Hi everyone! I love the discussions going on around these boards, you all have some great ideas, and I'm glad there are plenty of younger people out there that care about our world.

I just wanted to share with you a great non-profit organization that helps teach farmers in Central America more sustainable techniques to get them away from slash and burn techniques, which ruin the forests and actually are not that successful. Here's a snippit from their website!

Central America has lost more than half of its rainforests in the last 50 years, contributing to mass extinctions and global warming. Rainforest destruction also wreaks havoc on local populations who depend on the rainforest for their survival.

Sustainable Harvest International helps farmers reverse rainforest destruction with sustainable land-use practices that allow them to take control of their environmental and economic destinies.

Since 1997, SHI has worked with more than 850 families and 900 students in Honduras, Panama, Belize and Nicaragua implementing alternatives to slash-and-burn farming, the leading cause of rainforest destruction in the region. Working with local field personnel trained by SHI, our participants have:

* Planted more than 1,900,000 trees
* Converted 5,000 acres to sustainable uses, thereby saving 25,000 acres from slash-and-burn destruction.
* Improved nutrition through the establishment of more than 200 organic vegetable gardens
* Increased farm income by over 450%
* Built 165 wood-conserving stoves (saving 1,650 trees per year)

You can check them out at www.sustainableharvest.org

I really love the way that they make everything work together... instead of only focusing on trees, or only focusing on farming, they really look at the broad scope of things to ensure that what they do works out in the long run.