ArtPlantae Today

Alana Lea is a Brazilian-American botanical artist and avid gardener who has become a forester. She is an environmental activist and mother who trusted her gut to lead her to a place even she did not know she was going.

Just over three years ago, Alana decided to gather her skills as a botanical illustrator and horticulturist and to put them to use in some way.

In 2009, Alana started the textile company Rainforest ECO to create awareness and to use as a vehicle to raise money to buy trees to renew the Atlantic Forest in Brazil. Alana soon realized, however, it was costing her dearly to create these textiles to raise money for trees. So she decided to raise money by whatever means possible and to have the textiles follow behind these other fund-raising efforts. Now her focus is fund-raising for trees first, art and textiles, second.

When Alana decided to put her skills as a botanical artist and horticulturist to good use, she went back to Brazil to search for a way to do this. She thought about focusing her efforts in a way that would benefit the Amazon Rainforest. While she was there, she learned she was born in Brazil’s most diverse and deforested rainforest, the Atlantic Forest. The people with whom she was visiting questioned why she wanted to focus on the Amazon when the Atlantic Forest needed just as much, if not more, attention. Her focus was on the Amazon only because she didn’t know about the Atlantic Forest. After she learned about this large deforested area, she changed her focus. Alana made it her business to learn about the Atlantic Forest. She spoke with NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) to learn about the people, the area and its needs. One of the things she learned was that 93% of the Atlantic Forest is gone. Alana has made it her life’s work to revegetate this biodiversity hotspot.

Alana credits her North American drive to help her get things done. One of the daunting tasks she had to complete early on was to create a team of people who could help her accomplish her objectives. This process involved a lot of trial-and-error. Eventually, she formed strong working relationships with individuals and organizations who understand her objectives and who are comfortable thinking “outside of the box.”

In her role as CEO (Cheerleading Enthusiastic Optimist), Alana facilitates relationships between growers of organic trees and the people who want trees, but who cannot afford them. She purchases the trees from growers at fair trade prices, then gives them to individuals or to NGOs.

While in Brazil, Alana focuses on forming partnerships and connecting people who share the goal of reforestation. She also leads Awakening the Dreamer Symposiums. While in the U.S., her role is as fundraiser and public speaker.

Earlier this year, while carpooling to an environmental event in San Diego, she caught the attention of a teacher from Los Angeles. This teacher arranged for Alana to speak to the group, Kids For Environmental & Social Action (KFESA). Inspired by Alana’s story, the youth of KFESA pooled their creative talents and held a benefit concert. The young doers raised enough money to purchase, and to plant, 2,000 trees (see video). Alana is currently raising the funds needed to support their gift with field maintenance.

Because of the impact made with small resources, Rainforest ECO has been taken in by WeForest and the GlobalWorks program at Agape International Spiritual Center in Los Angeles. An international non-profit and a U.S.-based non-profit, respectively, these organizations are helping Alana raise money to meet her goal of planting 22,000 trees by the end of 2011.

Rainforest ECO’s first gift to the people of the Atlantic Forest was a donation of 1,000 trees given to residents in a rural community. Alana began her gift-giving by asking a Brazilian acquaintance to help her find people who wanted trees. Once these people were identified, a drop-off location was established, signs were put up, and through word-of-mouth, local residents learned about trees that would be made available to them for free. A truck delivered the gift of 1,000 trees and residents were allowed to take as many trees as they wanted, on the condition they took more than one species of tree. Twenty tree species were represented in this first truckload. To preserve biodiversity in the area, residents were required to select one of each species.

The second gift made by Rainforest ECO was a gift of 2,000 trees, funded by the KFESA kids. These trees were given to a NGO who divided the trees between two cattle ranchers. The NGO will oversee planting and field maintenance for one to two years, while expanding their educational outreach in the community.

The Donation Cycle
Rainforest ECO currently raises funds through three channels – their website at RainforestEco.com and donations made through the non-profits WeForest and Agape. Donations to the non-profits are tax-deductible, but you must contact Alana for directions on how to contact each organization.

The recognition provided by their acceptance into the WeForest program is of great benefit to Rainforest ECO. However, because WeForest is based in Belgium, funds that are tax-deductible in the US can take months to reach the rainforest in Brazil. This time-consuming situation is simply an artifact of how the organization processes US donations.

Funds are received more quickly when they are raised through the GlobalWorks program at Agape because it is a U.S.-based organization and its office is located in Los Angeles. Alana has more direct contact with Agape because of its convenient location. Currently, the mechanism for processing donations when Alana is in Brazil is being established.

The most direct way Rainforest ECO receives funding for reforestation is through their website. When a donation is made at RainforestECO at www.rainforesteco.com, it goes directly into an account that is used to pay Brazilian growers with whom Alana works. These growers then send trees to specific project sites. Potential donors should note that donations made through the Rainforest ECO website are not tax-deductible. Fund-raising through the Rainforest ECO site is “crowd funding”. Crowd funding is a revenue stream created by people who get behind projects they want to support. There are many crowd funding websites on the Internet and each have their own way of connecting special projects with potential donors. You will find Rainforest ECO on the website ChangeAgents at www.changeagents.com/rainforesteco.

