Mangroves to the Rescue!
(2 for $1 - AND a livable future!)
With our planet losing over a trillion tons of ice every year, fires burning year-round in the
American West, and people in Malawi and elsewhere down to one meal a day as the monsoon
rains fail, climate change is closing in on us fast. There’s a lot we can do with everyday choices
about food, cars, consumption and home energy use, but another promising intervention is
reforestation. And what better to reforest with than mangroves! Growing along coastal areas,
they store 4 times more carbon than rain forest!!
The world has lost about a quarter of its mangroves over the past 50 years to “development"
(such as shrimp farms and beach resorts) and firewood gathering. NCP’s partner in Nigeria,
the Tropical Conservation Centre, is trying to reverse that trend, restoring mangrove forests
in the Niger delta along that country’s southern coast, reforesting portions of the Stubbs Creek
Forest Reserve. (And they're taking a holistic approach, including promoting wood-conserving stoves,
forming school conservation clubs, and utilizing youth and others to help with the reforestation.)
Mangroves not only absorb carbon at an annual rate of 27 pounds per tree, but combined with the
soil beneath them, store 450 tons of carbon per acre over 25 years. To put that in perspective,
450 tons is equal to the amount of carbon emitted by driving a car around the world – 3.5 times!
These trees also reduce coastal flooding and erosion from storms, act as nurseries for fish, filter
pollutants from water, and can reduce the impact of cyclones and tsunamis on coastal communities
by 75 percent!
NCP is providing an annual grant of $20,000 per year, which will plant 40,000 trees.
At 125 trees per acre, that will cover around 3000 acres!
We’re inviting you, your class, your club, your congregation, your scout troop to join in this campaign.
At 2 trees per $1, the carbon savings add up fast!
$15=30 trees=13,500 pounds of CO2 (trees plus soil, over 25 years) – or the emissions from a year’s car driving (12,000 miles @ 23 mpg)
$50=100 trees=35000 pounds – or the carbon footprint of the average person in the USA (17 tons)
It’s all part of our Million Tree Campaign – and part of preserving a livable climate for future generations.
As always, 100 percent of donations to our Special Projects go to the programs themselves.
Donate at the MTC page or by check to NCP, 117 Nature Road, Blue Ridge, VA 24064. Thanks in advance for any help with this exciting new opportunity!
