SKI for TREES 2020 has been completed with goals reached. See Ski for Trees 2021
TREES PLANTED: 126,591
WORKDAYS CREATED: 1,265
METRES CLIMBED: 30,668
GOAL - climb 20,000 metres to plant 20,000 trees - DONE
Published On…
TV1 News
The Crowd Goes Wild
Mens Journal
Stuff.co.nz
Why Support Ski for Trees?
Offset your carbon footprint for 25 years for less than $100USD one time payment.
Give back to people and planet where the privilege of skiing or snowboarding is a world away.
The need for tree planting and reforestation in Madagascar is so great that lives depend on it.
$1 = 10 trees. For $20 USD you can plant 200 trees and create 2 fair wage employment days for people in extreme poverty.
Planting native species of Mangroves is one of the most effect ways to sequester carbon from the Earths atmosphere.
Show other mountain enthusiasts that this is an effective way to protect the icy environments that we love.
Madagascars need is greatest right now with dengue fever prolific and the COVID19 Virus about to take hold.
100% OF ALL DONATIONS GO DIRECTLY TO THE REFORESTATION CHARITY TO PLANT TREES
Donate direct to the reforestation charity.
Mailout Updates
SEE HOW IT WORKS
In A Nutshell
This New Zealand winter season I want to plant 20,000 trees towards permanent reforestation in Madagascar where it is needed most. To do this I will climb 20,000 vertical metres under my own power in the pursuit of skiing. I hope to raise enough funds to plant 1 tree for every vertical metre I climb.
Current Goals
Trees Planted: 20,000 (DONE)
Metres Climbed: 20,000 (DONE)
Stretch Goals
Trees Planted: 30,000 (DONE)
Metres Climbed: 30,000 (DONE)
Super Stretch Goals
Trees Planted: 100,000 (DONE! Thank you everyone!)
Metres Climbed: 50,000 (unable to complete due to injury)
Soph and I have used the reforestation charity, Eden Reforestation Projects (Eden), since 2015 with our business, Little Difference, and planted over 100,000 trees. We have been there to Madagascar and seen it for ourselves.
Sign up to get updates of metres climbed and trees planted.
Queenstown Adventure Film Festival WINNER
A beautiful film by Storyworks NZ about the Ski for Trees project.
Pete planting native Mangroves in Madagascar.
Why Madagascar?
Madagascar is where we can make the biggest impact for the investment, the need there is far greater than here.
90% of Madagascars forest is gone, the remaining 10% hangs by a thread, the native animal and plant species rely on these last stands of forest to avoid extinction. The local Malagasy human population also needs these last stands of forest to avoid environmental collapse and starvation. Currently Madagascar, one of the poorest countries in Africa and the world, is being ravaged by a deadly outbreak of dengue fever and the COVID19 virus is also starting to take a hold. Planting trees towards reforestation has the following affects:
provides habitat for endangered species,
restores ecosystems,
rainfall returns,
land becomes more fertile,
life returns to the shallow coastal seas as the silt disperses,
food stocks are replenished
people are lift out of poverty giving them dignity, independence and access to medicine and education.
The need to cut trees down to survive is eliminated
Why Skiing?
Freeskiing, for me, has been an exhilarating and rewarding journey but it is also a privileged and narcissistic existence. Over the years I have gained an audience and now have a bit of influence. So I want to give some purpose to my time in skiing, I can see a way to use the audience and influence I have gained to make a real positive difference to climate change where it is needed most by reforesting Madagascar and break the cycle of extreme poverty that has caused the deforestation in a country that could not be further removed from the privilege world of freeride skiing.
I have an audience of climate minded people (Skiers and Snowboarders) who genuinely seem to want to take action.
Soph and I are connected to a place that desperately needs that action taken.
We are in partnership with an extremely effective reforestation charity that can enable that action to be taken.
So I want to convert my privileged skiing into positive change for global issues of people and planet where it is need the most.
How Does It Work?
Your donation will plant native trees towards permanent reforestation where they are needed most. $1 USD = 10 TREES PLANTED. Local Malagasy people are employed at a fair living wage to plant the trees, alleviating and breaking the cycle of extreme poverty, allowing them feed their families and send their children to school to raise a new generation of Malagasy who are educated in managing the environment and the importance of reforesting Madagascar.
The tree planting is enabled by the reforestation charity, Eden. Sophie and I have partnered with Eden for over 4 years with our business Little Difference with which we have planted over 90,000 trees. We have been to the planting sites in Madagascar, meet the people employed to plant the trees and seen first had the incredible effect the tree planting is having on the environment and local people. It is a holistic approach aimed at permanent reforestation and fixing the problem as its roots, which is really working. We have seen it.
Why US dollars?
