The meaning behind relationships for rubbers

[Music]

[Applause]

did you know

that these are balloons

well i’m kidding they’re condoms

did you know what condoms and balloons

have in common

well they are both made from rubber

latex

and did you know where rubber comes from

well it comes from trees have you ever

heard about

organic balloons or debates about

sustainable rubber cultivation

well me neither up to a few years ago

and this

although 14 million hectares

are covered with rubber worldwide that’s

an area

as big as england rubber grows mostly in

the tropics

which is home to the biodiversity hot

spots of our earth

it grows in areas similar to palm oil

so what does all this have to do with me

let me start from the beginning i’m

linda i’m an average young woman

i live in an urban area like meeting

people having fun

traveling long distances and i have a

passion for asia

i studied southeast asian studies and i

speak malay

sayasangat gambira chakapi sini padahari

ini

i like very much speaking here today

so when i was looking for a purposeful

job i came across this company

called einhorn who were looking for

someone

who would find sustainable latex for

them

they said they wanted to produce condoms

made from sustainable latex

and they said they did not want profit

maximization

but reinvesting 50 of profits into fair

sustainability with a vision of giving

something back to the planet and caring

for future generations

so they were looking for someone who

would go to southeast asia for them

because most of the rubber worldwide

grows in southeast asia

well that sounded like me so here i was

when i started my job four and a half

years ago i had a lot to learn

and most of the things i had to learn

were about

rubber rubber is not just in condoms and

balloons

just look down to your feet your souls

rubber baby’s pacifier

rubber you travel by car bicycle bus

tires made from rubber it’s a gigantic

market

rubbers everywhere so i got my trip to

southeast asia and i went to malaysia

and there i learned everything about

rubber and how rubber is grown

for three months i lived next to a

rubber plantation

and i became friends with the people

working there i improved my malay

and among many other things i learned

how to get latex out of a tree

so this is a rubber tree how do you get

latex out of it

it has to be tapped regularly so you

take a tapping knife

and you remove the upper layer of the

bark like ishvaran is doing on this

picture

and then the latex gets collected into a

cup

so this process remains the same for

most of the latex

and the rubber basically most of the

rubber grown worldwide

but i wanted to understand the local

realities better

i wanted to get a deeper insight into

why things were

done on plantations the way they were

done

so this is a rubber tree plantation

can you actually see the empty spaces

between the trees

well once upon a time these areas have

been covered with rainforest

to get those empty spaces glyphosate is

applied

so i was wondering glyphosate really

that was didn’t sound so well to me but

hey wait i was there to build

relationships with the people and in

relationships

you ask questions and you listen so i

asked them

why do you do this why is it important

to you

and the people replied well because it

makes it easier walking from tree to

tree

and this is how a well-managed

plantation is supposed to look like

but really glyphosate that was nothing i

would want to have

near a condom or a baby’s pacifier and

it can’t be healthy for the people

applying it on the fields or

for the animals on the plantations

so i was wondering if it’s just to win

space

can’t we cut the grass and the bushes

between the trees

and by that time we had built a trusting

relationship with a plantation owner

who agreed on hiring a person who would

walk over the plantation to cut grass

and brushes with a machine

well done no chemicals needed and a job

was created

glyphosate kills habitat of animals and

i was very happy

seeing insects had returned after six

months

the soil softer and more moist the water

cleaner

biodiversity coming back to the

plantations

well for a moment i was proud of thought

yes this

is the impact i dreamt of this is how

you make the world a better place

but the story goes on

while i thought rubber cultivation

without chemicals

is the top i came across

i heard about those farmers in thailand

who were doing things differently who

are bringing

back the forest to plantations

to me that sounded like a fairy tale too

good to be true

so i thought let’s go there and i took a

bus over the malaysian thai border to

hatyai

and i visited the farmers and i met them

and i thought crazy there was so much

more to discover

than just how to not use chemicals

together with dr sarah from the local

university i went to visit their fields

and i was simply amazed they have never

even thought about using glyphosate they

didn’t have to

if you see this picture this is a

monoculture plantation

and this is an agroforestry plantation

what i saw in thailand with those

farmers

so again i wanted to understand why are

they doing the things they are doing and

why is it important to them

so i asked them what are

those little houses for and they said

