The Green Spa Network (GSN) has set a goal to plant one million trees by Earth Day 2019. The spa and wellness industry networking group partnered with WeForest to develop the group’s first annual Action Initiative, called the GSN Tree Planting Initiative. Through the partnership, GSN and WeForest plan to aid the spa and wellness industry in planting one million trees by April 22, 2019 in an effort to regenerate the earth thanks to trees’ natural abilities to reverse climate change.
“Climate change can no longer be ignored, especially when solutions exist,” says Marie-Noelle Keijzer, CEO of WeForest. “WeForest is delighted to support GSN in its commitment to transform the spa industry into an actor of change. Delighting customers with trees planted as a result of their business is a simple gesture which will make a huge difference to the local communities that live around the forest we restore in Brazil and help make earth cooler.”
The GSN Tree Planting Initiative will contribute specifically to WeForest’s Brazil project, which supports the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. The project aims at creating forest corridors between the remaining fragments of the forest to increase tree cover and create habitat connectivity for native species. An added bonus of the project is that it employs locals to run community-based nurseries, oversee seed collection, plant, and more, allowing the community to earn a living while restoring the forest.
New and pre-existing members of GSN can pledge to contribute to the effort in a number of ways. Interested participants can donate funds to plan new trees through the GSN-WeForest partnership, they can organize or participate in a local tree planting event, or they can continue an existing tree planting partnership. Contributors who choose to be involved with GSN, however, allow the spa and wellness community to track the overall progress of the initiative. Those who sign up with the initiative will automatically become associate members of GSN, free of charge.
“Together with WeForest, GSN hopes to elevate tree planting to a global regeneration movement,” says Bonnie Baker, president of the GSN Board. The network hopes that by rallying around a common cause, the initiative will show the world that the spa and wellness industry care to be recognized as a champion of environmentalism.
For more information, visit www.greenspanetwork.org/GSNPlantsTrees, and use the hashtag #GSNPlantsTrees to follow the Network’s progress and stories.
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