The Converging World: How one community's path to zero waste is helping save our planet

Faced with the challenge of making the English village of Chew Magna a zero waste society, John Pontin and his Converging World program developed a groundbreaking non-profit scheme that twinned the town with Tamil Nadu, a poor rural community in southern India. In this captivating account, Pontin describes how he developed a system of wind turbines for Tamil Nadu that would not only reduce the community's reliance on fossil fuels but also provide a local source of sustainable income. The carbon credits produced from the wind turbines were sold in Chew Magna to individuals and businesses to offset emissions. The effects of this scheme were dramatic and exhilarating: while Chew Magna grew closer to zero waste, Tamil Nadu's carbon emissions and poverty levels diminished accordingly. This innovative story presents a model of action for any individual or community concerned about climate change, environmental damage, social inequality, and the plight of developing nations.

John Pontin is the founder of the JT Group, a non-profit urban renewal social enterprise, and the developer of the Converging World program.