This is the currency that the Reforestation Charity, Eden, works in. $1 USD means 10 trees will be planted. This fundraiser is designed to connect the donator to the direct effect of their donation - a defined number of trees planted and fair wage employment days created. USD was chosen for the base currency of this project so donors can easily convert their donation to the effect they will have. Donations are open to anyone and any currency. Anyone with a debit card or credit card from any bank in any currency can make donations on the Eden website here: edenprojects.org/skifortrees
The Trees:
75% are various native coastal mangrove species, some of the highest carbon sequestering tree species in the world. The other 25% are various native dry deciduous tree species that make up the forest of inland Madagascar. The trees are protected to maturity by Eden employees.
Mangroves the super trees:
1 mangrove tree sequesters 12.3 kg of CO2 per year over its average life of 25 years. Studies have shown that mangroves “sequester carbon at a rate two to four times greater than mature tropical forests”, and contain “the highest carbon density of all terrestrial ecosystems.” - source https://ourworldindata.org/per-capita-co2.
How many trees do I need to plant with Ski for Trees to offset my footprint?
The average footprint of the average person worldwide is 4.8 metric tonnes of CO2 per year. 1 mangrove tree sequesters on average 12.3 kg/year, 390 mangrove trees would be needed to off set the global average of 1 persons emissions. But if you are like me and live in a developed country, your footprint is probably higher.
Below is a table of CO2 emitted by country per capita, I have also put the number trees needed to plant with Ski for Trees which will offset your emissions each year for the life of your mangrove trees (25 years), and what that will cost you:
C02 emissions by country per capita & cost of tree planted to offset with Ski for Trees
C02 contribution of the average citizen of each country calculated by dividing its total emissions by its population.
Emissions data obtained from https://ourworldindata.org/per-capita-co2, see a full list of CO2 footprint by country and more in-depth data on their website.
Carbon sequestering data obtained from Eden, data sheet can be viewed here: Mangrove carbon sequestering data sheet.
Time frame:
I have started skiing and gaining elevation under my own power, the metres of elevation gained are racking up already. The project will finish on September 30th, 2020. But may be extended if trees are still being planted and there is still snow on the ground for me to climb up. Project extended to 23rd November. Project now finished with goals complete but you can still donate to plant trees.
How does the Donating work?
The cost to plant 1 tree is 10c USD.
How do I Donate?
Click the “Donate” button (scroll up or down on this page to find it or click here).
This takes you to the Eden website (there is a landing page for this Ski for Trees project).
Make your donation (scroll to the bottom), click the box to share your email address with Pete if you want updates and partner benefits like 50% off Little Difference products.
$20 USD plants 200 trees, or any amount makes a massive impact.
Job done. Trees will be planted. Poverty will be alleviated.
Donation Examples:
$2 = 20 trees planted & part of a fair wage employment day created. 1 tree for every 1000 vertical metres I climb.
$20 = 200 trees planted & 2 fair wage employment days created. 1 tree for every 100 vertical metres I climb.
$200 = 2000 trees planted & 20 fair wage employment days created. 1 tree for every 10 vertical metres I climb.
$2000 = 20,000 trees planted & 200 fair wage employment days created. 1 tree for every 1 vertical metres I climb.
Or however much you want to donate.
ALL TRANSACTIONS OF DONATIONS ARE DONE DIRECTLY WITH EDEN ON THIER WEBSITE, NO MONEY IS TAKEN BY MYSELF OR ANY OTHER THIRD PARTY.
DISCOUNT BENEFITS FOR DONATORS
The business below are offering the following discounts to people who donate $20 usd or more. Details of how to claim are emailed after donating if you tick the box to you share your details.
I took this photo from a plane at 20,000 ft, the trees are gone so less rain falls, what rain does fall it erodes the fertile solo and washes it to the sea killing shallow sea life with silt. It looked like this out each side of the plane as far as the eye could see for the duration of the 3 hour flight as we flew down the middle of Madagascar.
Madagascar - more info and current situation
Madagascar is one of the poorest nations in Africa. It is not the lush, green, plentiful place that you may have seen on the animated movie. 90% of Madagascar has been deforested. Much of the deforestation happened over 2000 years since the first humans arrived but now it is at a critical point. With the forests gone, rain is less frequent, rain that does fall washes fertile soil to the ocean were it fills the shallow waters killing off sea life. The land grows little food and the sea has little food stock. Deforestation in Madagascar is often done unsustainably out of pure desperation by individuals to feed ones family.
The cycle of poverty and ecological destruction is intrinsically linked and it’s a devastating downward spiral.
On top of this, the Malagasy are now currently dealing with a massive out break of dengue fever and COVID19 is just starting to take hold.
Many of the Malagasy people have already lost their jobs due to the global pandemic impact, employment in Madagascar can often mean, life or death, feeding ones family or starvation.
Fair wage employment is essential to breaking the poverty and deforestation cycle. The people suddenly have dignity and purpose, they have education on how to manage seed stocks and grow the forests for their future. Instead of cutting trees to survive day to day they depend on the forests for their long-term future and a source of seeds for their employment and livelihood.
Please help us make this incredible transformation happen in a desperate time of need.
More about Madagascar and reforestation: Eden.
Thank you so much!