Mangrove forests act as the lungs of the planet. They can process carbon dioxide in larger quantities than the Amazon rain forest (per sq area)! If you want to breathe the cleanest air ever, visit a mangrove forest! These magical forests are home to tens of thousands of species of flora and fauna that are extremely important to the ecological balance of the entire planet, including the ever-elusive jaguar. Storm surge and flooding don’t stand a chance against a healthy mangrove forest. You can find the forests in a handful of locations around the world. We are blessed with an entire coastline of these magnificent fauna species that surround the Yucatán Peninsula. 

Unfortunately, mangrove forests are being destroyed by developers in the name of progress. The intrinsic value or the financial worth of these important flora species way supersedes that of another 500 room all-inclusive hotel, or even one irresponsibly built home.

Shortly before our current stay home situation presented itself, I had the pleasure of meeting professor, Dra. Ana María Castillo López, who founded the Chimay Community Center, a nonprofit organization in the rural town of Sisal. Chimay is a science center that operates to educate the youth in the rural communities of Yucatán Mexico to protect and care for the environment.

One lovely day back in 2018, a professor was teaching a workshop at the community center to a group of children about mangrove forests. The children were enthralled with the new information because they were learning facts about these plants that are very familiar in their daily lives. There was another group in the audience that day who were inspired to do something with this newfound information: the mamas!

Eight women from the community came together and founded Amigas del Manglar, a mangrove reforestation project. This job is like nursing to our natural world. These ladies are doing great work for the forests, for their community and providing an income for their families.

The Green Maya Project is proud to announce a partnership with Amigas del Manglar! We want to offer the opportunity for our guests to volunteer with these lovely ladies and learn first-hand how to reforestation works. We offer day and multi-day experiences volunteering and spending time in the sweet town of Sisal. (and surrounding natural areas)

A business goal of the Green Maya Project is to operate with carbon neutrality. This is damn near impossible until our transportation industry catches up with modern times, but planting mangroves helps us to offset the carbon that we produce on our excursions.

We are also donating a percentage from every Green Maya experience to Amigas del Manglar. They have BIG ideas that benefit all of us, but like everything, they need money to turn these ideas into a reality.

We proudly support authentic organizations and individuals who are helping to create awareness, protect the natural world and/or are regenerating a natural system. If you need suggestions or information about the environmental non-profit organizations who are actually doing what they say and spending your donations responsibly let me know, I can help.

If you have a project that is doing any of the above mentioned and you would like to share, please send me an email at sara@greenmaya.mx, I would love to learn more!

Aho Mitakuye Oyasin (For all my relations) 🙏

Many Blessings,

Sara Renshaw @ The Green Maya Project

P.S. During this time of quarantine, it is more vital than ever that we get our daily dose of nature. Keep your distance from others but step outside, feel the breeze (or the freeze), listen for the birds, smell the air, go for a nature discovery walk if that is possible or sit under a tree with a good book and put your bare feet on the Earth.

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