Green Options » rainforests

Earth to Musicians: STING’s Amazing Rainforest Foundation

Lucille Chi — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 06:43:57 +0000

More than two decades ago, rock star Sting, and his wife, Trudie Styler, created The Rainforest Foundation and over the last 20 years it has expanded and diversified. There is the New York-based Rainforest Foundation Fund, backed by Sting, which provides funding for three branches - Rainforest Foundation US, Rainforest Foundation Norway, Rainforest Foundation UK (together they directly support projects in more than 20 countries that protect tropical rainforests and the people that live there)…

Every year an area of rainforest the size of England and Wales is cut down. This leaves local people homeless, drives animals and plants to extinction and releases more CO2 emissions (which cause climate change), than all of the world’s planes, trains and automobiles. Tropical deforestation is an issue that affects us all. ~The Rainforest Foundation

Greenpeace, Dove, Palm Oil, and the Destruction of the Rainforest

Jennifer Lance — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:26:21 +0000

This story contains additional media. Click here to view the media.

Unilever, makers of Dove, has recently released a video aimed at promoting children’s self-esteem by illuminating how the beauty industry targets girl’s body images. The goal of the Dove Self Esteem Fund is to change “the current, narrow definition of beauty.” As much as I agree with this goal, there is a downside. Unilever imports palm oil from Indonesia, where rainforests and tropical peatlands are destroyed.

Eco-Libris: The Story of Don Cheyo

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 00:58:56 +0000

Editor’s note: Our friends at Eco-Libris are in the business of preserving forests by “offsetting” books. Today, they bring you a profile of another organization involved in forest conservation, and one of that organization’s success stories. This post was originally published on Friday, March 28, 2008.

We bring you from time to time stories and updates from our great planting partners, and today we have a mini-documentary about Honduran farmer Don Cheyo, who grows organic crops and lives sustainably thanks to help from our planting partner, Sustainable Harvest International (SHI).

SHI works in developing countries in Central America - Nicaragua, Honduras, Belize, Panama. Central America has lost more than half of its rainforests in the last 50 years, contributing to mass extinctions and global warming. Rainforest destruction also wreaks havoc on local populations who depend on the rainforest for their survival.

SHI helps many farmers like Don Cheyo in nearly 100 struggling communities across Central America to reverse rainforest destruction with sustainable land-use practices that allow them to take control of their environmental and economic destinies. SHI is involved in many activities - from trees planting and restoration and preservation of degraded land to educational programs and community loan funds.