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The dream that inspired me to create Teeccino came while I was working on rainforest preservation projects in Central America in the mid 90’s. In fact, the first Teeccino blend I ever made used vanilla harvested by a community of smallholder families in Mexico who were learning to ‘cure’ vanilla beans just like their ancestors had discovered hundreds of years before. My goal at the time was to give economic value to the standing forests that were rapidly being cut down for timber even though it was illegal.
But we'd like to do more!
On the inside lid of our tea boxes, you’ll find short descriptions of non-profit organizations (NGOs) whose missions and good work inspire us. We hope that sharing them with you will inspire you too. This year, we’ve been featuring one of them every month with our You Save, We Give program so you can learn more about the impact they’re having on the common good – a term I particularly like because it expresses what benefits all of us together.
One of these foundations is Cool Effect, an NGO whose mission is critical to our life on this planet: reducing CO2 emissions to reverse climate change. They select carbon offset projects that have been verified to reduce carbon in the atmosphere. One of their projects caught my attention because it took me back to those days in the ‘90’s when I was working with Mexican communities on forest preservation.
Here’s how Cool Effect describes their project in Puebla Mexico:
“Mexico’s 65 million hectares of forest are disappearing at the rate of 1 million hectares a year. This project aims to mitigate environmental impacts caused by forest exploitation; restore areas with severe erosion or those affected by disease, fire, and pests; and to protect and prevent damage caused by fires, grazing, and illegal use of forest resources. Under Mexico’s complex system of rural land ownership, community members made a decision to restore and sustainably manage the forest.”
Benefits- Protection of 300 species of birds, orchids and other rare flowers, wild boars, white-tailed deer, and the puma—all dangerously threatened by deforestation.
- Model for urgently needed forest conservation throughout Mexico and South America.
- Rewards for those living closest to the forest for their management and restorative efforts while preserving the natural capital of the area.
- Sustainable management of forests with a minimal impact on the ecosystem but an extensive contribution to social and economic development.”
Source: https://www.cooleffect.org/content/project/seeing-the-forest-for-the-trees.
Here’s a short video made about the work of women in two communities in Mexico, one of which involves legally harvested forest crops and the other involves our beloved ramón seed trees! Although we don’t work directly with this community, we’re proud that the work Teeccino did pioneering ramón seeds as a crop has spread to other communities in Central America. We hope that you enjoy it as much as we have!
