As the climate continues to heat up at alarming rates, we’re becoming more aware of how our festive excesses are harming the planet, especially that season staple – the Christmas tree. By the time the season is over, millions of fir trees will be clogging up landfills and emitting one of the most potent planet-warming greenhouse gases – methane. But while global deforestation destroys the planet’s ability to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, Treedom (a social enterprise newly launched in the UK) offers a super easy solution.
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How does it work
Instead of wasting a tree, people can help the environment and local communities by planting one. Whether a banana tree in Cameroon or a water pear tree in Kenya, consumers can choose any one of Treedom’s sustainable agroforestry projects in which to plant their tree, including Kenya, Cameroon, Madagascar, Tanzania, Nepal, and Colombia.
From a pricing point of view, considering the impact, they are rather approachable considering that a Cacao tree starts at €14,90 to the Baobab at €69.90. This includes the cost of planting, geolocating and photographing the tree, wages for the farmers and the upkeep of the tree for ten years.
The process is rather simple, when you are buying a tree you will receive a photo of the tree in the nursery and, once the tree is planted, a photo of the sapling and its GPS coordinates. Quite neat. Furthermore, you will receive timely updates on the project in which it was planted.
As of today, there are no other tree planting enterprise that photographs and geolocates each individual tree, providing updates on the project through a Tree Diary. Yes, you get a Tree Diary!! But your tree gets its own webpage you can name it or leave a love letter of some sort! Ok, a message! Anyways, pretty cool.
The final question is, what tree do I want? Well, the option for this Christmas, limited-edition range of trees including avocado, cacao, neem, baobab, coffee, and mangrove trees. Give me that Baobab!
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From an impact point of view, as of today, Treedom has planted more than 800,000 trees across 15 countries, offsetting more than 268 million kilograms of CO2. Planting trees is not that simple, an effective plan that considers the environment and the local community are taken into consideration. So it is more than just planting trees. Every tree is planted by selected smallholder farmers who rely on agriculture to live. Your money goes towards supporting farmers around the world until the trees are productive and farmers can eat and sell its fruits. This activity provided by Treedom has generated a significant impact. In fact it provided food security and additional income for over 47,000 farmers.
A Christmas present like no others, for today’s our biggest challenges: climate change and biodiversity loss. This is a straightforward chance to take action by offsetting our carbon emissions, help farmers around the world support their families, and contribute to biodiversity and the health of our natural environment and its wildlife.
The Startup Profile
Treedom is a for-profit social enterprise originally founded in Florence in 2010 by Federico Garcea, CEO and co-founder. Now firmly established in Italy and Germany, Treedom is currently expanding to the UK.
The organisation has partnerships with a number of NGO’s which are local to projects. It has planted 800,000 trees in 10 years and aims to plant one million trees to coincide with its 10th anniversary in April 2020.
Tree species are carefully selected with local people and experts to guarantee the best environmental and social benefits, including improved food security and a more varied diet for communities.
Treedom’s agroforestry projects involve the creation of sustainable supply chains, the education of young people in farming management and environmental awareness, promoting women’s independence, the protection of biodiversity and local wildlife, among other benefits.
This article is part of an editorial collaboration with Treedom and Ethical team
EDITOR’S NOTE: The opinions expressed here by Impakter.com columnists are their own, not those of Impakter.com
