Burgess Hill School for Girls has bought three acres of Peruvian rainforest in South America to help combat illegal deforestation and logging.
The money was raised in one day, during the Junior School’s ‘Girls Go Green’ week. On Tuesday 4th October all Junior School pupils paid £1 to dress in green clothes for the day.
The girls, aged four to eleven, raised a total of £184 which was donated to the organisation Cool Earth. The money was enough to sponsor a three acre area of the Ashaninka region of the Peruvian Amazon.
At £30 for half an acre, the School has secured protection of this endangered rainforest which is experiencing rapid deforestation. The sponsorship means that the rainforest can’t be destroyed by loggers because Cool Earth works with the Ashaninka tribe in Cutivireni to protect the region. The donation also means the School is helping to keep 780 tonnes of CO2 in the atmosphere.
The Junior School have been shown the specific area of rainforest they have sponsored on a Google map via the Cool Earth website and the girls proudly display their certificate to show they have saved part of a rainforest.
Cool Earth works with local rainforest communities to protect rainforest from being cut down. The Ashaninka community of Cutivireni, Peru offered their land for sponsorship to Cool Earth to stop it from being destroyed by loggers. To find out more visit www.coolearth.org