Synopses & Reviews
Tree Candy is a beautifully illustrated, bi-lingual Spanish/English children's book that uses Gunter Pauli's ZERI* Education model to teach children science. The book includes a teachers and parents guide and hands on activities that help children apply what they have learned.
Gunter Pauli's ZERI* Education model proposes that children, adolescents and young adults learn science in a way that gives them a more profound academic understanding at the same time that it helps develop their emotional intelligence, eco-literacy, and artistic/creative capacities.
If children are to learn how to think, design, create, and dream in systems, then they must be exposed to systems thinking at an early age. Critical concepts become part of the child's long-term memory and the student gains an intuitive grasp of the big picture. Then the learning of the specific tools, concepts, and principles involved become far more appealing. When students start with a story that integrates ethics, economics, biology, and mathematics, they will be drawn to studying those disciplines later on.
Pauli's work in sustainable manufacturing and agricultural became the catalyst for a major educational reform in Colombia. The strife and violence that exists in this country spawned an urgent desire on the part of college students to rebuild their society. The professors and engineering students at University EAFIT in Medellin, Colombia, eagerly embraced an integrated educational approach, including a compulsory course in biology for engineering majors. As the concept spread to other universities, the need to mold the earlier educational tracks in this new direction became apparent; first in a High School in Manizales where ZERI's coffee and bamboo projects have taken off, and then in elementary schools which asked for a version of this program adapted to their level, comparable to the Garden School projects of the Center for Ecoliteracy.
About the Author
Gunter Pauli is founder and director of the Geneva-based nonprofit organization *Zero Emissions Research and Initiatives (ZERI). The ZERI Foundation's goal is the efficient production of all the goods and services society needs without any form of waste--no liquid waste, no gaseous waste, and no solid waste. Pauli has written more than 200 articles and papers on the ZERI concept and is the author of Upsizing: The Road to Zero Emissions, More Jobs, More Income, and No Pollution. He is a visiting professor and lecturer at universities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and adviser to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Pamela Salazar graduated as an industrial designer in her home city Manizales, Colombia. She was in charge of all illustrations and product design at the ZERI Pavilion at the Year 2000 World Fair in Germany. She illustrated the first ZERI children's story The Strongest Tree which has been published in 27 languages with more than a million copies in print.