Off-Setting Our Carbon Footprint

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“I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree” are the words of poet Joyce Kilmer. Words I have carried with me since childhood. I love trees, I seek their solace, shade and beauty. Recently I grew to love them even more as I listened to the words of Indian scholar and environmental activist, Dr. Vandana Shiva.  In an interview with Claire Dubois of treesisters.org Vandana so eloquently stated that if we are looking for the best way to sequester carbon and heal the earth, nature has provided us with the ultimate carbon sequestration machine… trees. They are the complex lungs of the earth and provide a way where all of us can step in to help collectively in the healing of our planet.

Ever since Ganesh Himal Trading started we have worried about the environmental impact of transporting goods halfway around the world. To mitigate this somewhat, we have used only recycled boxes, built a super insulated, energy efficient warehouse on 40 acres that preserves pine and aspen forests and created as little waste as possible. But listening to Vandana’s words I realized we had an avenue by which to do much more. We could plant trees. Through Treesisters we found Eden Projects and are now entering into a partnership with them (read below) to plant trees in Nepal to offset the impact of each of our shipments.

As members of the Fair Trade Federation we are required to “cultivate environmental stewardship” as “fair trade seeks to  offer current generations the ability to meet their needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. This is our commitment to you, to your customers, to our partners in Nepal and to our beautiful planet. We have been paying to plant and care for 4000 trees/year since 2019 in Nepal going forward and 1000 trees/year going backward. This tree planting, through Eden Projects, will not only help produce beauty and sequester carbon, it will also provide Nepali’s, 70% of whom are forest dependent, with good paying jobs and an ability to stay on the land for years to come. We are thrilled to be a part of this work.

Please check out these websites above and learn more about these amazing movements. It is by all of us joining together that we can move forward through to a more loving, healthy and just world. Enjoy the fall and remember the trees.

Namaste,

Denise

We plant 4,000 each year, equaling 8,000 trees planted in total over the past two years.

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