stingless bees which produce a delicious

honey

all around us it was humming and

singing without me being

able to identify where those sounds were

coming from

so they pointed out to me the different

fruit trees which attract insects and

birds

and also the little earthworms in the

ground which make the soil

softer so it can absorb water better

and they also pointed out that the

different

leaf faults the falling leaves of the

different trees cause faster

decomposition

so nutrients go back to the soil and

they don’t need to apply artificial

fertilizers

i asked them what other differences do

you do you see or feel next to compared

to monoculture plantation

and they highlighted it’s more shades

higher humidity cooler microclimate

which were all conditions perfect for

latex

so their way of cultivation resulted in

higher latex yields which means more

latex for the farmers to sell

and not because they’re extracting the

land to the maximum taking out as much

as they can from the soil

but because they see the earth as a

system

which you need to listen to and observe

so yeah you can extract but you also

need to focus on giving back

regenerative agriculture is the term for

this practice

so the farmers and me did the same i

listened to the farmers

the farmers listen to the earth

i was humbled i thought rubber

cultivation without chemicals

was the top and i realized i had

so much more to learn

but this was the sustainable latex i

dreamt of

i wanted to have it for einhorn but

i could not easily buy it these were

farmers not processors

you can imagine fresh latex

like raw milk if you don’t process it

quickly

it turns sour and then it cannot be used

for condom

production anymore except if you wanted

to make cheese out of it but cheese

doesn’t go so well with condoms i guess

so and those farmers have not been

asked for their sustainable latex yet

the rubber market being gigantic

but nobody has asked for their

sustainable latex yet i couldn’t imagine

this but it was the case

so i needed to find someone who would

process the latex

for us a processor so i drove around in

the car for a week

and i visited different latex processors

in the region

pitching our idea of buying these

farmers latex with a premium price

because my initial judgment was i could

only convince

those processors with typical market

benefit arguments

and then i met sudita she’s a latex

processor

and she was very thrilled about the idea

of giving something back to

to the nature and of working together

with the farmers

so i gathered together the dita and the

farmers for a workshop

and i was very nervous they would not

like each other

because by that time i had learned you

can only

create something new and create an

impact

if you build relationships if you

trust the people you’re working with and

if you’re interested in the people

you’re working with

but they clicked they clicked so well

that after a couple of meetings they

created a common vision together

it’s in thai in thailand we have gaga

and michael our local consultants who

facilitated all those workshops and who

helped me translating the thai

words from which you’re reading there

for me so it says

grow trees with love build

security and sustainability planned for

future generations

do you remember what i said at the

beginning about einhorn and their vision

care for future generations and

love spread love maybe i didn’t mention

it but i was

supposed to mention it so

these were the same thoughts we had had

back in berlin in front of our computers

so for us it took us a long time finding

sustainable latex

but with asking thousands of questions

and listening to the people we managed

to get a full

new beginning of the value chain of our

condoms

so today ein condoms

are made from these farmers sustainable

latex we are proud we’ve achieved this

impact together with those farmers who

are now getting a premium price paid for

the great work they do

well what i witnessed in thailand is

still pioneering in sustainability

if you ask me this kind of rubber

cultivation

has to become industry standard

guess what we are planning next i want

to make

this kind of latex available for all the

other companies out there

which care for our planet because

together and together with the team in

thailand we are working on selling it

not only

to einhorn a small startup but to also

to other condom companies

to increase the actual impact because

true

impact only works if it gets big and

contagious

only if you share your knowledge and if

you

create a common vision together you can

make it big

so i would like to share with you

what i think is important everyone can

contribute to

making this world maybe a little better

place

we have to understand the systems we

want to change

if we judge immediately we will not

learn from

and with each other so

look behind the scenes ask questions

be curious build trust in relationships

because the knowledge lies in the people

so ask them and listen to them

and don’t be surprised if the ecosystems

you’re trying to change

already know the answer without you

telling them

and don’t be surprised if the fairy

tales you thought were too good to be

true

become reality thank you

you