Keeling Curve

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Project Summary / Description:

We give the power of combating climate change back to the people. We bridge ecosystem restorers on the frontlines of ecological degradation with co-restorers from around the world who partner via an online, all-in-one-place mall. Restorers offer ecoservices under categories like ‚ restoration‚ or ‚ regenerative agriculture‚ , only needing a smartphone and a verifiable project that regenerates ecosystems and/or promotes carbon reduction. Co-restorers mingle in our social platform, browsing/ordering ecoservices from our catalog, receiving regular reports. They leave public reviews, as do scientists/technicians who regularly visit/evaluate the projects. Thousands of ecoservices ordered daily significantly influence human behavior. It‚ grassroots, democratic, and scalable.

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Impact on Underrepresented Groups:

When we receive applications or look for potential restorers, we prioritize the people who have been traditionally marginalized, especially Indigenous communities. Historically, systemic injustices have marginalized these communities, offering no support or representation to their ways of knowing and being and forcing them to extract natural resources to survive. This situation results in a separation between the people and their traditional (more sustainable) practices, leading to cutting down their sacred trees, selling their lands in exchange for material wealth, and eventually being thrust into extreme poverty, all of which in just a few decades. 
We support underrepresented people by giving recognition to their identities and ways of life. Our primary concern is to support them in reawakening ancestral ways of living within their ecosystems. We see ourselves as a way of amplifying their voices, partnering with them as their messengers. Yet, since their voices and traditions are not always understood by the Western world, we must also act as translators, facilitating connections with people from other parts of the world and providing them with a digital platform where they can make a living while freely expressing their identities. We provide them with a way to receive international payments so that they don‚ t have to figure it out on their own. In one way, we are the bridge so that underrepresented people can exchange resources, knowledge, and services while maintaining their native or local language and customs. In this sense, we move power from the center to the margins, instead of forcing the underrepresented to acculturate to the center. We also provide training, guidance, and support so that they can securely transition to land management methods that will result in greater food security, clean water, medicine, and resources for trading. Finally, we prioritize families where women are involved in leadership positions and where children, especially girls, are part of the restoration process so they can learn how to do it. 
Currently, we have eight pioneer families working as restorers for HfA. Six of these families live in the Indigenous Kichwa Community of Mushullakta. Rogelio, another restorer and our permaculture expert, belongs to the Kichwa Community of La Tola, one of the last Indigenous communities with territory in Quito. Finally, there is Omar Tello, our restorer from Pastaza. While not from an Indigenous community, he is exemplary of the work we strive to highlight. With no funds or support, Omar taught himself how to restore a rainforest over decades and his ecoservices directly impact neighboring Indigenous communities, as he reproduces native tree seedlings that are used for reforesting their ancestral lands. 
We will continue to prioritize underrepresented peoples as we scale up. As is the case around the world, the people living in sensitive ecosystems in Ecuador also live in poverty, even extreme poverty. Yet, they own land that can be restored if the resources and guidance are made available to them.

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