Unpacking eco-anxiety...
🌍😰 You may have heard the term float around in the past few years. But... what actually
is eco-anxiety? Is it actually a real thing? How do we cope with it?
As much as it's important to be informed about the state of the planet, it's probably not as healthy to endlessly worry about it. In her newest piece, Julia does a wonderful job unpacking the concept of eco-anxiety and ways to
cope.
If you enjoy this article, please share it with others! |
PRA (Product Related to Agricultural Sector), the Cameroonian sustainable packaging startup we helped fund this
past spring, has some brilliant updates to share. They were able to use most of the microgrant to purchase a dryer to speed up the transformation process of their plantain-based “paper” products. Since they no longer have to rely on the sun, they’ve reduced their drying time from 3-7 days to only 8 hours! ⌛ The rest of the microgrant was used to purchase essential materials for production (caustic soda, banana tree trunks, string for shopping bags, glue for shaping bags, etc.). They also reported that
they are being increasingly solicited in Africa for their innovative packaging production technique. Recently, they provided theoretical & practical training to 50 young researchers, students, and entrepreneurs in the DRC on how to process agricultural waste into packaging for storage and
transport of food. ✍🏾 In the founder’s
words, “Stardust's visibility has allowed us to be more accessible and credible internationally. Training requests are increasing. Thank you again for your boost grant!”
— Sidje Tamo Armelle |
Four months have passed since we awarded a Stardust
Startups microgrant to BioAni, the Ivorian startup making fishmeal and other products out of fly larvae. They are still developing their farm in Aboisso despite the long rainy season (which lowers their productivity because of the extra time
needed to dry the larvae). They are also setting up a new farm in Grand-Bassam with a second partner and will use the microgrant to buy aviaries, drying tables and palm kernel cake stock for this brand-new entity! They're about to launch a crowdfunding campaign on Fiatope to raise more funds for this second farm. You can follow the progress of this campaign on their social media. 👇 |
What's going on @ Stardust...
➫ Our co-founder and Managing Director, Laura Jean Palmer-Moloney, was interviewed by impact founder and author Isabelle Świderski for Impact Entrepreneur Magazine. Read the piece to learn how Puerto Rico is adapting to climate challenges by leveraging the
talent and technology of impact startups. 🇵🇷 ➫ We need your help! Our nonprofit needs big
funding 💸 in order to continue our activities and help emerging entrepreneurs, like the ones in this newsletter, make positive change. In order to get this funding, we are working on very targeted outreach right now towards purpose-driven individuals and their wealth managers, family offices,
foundations, and corporations wanting to address climate change issues and take action. - We’re brainstorming new ways to show our impact and updating our pitch deck.
- We’ve already had a few meetings with potential funders.
- We’ve incorporated our organization with the Canadian government (called Stardust Startups Canada) to qualify for Canadian charitable grants.
We working with a very limited number of people on the team right now, and we need volunteers. It's a small commitment: 2-3 hours/week at the most. Here’s what you’d do: - Find new foundations that align with our mission
- Find out if we’re eligible and how to apply for grants
- Report your findings to the team once a week or once every 2 weeks
Please let me know if you’re interested by responding to this email! 😊 Thanks! |
Until next month!
Camille Babington
Senior Director of Operations, Communication
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