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Rainforest Vanilla Association |
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The Rainforest Vanilla Conservation Association needs your help to save
the world's tropical rainforests, as well as to save your favorite
flavor... natural vanilla. It's no coincidences that as tropical
rainforests have been disappearing; vanilla production worldwide has
also been declining. Vanilla is a climbing orchid that can only be
sustainably cultivated hi the special environment of a tropical
rainforest. |
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Today an estimated 98% of all products claiming to
contain vanilla actually contain artificial vanillin made from paper
mill waste. Instead of contaminating rivers with this industrial waste,
lumber companies have turned "garbage into gold" by using it to
manufacture artificial vanilla flavor. The artificial vanillin business
is so lucrative that the Japanese have discovered a way to turn cow
manure into artificial vanilla flavor! |
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Vanilla's steady decline has been caused by several
factors including:
Loss of Habitat: To address the disappearance of tropical
rainforests where vanilla grows naturally, the Association has been
reforesting lowland areas in Costa Rica, Papua New Guinea, and Haití
with native trees species. We also plant cocoa trees as additional
support tutors for vanilla vines and another source of income for poor
farmers. We are also developing vanilla-cocoa reforestation projects
around the world. If you would like to help, watch our video
Save the
Rainforest and see how it won't cost you anything to help. |
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Unstable Prices: In order to stabilize vanilla prices, the
Association established The Vanilla Exchange© to put vanilla growers in
direct contact with buyers. The Exchange helps growers bypass
unscrupulous middlemen and thus stabilize prices at Fair Trade levels.
By going around local middlemen more money goes directly into the hands
of growers and their families. As prices stabilize, flavor manufacturers
should increasingly use more natural vanilla in their products. |
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Inadequate Production Technology: Vanilla
growers still employ primitive production techniques and unsustainable
cultural practices. The Association has been developing improved vanilla
production technology on its 180-acre tropical rainforest property in
Costa Rica's Caribbean lowlands. After more than eight years of research
we have developed a
Vanilla-Cocoa
Production System© that uses cocoa trees and an endemic species of
Erythrina as support tutors for vanilla vines. We also employ various
native tree species as permanent over story shade for the plantation
thus increasing the biological diversity of the whole system. For more
information on this unique production system go to:
Vanilla-Cocoa
System©. |
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Along with this new production system, your Association
has developed sustainable cultural practices and state-of-the-art
production technology for the vanilla and cocoa grower.
The Vanilla
Doctor© provides vanilla and cocoa growers access to free technical
assistance and sources for genetic material of the latest high-yielding
vanilla and cocoa hybrids. If you would like to get
involved in saving the tropical rainforests of the world, become an
Association member at:
Association
Membership. You can also become a member by adopting a tree in Costa
Rica; Papua New Guinea; and Haiti. By adopting a tree, you will not only
be able to watch your trees grow on Virtual Earth, but you will also be
committing yourself to providing an annual $3 maintenance fee for each
tree you adopt. This maintenance fee is paid to poor vanilla and cocoa
growers each year as a direct economic incentive to conserve their
tropical rainforests. So click on one of the "Adopt-a-Tree"
icons and choose a vanilla-cocoa grower to help. The Rainforest Vanilla Conservation Association is a 501(c)3 IRS tax exempt non-government organization (NGO) with EIN: 98-0539164. All donations to the Adopt-a-Tree Program are tax exempt. (Pending final IRS approval) |
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