(June 1, 2008) IDE Founder Paul Polak recently traveled to Florence, Italy, to accept the prestigious Il Monito del Giardino prize. The award, which included a €30,000 grant, is presented annually by the Fondazione Parchi Monumentali Bardini e Peyron to a person who "has done or is doing an important research capable of producing benefits with regard to ecology, as global harmony between man and nature."
The award ceremony took place on the grounds of the Villa Bardini, the home of 19th century art collector Stephano Bardini which is now open to the public. Monito del Giardino, which translates as "garden of rememberance," takes its name from the "observation of how the continuous bloom of roses, that early crochi and mimosa, singing off-season of a robin or night-bird disturbed by sound and light pollution, can be signals of serious changes of the ecosystem caused by man."
Polak was selected to receive the award because of his work with IDE in pioneering the design and distribution of simple, ecologically friendly agricultural technologies as a response to extreme poverty.
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