You’ve heard it before: WE CAN reduce the severity of global
climate change
by planting trees to remove excess carbon from our
atmosphere.
However planting trees is so much more than popping a seed(ling) in the ground and kicking some dirt over it. The entire life cycle of the tree needs to be taken into account.
When you contribute to the Whole Village Project, you are helping us plant healthy and diverse saplings in carefully selected areas, which are then monitored and cared for to ensure they become established TREES. These trees serve as windbreaks, shelter belts, heat traps and wildlife corridors. We also care for the existing forest ecosystems, including our 60 acres of woodland and wetland conservation areas.
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In order to be a good carbon offset,
trees must be
maintained so that they live for at least 40 years.
Once a tree dies, it decomposes and releases CO2 again. To sequester that CO2, our project includes converting some trees to BIOCHAR once they’ve reached the end of their life. This is done via regular burns of hardwood trees in our “Kontiki” kiln, after which that char is inoculated with manure from our grass-fed cows. Biochar benefits soil microbiology and water retention, and also sequesters the carbon in the ground for TENS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS.
Just planting trees is insufficient for a thriving ecosystem.
With your help, a new focus for 2022 is to restore native species.
This is especially needed in our grasslands, where native grasses develop deep root systems which are hyper-efficient at sequestering carbon, preventing erosion, and holding water. Native plants support local wildlife, including insects such as bees and butterflies, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals. They feed the creatures at the bottom of the food web that then provide meals for creatures on the next level of the web, such as the birds and toads.
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Funds contributed to our Ecovillage Carbon Sequestration Project are directed towards purchasing:
- tree saplings for silvopasture, windbreaks and reforestation (bare root seedlings and tree guards)
- cover cropping & native grass seeds
- biochar education
- fencing for rotational grazing
- seeds for pasture diversity
- tools and infrastructure to support our regenerative farming systems
You are helping us do so much more than scatter seeds - you are
helping us rethink how we can best
support our ecosystems to
be more resilient and work with them to mitigate the coming climate
crisis.
And, maybe most importantly, to educate and empower others to join us!
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Search your heart for the amount to give that feels accessible and meaningful to you.
If you are looking to offset your transportation carbon footprint, here are some guidelines:
- Car travel – $0.02 per kilometre
- Air travel – $0.04 per air kilometre (use this handy website to calculate: https://www.distancesfrom.com )
Example: The average Canadian drives about 16,000 kilometres per year (that’s 1.3 million kilometres in their lifetime!). A donation of $320 per year would offset this average car use.