What happens when donations are received?

When enough donations have been collected to purchase 500 – 2,000 trees, money is sent to a grower in Brazil. The grower loads a truck with trees and delivers it to a delivery site designated by the organization who will then deliver the trees to their final destinations. Rainforest ECO pays the labor costs associated with the transportation and unloading of trees incurred by the receiving organization. Sometimes Rainforest ECO will pay for fencing to keep cows out of newly revegetated areas. During her next trip to Brazil, Alana will launch an experiment using living fences, some of which are thorny, to keep the cows away from planted saplings. Her idea to get around the need to purchase fencing is experiencing some resistance from locals because some “living fence” experiments have failed in the past. If she is successful in finding plants species that create viable living fences, she sees this as bringing more business to growers, while furthering the reforestation goal.

The Growers
Who grows the over 100 species of trees used in Alana’s reforestation project?

The answer is thirteen growers who, in 2009, each had the idea that growing rainforest plants would be a good thing. It is, as Alana says, as if the growers and she each “downloaded the same file from the Universe”. For there would be no Rainforest ECObank accomplishments without the association of growers with whom she works.

Rainforest ECO was founded in 2009 to fund the project Rainforest ECObank.

Thirteen growers began their nurseries in 2009.

The growers were not aware of each others’ existence.

When they found out about each other, they formed a rural Association, thus establishing a critical factor in the success of Rainforest ECObank — stock for 250,000 trees to draw from for reforestation.

Another critical factor in Rainforest ECObank’s success is the source of plants used by the growers — a seed collector whose life is completely, of the forest. He collects seeds in a sustainable manner and sells them to the nursery Association. The Association then distributes the seeds among the 13 growers.

The amount of time it takes for a tree species to go from seed to plantable seedling varies widely. In general, though, it takes about 1 year for a seed to become a viable transplant. Trees used for reforestation are usually planted when they are small. Although right now, members of Alana’s team are planting trees that are up to 5 feet tall. These are trees that have grown while waiting for buyers to purchase them.

So far, the growers’ biggest buyer has been Alana since the competition from nurseries funded by Dow Chemical company through The Nature Conservancy, is not something these small organic growers can compete against. Also, The Nature Conservancy’s executives have a background with Goldman Sachs that Alana cannot compete with either!

At the moment, Brazilian NGOs provide on-site monitoring for one-year. Monitoring is extended to the optimal two years as funding becomes available.

Rainforest ECO’s 2011 goal is to revegetate 42.5 acres of degraded land. This land is not one parcel, but a collection of many sites totaling 42.5 acres. Alana and her team are developing their own kind of “monitoring” system and have plans to tag the areas so the plots can be viewed on Google Earth.

The Textiles
The textile line Alana created to fund her reforestation project still exists. In fact, the prints featuring her botanical designs caught the eye of a large U.S. textile company who is considering licensing her designs. A well-known fashion designer in Brazil and a large Brazilian interior design company have also taken notice. Alana’s high-end fabric, made from fine organically grown cotton, hemp and silk, is sold to the trade only. But even with the attention she has received, the current U.S. economy has been quite the challenge and Alana is investigating what it will take to move her textile production to Brazil where the economy is experiencing positive growth.

What’s Next?
Alana will return to Brazil this month. Current funds will be used to purchase trees with the greatest need for transplanting so they can be repotted and given to an organization who will plant them in the Fall. The trees that will be purchased are two-year old trees that were not planted last season. There is concern that these trees will not survive the dry season in the plastic sleeves designed primarily for one-year old trees. Larger trees mean more labor for transportation and a need to dig larger holes. This increases Rainforest ECO’s operating expenses, so these trees need to be planted quickly. The rainy season in Brazil ends in April, so Alana and her team must scramble to repot 10,000 trees before the dry season takes hold of the area. The rainy season begins again in October and, if they survive, these repotted trees will be planted at this time.

While the repotting of 10,000 trees may appear to be an impossible task, it brings the local community together. However, recruiting the help of locals hasn’t been as easy as one would think. This part of the Atlantic Forest is cattle country and the locals hesitate to try anything new. Providing a stream of income to local communities has been a critical component of Rainforest ECO’s plans. Alana says they are looking for ways to provide incentives other than money, such as creating benefits and programs for local schools. They hope to demonstrate that Rainforest ECO can contribute to local economies in more than one way.

Alana wants to know…

Art for Trees
Alana has a small collection of original watercolors and limited edition prints, some of which were exhibited at the Smithsonian, and now live in bubble wrap while she travels. She would love to convert the art to cash for trees. Alana says,

Anyone who makes a purchase that can be shipped before I leave for Brazil on May 18, will receive the gratitude of hundreds of trees for their impeccable timing!

Contact Alana for more information.