the use of fertilizer

by only having it around the stem.

Water is also optimized
because only a certain area needs watering

We use 8 ounce cups,
which are watered with 8 ounces of water.

It is a really wonderful plant. Like I said,

this is the plant that, after 6 months,

had already reached a height greater than expected;

which meant that the project works.

So then, how is it used?

We teach workshops to the community on how to use the trees

and, well, the truth is they ended up giving me a workshop

on how to harvest

because obviously I'm not going to teach them how to harvest crops

when they have been doing this their entire lives.

So, it is a very simple process and everything is manual:

The plant is cut, and then left to dry for 4 days,

after exactly 4 days, it goes through a manual sieve

and it is sieved using a spoon. Simple.

This gives what is called

Moranga flour or Moringa flour.

This Moringa flour is what contains all the nutrients

that I told you about earlier

and this Moringa flour is used in meals typical to the community

such as tortillas, chicken soup,

and I'd like to tell you, it makes me very proud

to have reached the community,

and be greeted with chipilín and moringa tamales.

To see them using it and creating their own recipies

it was amazing, very amazing.

And, finally, the rationing of Moringa.

Why do we ration it?
Because we have strategic partners,

and I'll take this opportunity to thank New Guatemala,

through these partner foundations

we want to bring the Moringa to communities

where it cannot be grown,

because chronic malnutrition is a problem

not only where this plant grows

but throughout the entire country.

So we ration it, using biodegradable packaging as always.

(Laughter)

And so that is the reason we ration.

It makes me sad, very sad.

When I arrived in San Basilio,
I saw the Health Center looking like this...

it was desolate and abandoned, I don't know for how long

But, what happens to these health centers?

There's enough budget to buy Incaparina

for a period of 3 months, to buy protein,

to buy vitamin A and vitamin C

But, what happens after those 3 months?

Now there is no budget. And so it isn't followed up.

In my opinion there is a solution,
if you'll forgive the repetition,

a sustainable and low cost solution that can continue feeding

the community of San Basilio.
Not only that,

but it also generates a revenue for the community

The only way to get to San Basilio by car

requires over an hour's drive on a dirt track.

A very rough dirt track I might add, not just any path.

And so, no matter how much they harvest,

it is all used to feed themselves.
They don't sell anything,

because no one goes all the way there to buy things.

And that's our work, channelling sales

to generate income for the community

and transport the Moringa to other malnourished communities.

And I hope this is only the beginning of a project

that will include many regions in Guatemala,

because it's an ambitious project.

For me, it's a pleasure to bring opportunity to the community of San Basilio.

You must get to know the people of San Basilio.

I urge the companies and individuals present here today

to pay special attention

to corporate social responsibility

because if every company took action,

Guatemala would be different.

(Applause)
Thank you.

(Applause)