Reforestum was born with one single mission: Helping to stop climate change through the massive reforestation of our planet and protecting existing forests.

There are 7,5 billion people on this planet, and this may sound idealistic, but with the support of a small percentage of the world’s population, we really could change the course of history.

Reforestum is the union of 2 words: Reforest and Um. -um means a verb, an action. Therefore, “the action of reforesting” is our answer to the biggest challenge humankind has ever faced: Climate change.

According to rigorous scientific studies published by NASA (1) and WHO (2), there is a 97% scientific consensus that climate change is real and is a threat to our survival. 

Yes, our survival on this planet is not a certainty right now.

This assertion is of the utmost importance. Because if we don´t come up with an answer to this global issue, and we don’t start questioning our way of living and start correcting it, life on earth will not be possible for its 7,5 billion inhabitants.

Very little will matter if we are at war for land, for religion, for politics, for revenge, for power or even for justice.

Global warming has quite a few intricate causes but we could reduce it to a simple cause-effect chain.

1. We have burnt an enormous amount of fossil fuels.
2. The Greenhouse effect: There is so much CO2(3) in our atmosphere that the sun’s radiation cannot escape the atmosphere as it should.
3. The planet’s temperature rises (global warming)
4. Climate change.
5. Natural disasters: Increasing the frequency of extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, droughts, floods.
6. Glaciers and poles melting.
7. Rising ocean level.
8. Droughts and Desertification.
9. Less fertile land. Less drinking water.
10. Migratory movements.
11. More starvation and disease.

Along with this we are releasing huge amounts of CO2, methane and other greenhouse gases. We are cutting down vast areas of forested land, taking down with them their capability to capture carbon.

Seeing as sea levels are rising, and due to the destruction of coral reefs, the oceans carbon sinking capability is being drastically reduced as well.

All of this put together causes a really dangerous vicious circle.

Humankind is spiralling into a negative cycle. However, if we work together we have the capability to revert the situation and transform it into its opposite: a Virtuous Circle (4). In order to accomplish this transformation we need to work in two simultaneous directions, and we need to do it as soon as possible:

1. Stop burning fossil fuels.
2. Carbon sequestration: Capturing as much CO2 as we can.

Both tasks need to be gradually put into action, but the sooner we start the better!

We realize that it is economically impossible to make the shift to clean energies from one day to the next. Especially in a world where we have become so dependent on energy that is being mostly produced using fossil fuels (67,4%). Nuclear represents 10,6% of the total energy production and clean energies only 22%.

And it is especially impossible if we sit back and wait for lobbyists and politicians to do the right thing. This is why initiatives like Reforestum are needed in this world. 

There are many concerned and well informed citizens in the world. Reforestum is a powerful tool for those responsible and well informed individuals that want to make a difference. 

It’s all about the butterfly effect: a small gesture that can change the course of history. Let’s make the shift together from the vicious to the virtuous circle.

We are, above all, lovers of life, nature, forests, trees and the earth.

The main goal that Reforestum has set is to capture carbon by reforesting our land, and in the rebuilding of the forests of the world, replace the forests that we have already consumed.

Reforestum focuses on one of the two legs that are absolutely essential to balance the equation of climate change: Carbon sequestration.

How do we do it? We let nature work for us, as it always has, instead of: putting ourselves to work against nature.

Reforesting is, of course, not just about planting trees, establishing new forests, recovering old forests or protecting the existing ones, but about creating and protecting ecosystems, restoring biodiversity, releasing oxygen, protecting soils, creating rain or ultimately balancing the changes in climate. It is also about bringing about environmental awareness, respect and understanding to ourselves and to our children.

We have been killing biodiversity on a massive scale. At least 10.000 species go extinct every year (between 1,000 and 10,000 times higher than the natural extinction rate). Since 1950 our civilization has released over 335 billion tons of CO2 and cut down more than 8 million square kilometers of tropical forest. We are living in an environmental catastrophe, meanwhile 54% of the world’s population are living in cities in a certain amount of comfort without truly knowing the environmental consequences of their lifestyles.

Reforestum offers a way to reconnect with nature, to bring awareness about the need to connect to our roots and also a way to ensure the survival of future generations.

Let’s work together with nature, let's appreciate it more, let’s be more grateful, let's look at it again through the eyes of a child.

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(1): NASA Website about climate change:

http://climate.nasa.gov/

http://climate.nasa.gov/effects/

http://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/

(2): According to the World Health Organization climate change is expected to cause 250.000 additional deaths per year between 2030 and 2050.

(3): Gases causing greenhouse effect: 85% CO2, 8% methane, 5% Nitrous oxide, 2% Fluorinated gases.

(4): The terms virtuous circle and vicious circle (also referred to as virtuous cycle and vicious cycle) refer to complex chains of events which reinforce themselves through a feedback loop. A virtuous circle has favorable results, while a vicious circle has detrimental results.