The mission of The Charcoal Project is to promote, facilitate, and advocate for the widespread adoption of clean burning technologies, sustainable fuel alternatives, and policies that support energy-poverty alleviation for those who depend on biomass as their primary fuel around the world.
Founded in the fall of 2009 by journalist and conservationist, Kim Chaix, The Charcoal Project is in the process of converting to a 501(c)(3) non-profit entity.
The Charcoal Project is presently privately sponsored and does not receive funding from any organization, individual, or company.
The Charcoal Project is supported by a global network of volunteer specialists that include scientists, conservationists, marketing, web, social development and business experts.
Meet the team
Jean Kim Chaix, Director. Prior to launching The Charcoal Project in late 2009, Kim was Director of Communications for The Nature Conservancy in New York for five years. Kim’s marketing and communications strategy was guided by the Conservancy’s science-based, non-partisan, and coalition-building approach to conservation. Kim also worked with the Conservancy’s public policy division shaping legislative strategies and environmental protection funding campaigns.
As a documentary filmmaker (1997 – 2004), Kim reported human-interest and natural history stories for ABC News, National Geographic, Discovery, Animal Planet, and PBS/Frontline. Kim’s exploration of the conflict between humans and nature helped shape his understanding of the nexus between healthy environments and sustainable communities.
Before turning to filmmaking, Kim spent two decades reporting on current events domestically and internationally for major US and European networks.
Kim has an undergraduate in biology and is an alumnus of Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism. He lives in Brooklyn with his family.
Nina Grigoriev has worked in online marketing and advertising since 2003, most recently as the Director of Marketing for outside.in, a large aggregate website for neighborhood news and discussions, where she was responsible for brand strategy, public relations, events, and customer acquisition.
Prior to joining outside.in, Nina was Marketing Director at TACODA, a pioneer in behavioral targeting, which was acquired by AOL June 2007. Before that, she led the marketing team at Viewpoint, one of the first rich media companies to develop 3D and TV-quality online video ad formats.
Nina is currently a candidate for a Masters degree in Political and Social Sciences at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, in Barcelona, Spain, where she focuses on public healthcare and immigration issues.
Nina graduated from Cornell University with a double major in Public Policy and Human Development.
Board of Advisors
Emmanuel de Merode, Ph.D., is Chief Warden of Virunga National Park for the Congolese Wildlife Authority. Illegal charcoal production using the park’s forest resources poses the greatest threat to the 720 gorillas left in the wild in Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. Providing sustainable alternative biomass fuels for the communities surrounding the park is therefore a top priority. By mid 2011, Emmanuel hopes 300,000 people will be using biomass briquettes instead of wood and charcoal, and at least 7,600 people will have permanent jobs as a result of the project.
Tuyeni H. Mwampamba, Ph.D., is a Tanzania native and UC Davis graduate currently doing post-doc research in Mexico. She is the author of an influential study on urban charcoal consumption in Tanzania and its implications to present and future forest availability. Her hands-on research also extends to Tanzania’s forest carbon sequestration capacity and the implication for the carbon market, community, and forest conservation. She is presently researching payment programs for ecosystem services generated by communities in Mexico.
Tim Tear, Ph.D., is The Nature Conservancy’s Africa Program Science Director and has been working in conservation for 25 years. In the 80s and 90s, Tim worked in Eastern Africa on national park management in Kenya, Southern Sudan, and Tanzania. Tim joined The Nature Conservancy in 1998. From 2005-2008, Tim worked for the Conservancy’s global conservation programs, leading an effort to establish conservation measures across the organization. His most recent scientific publications include evaluating the impacts of air pollution on biological diversity in the Eastern United States, improving resource management in the face of climate change, and setting objectives in conservation.
Alex Stojanovic is founding partner at 5H&Co a New York City-based Urban Planning, Architecture and Design firm. Alex graduated from ETH Zurich in Architecture and has a post graduate degree in Developing Countries. Alex has lived and traveled extensively in Latin America, South Asia and Africa, and has worked on development projects in Nicaragua and India, where he studied the effects of unplanned urban habitat transformations. As an architect and urban planner, Alex is focused on exploring innovative solutions to urban design/management and ecological/economical sustainability problems.