About
OVERVIEW
Founder's story
Mr. Ellie Pooh's Story
Not long ago, Karl (that's me) was not unlike you. He went to school, found a job and worked from 9 to 5 every Monday through Friday. After doing this for a few years he decided that maybe this quotidian lifestyle was not enough for him. He needed adventure and a new life. A life where he felt he had a purpose in the world. Not just for himself, but for the world around him.
While surfing on the web one day, Karl came across various websites where volunteers were needed around the globe to take care of the environment as well as the animals that lived there. Being the huge animal lover he was, he thought it would cool to find out more about these programs that were available. What he found was amazing; there were a wide range of conservation efforts taking place throughout the world. Everything from preserving the coral reef in Fiji, saving sea turtles in Costa Rica to working with elephants in Sri Lanka.
Elephants in Sri Lanka? Where the heck is Sri Lanka?? Karl didn't know either, but he had to find out. You see, Karl has this thing for BIG animals. His girlfriend/best friend is a 165 lb. English Mastiff (with whom he sleeps every night) named Renee. Working with these giant beasts would be bliss; at least that is what he thought. They couldn't be much more difficult to deal with than Renee........right? They certainly wouldn't slobber as much; running around with a towel wiping away slobber after every meal and every walk gives backaches galore! What about the poop? It couldn't be worse than carrying a pooper-scooper for a dog that seems to want to go potty 3 and 4 times on one walk, could it? And so, the adventure began.....Karl was off to Sri Lanka!
Not long ago, Karl (that's me) was not unlike you. He went to school, found a job and worked from 9 to 5 every Monday through Friday. After doing this for a few years he decided that maybe this quotidian lifestyle was not enough for him. He needed adventure and a new life. A life where he felt he had a purpose in the world. Not just for himself, but for the world around him.
While surfing on the web one day, Karl came across various websites where volunteers were needed around the globe to take care of the environment as well as the animals that lived there. Being the huge animal lover he was, he thought it would cool to find out more about these programs that were available. What he found was amazing; there were a wide range of conservation efforts taking place throughout the world. Everything from preserving the coral reef in Fiji, saving sea turtles in Costa Rica to working with elephants in Sri Lanka.
Elephants in Sri Lanka? Where the heck is Sri Lanka?? Karl didn't know either, but he had to find out. You see, Karl has this thing for BIG animals. His girlfriend/best friend is a 165 lb. English Mastiff (with whom he sleeps every night) named Renee. Working with these giant beasts would be bliss; at least that is what he thought. They couldn't be much more difficult to deal with than Renee........right? They certainly wouldn't slobber as much; running around with a towel wiping away slobber after every meal and every walk gives backaches galore! What about the poop? It couldn't be worse than carrying a pooper-scooper for a dog that seems to want to go potty 3 and 4 times on one walk, could it? And so, the adventure began.....Karl was off to Sri Lanka!
Our mission
The long term plans of Mr
Ellie Pooh and Maximus
are to introduce what has
been coined Project
Peace Paper. The idea
is to help reduce the
Human/Elephant conflict
that currently rages in the
rural village areas in Sri
Lanka.
Our Companies have plans to open paper re-cycling plants in rural areas, train villagers in paper making techniques, and sell our finished goods worldwide. This newly created industry can then directly contribute to the local economy.
Our hopes are that such an initiative will self educate the villagers into living, working and respecting the elephant rather than struggling and fighting against them.
Our Companies have plans to open paper re-cycling plants in rural areas, train villagers in paper making techniques, and sell our finished goods worldwide. This newly created industry can then directly contribute to the local economy.
Our hopes are that such an initiative will self educate the villagers into living, working and respecting the elephant rather than struggling and fighting against them.
Our philosophy
The types of products we sell
Mr. Ellie Pooh is Co-op America's 2008 Green
Business Leader Award Winner!
Awarded since 2003, the Green Business Leader Award recognizes the extraordinary leadership efforts of one business that has used its position in the marketplace to organize consumers and businesses together to build a more socially just and ecologically sustainable economy.
According to “The State of the Paper Industry (2007)” a report by the Environmental Paper Network, 50% of the world's forests have been cleared or burned, and 80% of what's left has been seriously degraded. If the United States cut office paper use by just 10% it would prevent the emission of 1.6 million tons of greenhouse gases -- the equivalent of taking 280,000 cars off the road.
Compared to using virgin wood, paper made with 100% recycled content uses 44% less energy, produces 38% less greenhouse gas emissions, 41% less particulate emissions, 50% less wastewater, 49% less solid waste and -- of course -- 100% less wood.
Mr. Ellie Pooh’s paper products are 100% recycled. They are made up of 75% elephant dung, 25% post consumer paper. There are no toxic chemicals used in our paper making process. Natural vegetative binding agents, along with water-soluble salt dyes for coloring are used. Mr. Ellie Pooh’s papers are handmade, acid free and as organic as it gets.
Awarded since 2003, the Green Business Leader Award recognizes the extraordinary leadership efforts of one business that has used its position in the marketplace to organize consumers and businesses together to build a more socially just and ecologically sustainable economy.
According to “The State of the Paper Industry (2007)” a report by the Environmental Paper Network, 50% of the world's forests have been cleared or burned, and 80% of what's left has been seriously degraded. If the United States cut office paper use by just 10% it would prevent the emission of 1.6 million tons of greenhouse gases -- the equivalent of taking 280,000 cars off the road.
