Keeling Curve

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Project Summary / Description:

Cambium Carbon works to fundamentally change how America views its most valuable natural resource: trees. Thirty-six million trees fall in US cities every year, costing cities over $600m to remove. Cambium‚ Reforestation Hub Model creates a circular wood economy by working with cities and other public & private partners to (1) save fallen city trees from landfills, (2) turn them into their best use, and (3) channel revenues into local planting projects‚Äîall while creating green jobs, supporting local economies, and fighting climate change.

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Cambium‚ Reforestation Hub model creates a circular economy addressing each stage of a tree‚ life cycle‚Äîfrom death and reuse to new planting and maintenance. At each nexus, we see opportunities to create local green jobs in the removal, process, planting, and maintaining of trees while targeting those plantings in traditionally underrepresented communities. 

Across America, access to and resources for green spaces and trees fall along socio-economic lines. This means that the benefits of those trees‚Äîcleaner air, cleaner water, higher property values, lower energy bills‚Äîare largely inaccessible to those same underrepresented communities. This concept of Tree Equity is key to climate and social justice. Studies show that investment in high quality green spaces for poorer neighborhoods is a viable means to reduce social inequality (Jenerette et al., 2011). We are committed to dedicating the majority of our urban planting to areas with significantly less canopy coverage than the rest of the city. For example, In Baltimore, Maryland, historic societal inequalities‚Äîsuch as segregation ordinances‚Äîare important determinants of current inequalities in access to green space (Boone et al., 2009). Those disparities directly influence our mindset and business model. We achieve Tree Equity through both internal and external efforts. 

Externally, Cambium‚ focus on Tree Equity prioritizes planting trees with communities, rather than in them. We achieve that by working closely with and listening to local organizations and community leaders to understand what initiatives will have the most positive impact. By partnering with PowerCorpsPHL‚Äîa local workforce development organization in Philadelphia‚Äîwe can create a pathway to high-impact jobs across the tree‚ life cycle supporting sustainable career development in underrepresented communities. Creating workforce development pathways in all our partner cities is a priority in our social impact plan. 

Similarly, in Baltimore and New Haven, we are partnered with Tree Baltimore and the Urban Resources Institute‚Äîtwo community-centered organizations‚Äîthat have insight and perspective into the specific needs of the communities. These relationships are key to understanding how our work can have the largest positive impact. 

Internally, Cambium Carbon is committed to building an inclusive organization that reflects the diverse communities our team works to serve. We believe that diversity in all its forms (gender, race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, religion, veteran's status, disability and more) is essential to imagine and actively build a more just and sustainable future for all. We actively promote diversity outside our organization, through the partnerships we enter into and the business decisions we make. 

Cambium‚ Reforestation Hub model creates a clear avenue to Build Back Better from the COVID-19 pandemic that has impacted underrepresented communities hardest. By bringing the value of trees directly to communities, the Reforestation Hub model can create high-impact job pathways across the tree‚ life cycle.

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