Adobe Show Your Impact Feature: The Alliance for Tompotika Conservation

Last month, TechSoup and Adobe announced the winners of the Adobe Show Your Impact design contest. We thought the innovative work created by the winners and runners up was so inspirational, that they should be shared more broadly and could perhaps be a muse for other nonprofits and libraries.

This week, we are featuring the Alliance for Tompotika Conservation (AlTo), the winner of the Environment category in the print and photo category.

They are an international nonprofit dedicated to conserving the natural heritage of the Mt. Tompotika area in Sulawesi, Indonesia working to stem the flow of widespread tropical deforestation, destruction of coral reefs, and poaching of endangered species. AlTo conducted an educational campaign, consisting of brochures, community presentations, and posters to educate local villagers on the importance of protecting sea turtles. The villagers are now actively engaged in protecting the sea turtles from illegal poaching and enforcing the laws enacted to protect their environment.

In their submission essay, they told of a story where villagers found a man who had captured 26 live green turtles and was preparing to butcher them for market. The villagers protested, informing the man that sea turtles are protected, and citing the Indonesian law as printed at the bottom of AlTo's sea turtle poster. The man ignored them, noting that he had done this all his life. They sent for a police officer, who after much persuading apprehended the poacher, and the turtles were released. Thus, the villagers embraced their power to save their own environment.

Coming in a close second were our two runners up: The Rockymarsh Run Watershed Initiative and The Asthma Free School Zone: Idle-Free NYC.

Their work and stories are terrific too. Click through (PDF) to see the beautiful calendar created by the Freshwater Institute to inspire community members to act as advocates for the environment and to read the compelling story of the Asthma Free School Zone that resulted in a new law protecting the health of school children.

Yet again, the pen has proved mightier than the sword. Check out their submissions and the other winners and runners up on the Show Your Impact site. And we encourage you to show your support for their local work with a donation to their programs: Alto, Rockymarsh Run, and AFSZ (Real World Foundation).