My Nonprofit Reviews

RP’s mission almost looks like the last line of a mathematical proof. What’s the biggest, single environmental problem facing the world today? Climate change. What’s the biggest, single cause of climate change? Deforestation. What’s the biggest, single class of endangered forests? Tropical rainforests. Why are rainforests being cut down? A lot of reasons, but mostly because the people who live in the forests need the cash and have no other means to get it. So what’s the single best way to avoid deforestation? Help the people who live there develop another source of income that relies on the forest itself: sustainably harvested products and services. Make the trees more valuable standing than they would be if cut down.

And, just like Euclid’s geometry or Newton’s mechanics, it actually works. Rainforest Partnership’s free market model has protected 200,000 acres of South American rainforest and preserved 31 million trees. It has also provided a steady, sustainable livelihood to nearly 15,000 people, many of whom can afford health care and schools for their kids for the first time in their lives.

What’s the best, single investment you can make to improve the earth’s environment? Donate to Rainforest Partnership, where your donation will help solve the biggest part of our world’s biggest problem, in the smartest possible way.