Yeah, I know. It's going to be kind of* a pain getting the paperwork together and doing all the traveling for a couple weeks of tree planting and soil preparation, so why bother going through all the motions? Simply, I trust Meghan and I to do the work that needs to be done more than I trust a non-profit organization to appropriate money I would send them to do it in my stead. We're pretty filthy tree-huggers (nooo, really?) and this is the most enjoyable way we can think to spend our summer. While doing so, a little bit of free oxygen can be added into the atmospheric cocktail our species has been cooking up since the industrial age.
The reason we chose Ecuador from the list of countries ISV goes to is fourfold. For one, the airfare was some of the cheapest. Two, many of the other countries didn't have as many reforestation programs. Rather, most of them focused on animal species restoration and care-taking or community outreach, both of which are extremely important. Reforestation, however, is a line or two above them on me and Meg's list of priorities, partly because deforestation is a leading cause of animal species loss. Two birds with one stone, if you'll excuse the expression. And three, if you consider the conflict between loggers and conservationists, Ecuador is an area of great concern. It is one of 17 Megadiverse countries, meaning it is among the countries with the highest range of biodiversity. 1,600 bird species call Ecuador home, 6,000 species of butterflies, and 25,000 different kinds of plants. This means that 7% of the entire worlds' plant species can be found in this one small country. Lastly, because there is less landmass in the southern hemisphere, AND there is arguably more deforestation taking place therein, the summers in the southern hemisphere contribute less oxygen each year due to a diminishing amount of foliage. To help curb this, it is important to reforest in regions such as Ecuador.
To learn more about Ecuador, please visit this lazy-man's resource I've listed below.
*Alright, severely.
