EnviroKidz Update

As the EnviroKidz brand manager, I was delighted when we recently hit our $1 million mark in donations from our EnviroKidz cereals and bars! Through this remarkable program, Nature’s Path donates one per cent of our sales from our EnviroKidz products to not-for-profit organizations that provide environmental education to kids and protection to endangered habitat and species worldwide.

For the last 10 years, our donations have gone towards projects like helping koalas in Australia that have been displaced by climate-change related fires, and protecting gorillas and their habitat. The organizations that have been helped through this program include:

• Amazon Conservation Team
• The Wildlife Trust
• Australian Koala Foundation
• The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International
• Lemur Conservation Foundation
• Defenders of Wildlife

While I have worked closely with all of these organizations and have seem first-hand the important projects our donations go towards, for me, the reality of this impact hit home when I traveled to the South American rainforest to visit the Amazon Conservation Team. It was the experience of a lifetime!

While I was there I got to aid The Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) in their efforts to help indigenous people preserve and pass on their traditional medical knowledge and sustainable conservation practices to the youth of the Suriname region of Amazonia. Traveling with the children up the river in a canoe when the only language was either the tribal language or Dutch proved to be a fun experience in communication.

ACT began in 1996, to help save the magical Amazon rainforest by working directly with the ancient tribes that live there. Their role is, simply stated, to help the keepers of the forest keep the forest. I also gained a better understanding of the challenges that they face, with the pressures of the Western World, of how to keep their culture and traditions alive.

It is my sincere wish that one day, we will not need programs that protect animals and habitats that are so vital to our ecosystems and the health of the planet. Until that day, EnviroKidz will continue to support the profound works of these types of organizations.