To celebrate Earth Day, CanopyMeg and Sylvia A. Earle are teaming up on Mission Green and Mission Blue!
From the Miami Herald:
Ten years ago, Earle launched Mission Blue to inspire action to explore and protect the ocean, which now features more than a hundred “Hope Spots,” special places critical to ocean health. They are supported by local champions and communities in collaboration with more than 200 partner organizations from the National Geographic Society, Rolex, universities, multinational companies and nonprofits.
Emulating the successful Mission Blue program, Lowman is launching Mission Green to create similar “Hope Spots” throughout global forests, sharing Wilson’s goal to conserve Earth’s biodiversity.
In his recent book, “Half Earth,” Wilson listed 17 forests critical to conserve, which creates a blueprint for Mission Green. By building 10 canopy walkways in 10 of the world’s highest-diversity rain forests, Mission Green plans to provide permanent refugia for an extraordinary number of species that inhabit the tropical treetops.
Environmental stewardship will be assured by training local people to obtain a sustainable income through canopy ecotourism, not logging. Mission Green walkways have been piloted in Malaysia and Amazonian Peru. At a recent lunch date, Wilson advised Mission Green, “This is one of the best ideas I’ve ever heard to conserve biodiversity!”
We invite you to celebrate a vision to keep our oceans and rain forests healthy for your grandchildren. On this Earth Day, join us to give thanks for another North American spring, but also to invest in our planet’s future by saving oceans and tropical forests.
Read the full Miami Herald Op-Ed authored by Meg Lowman and Sylvia A. Earle.
Meg Lowman
Sylvia Earle