The millennial couple who plants a tree for every purchase at their organic store
A Volkswagen van crosses Spain to the north, in search of the forests devastated by fire. Inside, two young people travel with a mission to fulfill: plant a tree for each biodegradable toothbrush they have sold in their online store. They have no time to lose, since in a few days they will catch a plane to clean plastic the seas of Southeast Asia.
Sara Cobos and Fernando Cervigon they want to fix the world with their own hands. Both are the founders of Trees 4 Humanity , an NGO focused on environmental conservation, and also the brains behind Todarus, the _startup_ that moves them to plant a tree Already rescue a kilo of shipwrecked plastic in the ocean for each product sold through its website.
"Everything that human beings do has the same good as bad. We can do the same good as bad", says Fernando. They have chosen to put their commercial and ecological knowledge at the service of good, and by the way teach the capitalist system a lesson.
How to save the world with a bottle and a toothbrush
HIPPIE SPIRIT IN THE AGE OF CONSUMISM
A few years ago, Fernando traveled to the Amazon, where the native tribes shared with him a new way of understanding nature . The harmony and respect with which the natives coexist with their environment were recorded forever in his head.
He later left with Sara for Borneo. There the two experienced first-hand the massacre perpetrated in the jungle. The human devastation had left bald spots in the orangutans' habitat: the ecosystem had been processed and packaged in the palm oil canisters that would later supply Western supermarkets.
But the deforestation It was the seed of Trees 4 Humanity, an NGO that makes a difference by launching projects whose impact is viable in the long term. It has already left its mark in Galicia, Indonesia and Peru.
Each performance begins with a trip by the couple to a corner of the globe where they want to do their bit. Once there they study the problem Y contact the local population to inquire about your needs. And in the end, they execute a remedy designed to last over time.
You don't just have to plant trees: you have to introduce mycorrhized plant species (with fungi grafted onto the seedling) and pollinators, such as bees and butterflies, that regenerate the ecosystem. It is not enough to recycle plastic: it is necessary to develop and promote alternative materials for us to stop making it.
One of the axes of Trees 4 Humanity is education . When they are not traveling, Sara and Fernando give talks in schools to transmit the values of environmentalism and sustainability to future generations. They don't rest either in their volunteer work, because they dedicate themselves to making people aware of the tremendous ecological value of their land.
And your online store? Todarus is the commercial face of Trees 4 Humanity, the channel through which they obtain the income that finances the NGO's projects. More than a business, it is a declaration of intent: the palpable example of a business model in which everything revolves around protecting the environment.
ECO-FRIENDLY CAPITALISM
"We have become accustomed in a few years to living in fully sterilized societies ”, denounces Sarah. "Everything is perfectly laminated, isolated... But we are destroying the planet, so, deep down, it will not matter if everything is sterilized."
As we live locked up inside the cities of the first world, we do not see Where does our garbage go? . Humanity has moved to interior of a bubble of asphalt and fumes , believing himself better than the planet that provides him with the essential resources for his survival. The only thing that will get us out of it, say Sara and Fernando, is the “ emotional connection ” with where we live.
Plastic collection tasks on the beaches and in the sea
The couple believes in the responsibility of the individual consumer . That that nothing can be done if governments and companies do not do their part is a mere excuse. And they do not say it to settle debates, but to point out a basic principle of capitalism: if customers demand sustainable merchandise, sustainable merchandise will be sold to them.
A society concerned about the world it inhabits will make the market turn towards the environmentalism, first for commercial interests (that is, to bring in more money) and then to configure a new way of consuming that is more balanced and fair with our planet.
BUY A TOOTHBRUSH AND PLANT IT IN YOUR GARDEN
Todarus is more forest than _e-commerce_. Thanks to the store, Trees 4 Humanity has planted 8,182 trees in deforested areas and has fished 621 kilos of marine plastic . Each tree and each kilo are the result of a purchase whose entire amount has been allocated to the conservation of the environment.
Sara Cobos and Fernando Cervigon
Buyers are sent photos so that they can be virtual witnesses of how their tree is growing, the tree that they have put there when buying a reusable bottle, a box of bamboo straws, or a toothbrush that can be planted in a pot when it has already worn out.
Sara and Fernando have shown with their sustainable business model that the rules of the market can be hacked to save the Earth.