May 8, 2017

It’s Our Birthday

It started with a village

When Anthropologist, Dilwyn Jenkins contacted Cool Earth ten years ago, with the news that the Asháninka community was on the brink of selling their rainforest after successive and lucrative offers from loggers, Cool Earth leapt at the opportunity to assist in whatever way we could.

Dilwyn Jenkins was a champion of indigenous peoples as well as an environmental campaigner, illustrator and author. Having Dilwyn based in Peru was instrumental in Cool Earth’s effort to help the Asháninka remain strong and keep hold of their traditions, uniting us in the resolve to keep the rainforest standing. Like us, Dilwyn believed in people. Who better to guard the rainforest than those who depend on it for their existence?

And this is how Cool Earth model was born. People first.

It's Our Tenth Birthday

This week Cool Earth turns ten. What a decade it’s been. Since the start, Cool Earth has partnered with communities in Northern Peru, Papua New Guinea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, directly investing over £5.8 million in strengthening these communities and giving indigenous people a voice in their forest’s future. We’ve seen extraordinary things from the communities we work with and against the odds, too. Cool Earth’s partnerships have seen rainforest loss at an all-time low of 0.51% in comparison to the 28% rate of deforestation in the surrounding area.

154,154,640 Trees protected Thanks to you we've been able to keep thousands of trees standing

48,815,636,000 Litres of water produced annually Water is as it should be in our partnerships; plentiful.

167,000,860 Tonnes of carbon stored We're locking in over 156 million tonnes of Co2

From the start, Cool Earth committed to putting at least 90% of its funding directly into rainforest communities. The average spend on admin, governance, fundraising and overheads are currently eight percent. Having never accepted funding from the government, Cool Earth has always given advice for free. Currently, Peru’s National Forest is based on Cool Earth’s approach.

Cool Earth has been present at 142 weddings, 26 christenings, 19 funerals and 6 bar mitzvahs as the chosen charity. We’ve received overwhelming support from individuals, business partners and trusts alike. And, we’re happy to say that key environmental awareness campaigners, including Sir David Attenborough and Dame Vivienne Westwood are on side.

Saving Rainforest with Cool Earth makes a real difference. Perhaps the biggest difference we will make in our whole lives – Sir David Attenborough

Amongst this, we have some exciting new projects in the pipeline. Cool Earth’s sustainability plan means that we never outstay our welcome in a community, especially once partnerships are equipped to continue protecting their rainforest on their own.

That said, the support network travels from village to village, knowledge is shared, and that all-important shield becomes unbreakable.

Here’s to another ten years, we couldn’t have got here without you.