farmer
Dominican Republic, Environmental Restoration
Andres from Zumbador
Like much of the world, Andres relied on land to live Getting to Andres’ farm from any of the Dominican Republic’s main roads takes a series of dusty streets and switchbacks. The closer you get to the farm, the more and more it starts to look like the Garden of Eden, with coffee, bananas, cassava, […]
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All, Haiti
The Tree Difference
Wilner’s community used to be extremely barren It seems like not long ago when Fonds-Verrettes was a very barren place. In fact, it wasn’t that long ago. About ten years before many community members joined Plant With Purpose groups and learned the value of reforestation, they lived on unproductive soil. This was very bad news […]
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All, Thailand
Why is Bok Chee smiling so much?
Bok Chee radiates joy and contentment In his village of Huay Lu Luang, Bok Chee stands out for his easygoing nature and warm smile. It isn’t uncommon to find him joking with his neighbors or playing with his granddaughter in between taking care of the family farm. For most people in Bok Chee’s village, life […]
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All, Tanzania
The Gold Mine of Local Ingenuity
What happens when the line gets blurry between sustainability and marketing? Some of our planet’s most needed solutions are ready to be unearthed. They aren’t waiting to be discovered in the labs of our top research institutions. They aren’t waiting for tech entrepreneurs to figure things out. They’re in the minds of the people most […]
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All, Living Sustainably
Worthwhile questions to ask about the things around us
Part of living a more sustainable lifestyle includes rethinking our relationship with the physical world. Sometimes that means reconsidering the importance of the forests in Ethiopia, or the trees in our own neighborhood. Other times, it means reconsidering the physical objects in front of us- our drinkware, the clothes on our back, or the electronics […]
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All, Our Response
How to prioritize listening to locals
One extremely high value at Plant With Purpose is the empowerment of locals. We are simply partners. Doing so requires a spirit of collaboration that goes against many norms in the world of international charity. Here are a few of the shifts we seek to further local empowerment. We see locals as drivers of their […]
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All, Environmental Restoration, Tanzania
Farmer Field Schools: The Sack Garden
At Plant With Purpose, we aim to equip rural farmers with sustainable agriculture skills. These skills help them become resilient against hunger and environmental problems. One challenge in Tanzania is the lack of space for farming activities on many people’s property. A solution is the creation of sack gardens. Here’s how these gardens in large […]
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All, Sustainability
Is This Sustainable or Is This Just Marketing?
What happens when the line gets blurry between sustainability and marketing? Over the past decade, clothing giant H&M has received much criticism for the company’s environmental impact and the working conditions of its manufacturers. After the fatal collapse of a factory in Bangladesh killed 1138 workers in 2013, H&M became the first and largest brand […]
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All, Dominican Republic
My faith has come from difficult moments
Sometimes it’s the hardest moments of life that produce the most growth If we were to list out the most meaningful things we’ve done throughout our life and then make a second list featuring the most difficult things we’ve ever done, I suspect we’d find a good amount of overlap. Things that are worthwhile are […]
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All, Living Sustainably
The environment and human health
In many ways, the effects that the environment has on human health seem a little obvious. Still, there is a variety of different ways to think about their relationship that all underscore its importance. Here are some of those ways. Biodiversity helps support resilience and nutrition. A lack of biodiversity results in the loss of […]
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All, DR Congo, Meditations
Even though they won’t benefit me now.
One principle of sustainability is doing things with benefits that go beyond your lifetime. In one of his most famous poems, "Manifesto", Wendell Berry suggests doing things that we will not live to see the benefit of: Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias. Say that your main crop is the forest that you did not […]
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All, Thailand
Keep making small improvements
For Jing, the road to a better life seemed daunting. Jing lived with her husband, Tan, in the hills of Northern Thailand. They endured much together, and cared for one another, even at times when this was very difficult. “Our family had no money in savings,” she said to describe their earlier situation. “We had […]
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All, Living Sustainably
You Don't Need to Spend Big to Start Your Own Garden
If you are anything like me, gardening might sound expensive and like a lot of work. However, backyard gardening is something Plant with Purpose encourages to all of our partners. These partners often are struggling with a lack of capital, and gardening is actually a way to generate income. Here are some tips we have […]
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All, Dominican Republic
Breaking Ground in the Borderlands
If you’ve been to the Dominican Republic, chances are, you saw the eastern part of the country, either the coast or the area around the capital of Santo Domingo. Statistically, these are the places most visitors go. Far fewer visitors go west. If you have, you may have more intimate knowledge of the Dominican Republic, […]
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All, Meditations
Farming helps ex-combatants build a life of peace in Colombia
A few weeks ago, Plant With Purpose Creative Director Philippe Lazaro took a trip to Colombia with Latin America Program Officer Milmer Martinez. While Colombia is not an active Plant With Purpose program, the trip was a valuable learning opportunity and a chance to explore how environmental restoration intersects with peace building. Here are a […]
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