Corporate Partner Spotlight: Counter Culture Coffee

A Justa clean cookstove replaces polluting open fire stoves, which are extremely harmful to human and environmental health.

After measuring their carbon footprint in 2009, Counter Culture Coffee made a commitment to become carbon neutral by 2015. They reached their goal much faster, achieving carbon neutrality for the entire company by the end of 2011.

We have been honored to partner with Counter Culture as they continuously work towards reaching their sustainability goals. In 2012, they offset 642 tons of carbon through our clean cookstove program. For this project, a total of 86 cookstoves were built in the community of Marcala, Honduras, benefiting 626 family members.

In 2013, we are working with Counter Culture and one of their coffee cooperatives, COLCAFELOL, to build 85 more clean cookstoves in Marcala. These stoves will benefit hundreds of people by reducing indoor air pollution in the home and decreasing deforestation for fuelwood. In addition, the stoves will offset more than 600 tons of CO2 emissions over their lifetime.

Thank you to Counter Culture Coffee for their continued support of our Clean Cookstove Program!

Sustainable Enterprise Drives MBA Students from Colorado State University

Solar lights are illuminating the homes of families in rural areas of Latin America.

Passion for a business venture that meets the triple bottom-line – people, planet, and profit – is what really drives a team of students at the Global Social and Sustainable Enterprise MBA Program at Colorado State University. Working with Trees, Water & People, the group of four students are helping to develop Luciérnaga, a social enterprise that commercially distributes solar lighting products through networks of community-based organizations (CBOs) and agricultural cooperatives in Honduras.

Luciérnaga (“firefly” in Spanish) has a strong sustainable mission: “use an extensive network of agricultural cooperatives to provide 2.2 million Honduran families without electricity access to affordable, efficient and environmentally friendly solar lights that can be used for educational, household, and economic gains.”

This summer, the GSSE team will be traveling to Honduras to conduct in-depth research on Luciérnaga’s business operations such as the supply chain distribution, cooperative functionality, and customer service. They will use the information learned in the field to close Luciérnaga’s business gaps and increase scalability in Honduras and throughout other countries in Central America.

The diverse GSSE team, composed of Alicia Prusinksi, Magaly Mori, Kevin Rodriguez, and Trang Tran (pictured below from left to right), is currently fundraising for their trip by participating in a business competition, pitching to social and sustainable businesses, and crowdfunding.

Check out their website, meet their team, and consider funding their project. Remember that with one good deed YOU can make a change in the world!

Corporate Partner Spotlight: Allegro Coffee

Allegro Coffee, a Colorado-based Fair Trade roaster, takes every step to be an ecologically conscious and responsible company. Since 2004, Allegro has replanted 2,447 trees with Trees, Water & People to offset over 489,500 pounds of paper used in day to day operations. We can’t thank Allegro enough for their corporate stewardship efforts; their business model offers a wonderful example of how companies can be extremely successful with a triple-bottom line: people, planet, profit!

Trees, Water & People’s 100% Replanted Program offers businesses and individuals the opportunity to replant trees to replenish paper used annually or for special events.

TWP has nurseries in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras dedicated to our tree planting and carbon offset programs that produce over 90,000 seedlings every year which are planted in rural communities to improve family and environmental well-being.

Community members and nursery workers in El Porvenir, El Salvador send a big thank you to Allegro Coffee for their 2011 donation!

TWP is proud to partner with a socially conscious company like Allegro Coffee who shares the vision of helping communities here and abroad.

To learn more about TWP’s 100% Replanted program please contact Megan Maiolo at (970) 484-3678 or by email at megan@treeswaterpeople.org

Collaboration with CO2 Bambu will Bring Clean Cookstoves to Nicaraguan Families

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.

A CO2 Bambu tree nursery in Nicaragua houses thousands of seedlings.

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 offers eco-solutions for construction and low-cost housing.

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.

Families can benefit greatly from clean cookstoves, which reduce deforestation, fuelwood costs, and indoor air pollution.

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