Shubhendu Sharma: How to grow a tiny forest anywhere

TL;DR

An industrial engineer's journey from making cars to creating carbon-neutral forests, and the development of an open-source methodology for widespread forest-making.

Transcript

I'm an industrial engineer. The goal in my life has always been to make more and more products in the least amount of time and resources. While working at Toyota, all I knew was how to make cars until I met Dr. Akira Miyawaki, who came to our factory to make a forest in it in order to make it carbon-neutral. I was so fascinated that I decided to le... Read More

Key Insights

• 🌳 Forests made using the Miyawaki methodology grow 10 times faster, are 30 times denser, and 100 times more biodiverse compared to conventional plantations.
• 🔬 The founder of the company learned the methodology from Dr. Akira Miyawaki and was inspired to create forests using the same acumen used in mainstream businesses.
• 🏭 The Toyota Production System was benchmarked for the process of forest-making, allowing for the creation of multi-layered forests that utilize 100 percent vertical space.
• 🌱 Local biomass is used as soil amender and fertilizers to reduce cost and carbon footprint, such as crushed coconut shells and rice straw mixed with organic manure.
• 💻 The company is developing an internet-based platform to share their methodology as an open source, allowing anyone to make their own forest using step-by-step instructions and remote soil testing.
• 🌍 The methodology has the potential to bring back native forests by empowering individuals to create forests on their own, even without the physical presence of the company.
• 💰 Forests can be created for the cost of an iPhone by utilizing cost-effective materials and methods.
• 🌍 Barren land has the potential to become a forest, and individuals are encouraged to consider the possibilities of afforestation.

Questions & Answers

Q: How did the speaker first become interested in making forests?

The speaker became interested in making forests after meeting Dr. Akira Miyawaki, who came to their factory to create a forest and make it carbon-neutral.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• The individual was initially focused on industrial engineering and making products efficiently until they learned about creating carbon-neutral forests from Dr. Akira Miyawaki.

• They started making their own forest and observed numerous benefits, such as improved groundwater, increased biodiversity, better air quality, and the ability to harvest fruits.

• They founded a company and used the Toyota Production System as a benchmark to standardize the process of creating forests, utilizing vertical space and local biomass to reduce costs and carbon footprint. They are now working on an internet-based platform to share their methodology.