Turning carbon footprints into healthy soils

Dear Friends of Camino Verde,

I'm writing because Tuesday is a unique opportunity to help restore the world's forests with Camino Verde. If you have a dollar to give, we'll get a buck fifty, thanks to the Gates Foundation.

What is it?  It's the biggest matching bonus day ever on GlobalGiving, where the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has given half a million dollars in matching funds available for one day only. Any donations received on Tuesday, November 29th will be matched at 50%. So you give $100, we get $150.  This is the link to donate.

Matching funds kick in right when Tuesday, November 29th begins – at 12:01 am midnight when Monday ends. Whatever the time of day you're able to be online on Tuesday, please take advantage of this great opportunity to hit up the Gates Foundation for matching funds.  There will even be prizes given out to organizations with the most donations. Please share with friends!

If you’re thinking of a year-end contribution to Camino Verde and would like to maximize its impact, this is the way to do it.  Here's our project page on GlobalGiving, where you'll be able to donate on Tuesday: 

https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/turning-carbon-footprints-into-healthy-soils/

Camino Verde is a small organization that leverages our resources to make a great impact in the restoration of the Amazon. This Bonus Day is also a chance to make a little go a long way.  If you only donate once this year, please make it Tuesday.  And please forward this to a friend who might be interested in contributing to the effort to regenerate the Amazon. 

And now on to our regularly scheduled report...

I recently had a chance to walk under the hot Amazonian sun with Manuel Huinga, the manager of a unique tree nursery in the Southern Peruvian Amazon. Camino Verde's second tree nursery in the region, the La Joya nursery has been in existence for a couple of months, but is already home to dozens of species of seedlings.  Different sizes and shapes of leaves compete for our attention as Manuel points out the names and uses of trees rarely planted anywhere. 

The La Joya nursery is unique in many ways. Its list of native species propagated will hit 100 this year. And it's managed through entirely organic means. In 2017, new nursery equipment will be installed, including a bio-digestor to make organic probiotic fertilizers. Also to be built – and here's the part that interests us – is an Adam Retort for the production of bio-char.  You may remember reading about this charcoal-producing technology in our previous reports. It allows for the clean production of high quality charcoal, that when mixed with the bio-fertilizers becomes a potent ammendment for soil in nursery and farm alike. 

Bio-char is attractive as a soil ammendment because it helps hold nutrients in the soil. It's also of interest as part of soil remediation packages applicable to the rehabilitation of polluted, contaminate sites. In Madre de Dios, gold mining leaves a wake of soils contaminated with heavy metals and petroleum products.  This year we'll partner with the team of scientists from Wake Forest University to include bio-char in restoration and remediation strategies likely to have a regional impact.  It's just one more way bio-char and Camino Verde contribute to ecological regeneration. 

We couldn't do any of this without your support. And tomorrow your support will count extra. If you plan to donate any time this year, please Donate tomorrow. 

Thanks so much for your help and support!