Compared to using virgin wood, paper made with 100% recycled content uses 44% less energy, produces 38% less greenhouse gas emissions, 41% less particulate emissions, 50% less wastewater, 49% less solid waste and -- of course -- 100% less wood.
Mr. Ellie Pooh’s paper products are 100% recycled. They are made up of 75% elephant dung, 25% post consumer paper. There are no toxic chemicals used in our paper making process. Natural vegetative binding agents, along with water-soluble salt dyes for coloring are used. Mr. Ellie Pooh’s papers are handmade, acid free and as organic as it gets.
Where the producers live and work
Sri Lanka is home to about a tenth of the estimated global total of 40,000
Asian elephants in the wild. Elephants are not being killed in Sri Lanka for
their tusks, as tuskers are rare; they are not being killed for meat, since no
one eats elephant meat; they are not being killed for their hides, since
there is no market for elephant hides in the leather industry. Instead,
elephants are being killed simply because they interfere with agriculture.
Since 1950, it is likely that more than 4,000 elephants have been
destroyed as a direct consequence of the conflict between man and
elephant.
The elephant is running out of space in Sri Lanka. Most of the protected areas inhabited by elephants are small, less than 1000 sq. km in size (900 sq. miles). Nevertheless, elephants, especially the bulls, may range over hundreds of square kilometers in the course of a season. Their sheer size and gargantuan appetite mean that elephants and people cannot live together where agriculture is the dominant form of land use, unless the damage they cause to farmers can be compensated. There are no easy solutions for resolving the human-elephant conflict in Sri Lanka. Much will depend on how rural people perceive the worth of the elephant. To stop the wanton killing of elephants requires changing the perceptions of the farmers who suffer constant depredations from the animals. Many are now convinced that the only way elephants and human beings can exist successfully in the same environment is through finding ways to use the elephant as a sustainable economic resource. Elephant dung may be that resource. It is a commodity that is freely available. On average, an adult elephant produces about 180-200 kg (500 lbs) of it per day. Moreover, it provides a way of converting a liability into an asset in conflict areas.
Until now, no one had any use for it. However, project Maximus, designed to manufacture paper from it, may help change the perception of the farmers of the economic value of the elephant in conflict areas.
Since an elephant’s diet is all vegetarian, the waste produced is basically raw cellulose. Thoroughly cleaned and processed, the cellulose is converted into a uniquely beautiful textured product, marketed as “Ellie Pooh Paper”. This acid free, linen-like papyrus-type paper can be formed into art and construction projects, notebooks, cards and assorted gift items where the only limitation is ones imagination. These products have proved extremely popular among many in the local population and among foreign tourists.
Although this paper may not completely resolve the ongoing human- elephant conflict in Sri Lanka, its use for the benefit of the farmers who suffer from elephant depredations will certainly go some way in raising the tolerance of the farmers towards the elephant. If the elephant is used as an economic asset that contributes meaningfully to the welfare of the people, then the people themselves will not want to see it disappear from their area. In the final analysis, all of our conservation efforts will be futile if we do not have the support of the local communities. “Ellie Pooh Paper” can play an important role in the conservation of its provider.
The elephant is running out of space in Sri Lanka. Most of the protected areas inhabited by elephants are small, less than 1000 sq. km in size (900 sq. miles). Nevertheless, elephants, especially the bulls, may range over hundreds of square kilometers in the course of a season. Their sheer size and gargantuan appetite mean that elephants and people cannot live together where agriculture is the dominant form of land use, unless the damage they cause to farmers can be compensated. There are no easy solutions for resolving the human-elephant conflict in Sri Lanka. Much will depend on how rural people perceive the worth of the elephant. To stop the wanton killing of elephants requires changing the perceptions of the farmers who suffer constant depredations from the animals. Many are now convinced that the only way elephants and human beings can exist successfully in the same environment is through finding ways to use the elephant as a sustainable economic resource. Elephant dung may be that resource. It is a commodity that is freely available. On average, an adult elephant produces about 180-200 kg (500 lbs) of it per day. Moreover, it provides a way of converting a liability into an asset in conflict areas.
Until now, no one had any use for it. However, project Maximus, designed to manufacture paper from it, may help change the perception of the farmers of the economic value of the elephant in conflict areas.
Since an elephant’s diet is all vegetarian, the waste produced is basically raw cellulose. Thoroughly cleaned and processed, the cellulose is converted into a uniquely beautiful textured product, marketed as “Ellie Pooh Paper”. This acid free, linen-like papyrus-type paper can be formed into art and construction projects, notebooks, cards and assorted gift items where the only limitation is ones imagination. These products have proved extremely popular among many in the local population and among foreign tourists.
Although this paper may not completely resolve the ongoing human- elephant conflict in Sri Lanka, its use for the benefit of the farmers who suffer from elephant depredations will certainly go some way in raising the tolerance of the farmers towards the elephant. If the elephant is used as an economic asset that contributes meaningfully to the welfare of the people, then the people themselves will not want to see it disappear from their area. In the final analysis, all of our conservation efforts will be futile if we do not have the support of the local communities. “Ellie Pooh Paper” can play an important role in the conservation of its provider.
Projects we support
How we select what we sell
What makes us unique
More information about us
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