The Plan

Allow me to explain my dream to you. I want to make ecological restoration pay for itself by building an organization that grows as it restores more forests. The organization would be focused on a replicable and self-replicating model which could adapt to any type of social and ecological environment. The model would work something like this:

• We buy or are granted a piece of land, preferably with some forested and some degraded habitat.
• We establish a small business* that uses the resources of the forested land sustainably.
• We use revenues from that small business, donations, and grants to plant more forest, thereby increasing the potential and future size of the enterprise.
• 10% of "profits"* from the small business go into a fund to get another piece of land and start the cycle over.

I believe the biggest obstacles to this plan are land acquisition and profitability. Another concern is that we would become so focused on profit that we lose sight of reforestation. Let me know if you'd be interested in helping with this effort.

*See my previous post, The Question, for a list of ideas for such businesses.
*In the non-profit world, what is normally known as "profits" are called "net-positive revenue." The difference is that this revenue cannot leave the organization.