Treetop Barbie and Other Tree Marketing Techniques

Getting non-TreeHuggers to believe that forest canopies have any relevance to their lives can be a tough sell. Evergreen State College professor Nalini Nadkarni has studied rich treetop ecosystems for twenty years, knows their intricacy, and sees first hand the rate at which they're disappearing. Now she's taken on an environmental communications mission far outside of her scientific training: selling the value of forests. Nadkarni and her lab have designed tree motif skate boards, and a "Treetop Barbie." (Mattel wasn't interested in creating one, so a seamstress has styled field outfits for Good Will cast-aways.) Nadkarni has visited churches, synagogues and Buddhist temples to relate the canopies to religious/spiritual teachings. Artistic inspiration and healing benefits are other areas she's explored. She even has prison inmates working on creating and marketing sustainably harvested moss products. Imagine where environmentalism would be if every college had one of her? I would like a (nontoxic) Nalini Nadkarni doll, please. Via anonymous tipster. :: The Daily Astorian. Photo by Lori Assa

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