The digital edition of our bi-annual newsletter, Forests Forever, is now available for your reading pleasure. In this edition, you will enjoy news and updates from our Board, Program Directors, and other staff who are working every day to make our programs successful and sustainable. Thanks for reading and please share with a friend too!
For more than ten years now, we have been working with Allegro Coffee Company on various environmental sustainability initiatives that help reduce the company’s environmental footprint. The Colorado-based roaster takes every step to be an ecologically conscious and responsible company. Since 2004, Allegro has replanted 2,892 trees through our innovative 100% Replanted Program to offset over 285 tons of paper used in day to day operations.
“While great coffee is our passion, we feel it is equally important that our business practices embody our love, care, and commitment to the community and people that surround us,” said Leah Migacz, Allegro Coffee Company’s Marketing Specialist. “Trees, Water & People has been a great resource and local partner for Allegro Coffee Company since 2004, ensuring that we are offsetting our paper usage through their 100% Replanted Program and installing clean cookstoves in communities where we source our coffee.”
To learn more about TWP’s 100% Replanted program please contact Megan Maiolo-Heath at (970) 484-3678 or by email at megan@treeswaterpeople.org.
We are excited to join the Wanderlust Festival’s Greening Team this year! We will be providing travel offsets to guests as well as offsetting the emissions from the production of each festival.
As Wanderlust Festivals explains, “Yoga and environmental stewardship go hand in hand, right? There’s not much explanation needed here, most of us understand. Therefore our Wanderlust Festivals, the embodiment of our Yogic culture and lifestyle need to exemplify this stewardship. Furthermore, Wanderlust needs you to be the source of the sustainability programs because ultimately its you, our attendees, that make the programs a beautiful success or a messy failure.”
So, get involved! If you are planning to attend one of the Wanderlust Festivals don’t forget to offset your travel to the event when you purchase your tickets online.
For more information about the Wanderlust Festival’s greening efforts please visit their website.
Today, we join with millions of people around the world to celebrate the International Day of Forests!
According to the United Nations, “Around 1.6 billion people – including more than 2,000 indigenous cultures – depend on forests for their livelihood. Forests are the most biologically-diverse ecosystems on land, home to more than 80% of the terrestrial species of animals, plants and insects. Forests also provide shelter, jobs and security for forest-dependent communities.”
Forests are essential to economic, social, and environmental health. Yet, we continue to deforest the planet at an alarming rate. Over 13 million hectares of forest are destroyed annually. Deforestation accounts for 12 to 20 percent of the global greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change (United Nations, 2014).
We must fight deforestation by supporting policies and organizations that protect and conserve these most precious natural resources: forests, soils, water, and biodiversity.
Since 1998, we have been working tirelessly with our local partners throughout Central America and Haiti to address major deforestation problems. With more than 5.3 million trees planted, we are making a big impact. But, we need your help to continue the fight.
Please consider a donation to our Reforestation Program today! For only $1, you can plant a tree in Latin America: Donate Here
Studies Abroad for Global Education (SAGE) is one of those organizations that stands out among the pack! SAGE not only provides high-quality study abroad programs to youth and educators, they also take great care in running a sustainable travel business that respects Mother Earth.
SAGE and Trees, Water & People (TWP) have partnered in several capacities over the years, including leading a volunteer work trip to Honduras in 2011. Now, as part of SAGE’s commitment to sustainable and responsible travel, all of SAGE’s students have the ability to offset their travel carbon footprint. For every offset made, SAGE matches it dollar-for-dollar through TWP’s Carbon Offset Program!
To date, SAGE has matched 298.5 tons of carbon offsets, supporting the construction of solar air heating systems on Native American reservations of the U.S. that greatly reduce heating bills for families in need while reducing green house gas emissions that lead to climate change. Thanks to SAGE, we are able to help communities reduce their reliance on fossil fuels and make the transition towards clean, renewable alternatives like solar.
To learn more about SAGE and their sustainability initiatives please visit http://www.sageprogram.org/about/sustainability
Recently, in partnership with Counter Culture Coffee, we built 86 Justa clean cookstoves into the kitchens of Café Orgánico Marcala (COMSA) producers in Marcala, La Paz, Honduras, via the technical assistance provided by La Asociación Hondureña para el Desarrollo (AHDESA). In all, 626 family members of COMSA producers in and around Marcala will benefit from cleaner indoor air, more disposable income, and will use less than half the wood required by their former cookstoves.
Trees, Water & People would like to thank the Counter Culture Coffee team for their dedication to providing high quality coffee to those who appreciate it, while, at the same time, giving back to the communities that produce the product. Over the lifespan of these cookstoves, 645 tons of CO2 will be avoided, reducing the amount of hazardous greenhouse gases in our global atmosphere that are leading to climate change.
Our Office Energy Challenge goal at the TWP office is to reduce wasted energy and phantom loads by 10% each month. We did that, and more in December 2011, by reducing energy consumption at the office by 15%, the lowest December since we have been tracking!
Are you interested in supporting TWP’s Office Energy Challenge? A number of our supporters are matching our efforts, going “ton for ton” with us. For every ton of carbon we keep from burning up in the smoke stacks, you can match through our carbon offset program! For details, contact Pete Iengo pete@treeswaterpeople.org .
Click here to learn more about the “Office Energy Challenge”.
You are invi
ted to a free training and volunteer opportunity to help build a demonstration straw bale home on our partner, Henry Red Cloud’s, property at the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
What: Straw bale home construction training and volunteer trip
Where: Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center, Pine Ridge, South Dakota
Arrive: Sunday evening/ afternoon, August 7 (you may wish to arrive in time for the Pine Ridge Pow Wow).
Work: Monday-Friday, Aug 8-12
Depart: Saturday, Aug 13
Why: Learn about straw bale construction and help Henry build this demonstration of efficient, affordable housing for Native Americans living on reservations.
Lodging:
Transportation:
Food:
To Reserve Your Spot:
Please email Lacey Gaechter at lacey@treeswaterpeople.org or call us at (970) 484-3678.
We hope you can join us in bringing sustainable housing options to the Lakota People!
Can’t attend but still want to help? Click here to donate to our straw bale fundraiser online!
CO2 Bambu, a Nicaragua-based for-profit enterprise, designs, manufactures and field assembles pre-fabricated ecological structures for shelters, homes and community buildings. Trees, Water & People (TWP) and CO2 Bambu are now collaborating on reforestation and fuel-efficient cookstove projects. This partnership blends CO2 Bambu’s triple bottom-line approach (social impact, environmental improvement, and financial stability) with TWP’s mission to help communities sustainably manage the precious natural resources that their long-term well-being depends on.
In La Rosita, Nicaragua, a tree nursery is now up and CO2 Bambu is looking to plant trees in river communities that utilize available flood plain land alongside the natural groves existing on the riverbanks. Seed collecting activities to augment the existing 3,000 plant nursery will take place between April and June of this year. Planting the seedlings in the field will begin in May and go through July as weather permits.
Co2 Bambu and TWP are also collaborating to provide 18 “Emelda” fuel-efficient cookstoves to the community of El Cocal where CO2 Bambu has built bamboo houses that need efficient wood cooking stoves. The project is in the works with PROLEÑA/TWP in Managua to provide training, stove parts and a field supervisor. The building of these cookstoves will begin in June 2011.
We are really excited to be working with such a progressive company and look forward to continuing this partnership well into the future!
For more information on CO2 Bambu please visit their website: http://co2bambu.com
Sustainable Development, Sustainable Livelihoods 
