Plant a tree, save the Amazon
Viridian, a Connecticut-based clean energy company, is taking travelers to plant trees in the Amazon.
On May 2, two Viridian employees and 28 volunteer travelers visited the Mamori region of the Brazilian Amazon on the company’s fourth trip to Brazil as part of its Amazon Preservation Project.
Viridian launched the project in March 2011 with the goal of planting 5,000 indigenous trees in Brazil within five to six years due to severe deforestation in the Amazon. Viridian’s website states that as of 2008, an estimated 280,000 square miles of rainforest had been burned down since 1970.
The May group planted 401 trees in three days during a six-day trip, and Viridian attempts to take two trips each year.
Travelers interested in participating in a replanting trip can e-mail Viridian at sustainability@viridian.com. Volunteers pay for about half the cost (ranging from $1,200 to $1,400), and Viridian subsidizes the balance. Volunteers have included a mix of people ranging from students to grandparents and grandchildren. Volunteers must be 18 or older.
Travelers can also consider volunteering at Amazon Turtle Lodge, the eco-lodging where Viridian’s volunteers stay.
Info: Viridian Sustainability Initiative and Amazon Preservation Project
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