The moment is here, the Green Stamp is officially launched! Over the last few months, many people have not only asked what we were about to launch but also WHY we wanted to launch the Green Stamp.
We replied to that question by saying that the Green Stamp is the result between our wanted lifestyle and our passions. This is an accurate answer, though this answer doesn’t cover the impact the Green Stamp will make. Not exactly! Let us explain this in more detail.
Time to dive in and write in detail why we launched the Green Stamp!
1. Our Passion and fascination for wildlife
The Green Stamp is all about vouching for wildlife preservation and conservation. Therefore, it doesn’t come as a shock that we’re extremely passionate about wildlife. As Marijn says:
“Ever since I was a little kid, I was always watching series on National Geographic, Discovery Channel, or Animal Planet to learn about all the different animals that live on this beautiful planet.
During my life, I have been super lucky to see some of the most beautiful creatures in real life, such as the giant otter in the Amazon region and the ring tale lemur in Madagascar. I would love to see more of the animals in real life because after all, we do share this planet with them. But to do so we need to start protecting them and their habitats because humans have already killed over 60% of all animals worldwide since 1970!
Yes, that’s quite something! So, one of my ultimate goals is for humans to stop killing animals and start paying attention to preserve their habitats!”
We can imagine it might be difficult to grasp how unique certain encounters with wildlife can be. Let’s give you an example of one of the encounters we had last year in Peru:
When we were drifting on a river in the Manu National Park (Peru) we saw a true spectacle of nature: a group of giant otters was fighting with a black Cayman trying to save their babies. This took over an hour while howler monkeys were howling in the trees above.
How did it end? If you look closely at this picture you see one otter carrying a baby in its’ mouth, which means the otters managed to securely bring their babies to another burrow.
Seeing the giant otter was amazing on its’ own but seeing them interact (fight) with a Cayman made this a really unique and unforgettable experience!
These incredible moments are the ones we wish for all our future generations. But let us be clear: having wildlife on our planet doesn’t solely provide an entertaining aspect to the life of humans. There is something way more important to preserve the remaining wildlife we have, maintain the wild there still is, and to focus on enabling the return of wilderness.
That all has to do with BIODIVERSITY
2. CARE FOR OUR PLANET
That brings us to our second reason to launch the Green Stamp.
The elements that have to balance out the biodiversity are plants, land, animals, atmosphere, water, and ourselves, humans. This being said, when being in a biodiversity crisis, it automatically means that we humans and our future generations are at great risk.
As WWF says: “… We are currently using 25% more natural resources than the planet can sustain. As a result, species, habitats, and local communities are under pressure or direct threats (for example from loss of access to freshwater). Biodiversity underpins the health of the planet and has a direct impact on all our lives. Put simply, reduced biodiversity means millions of people face a future where food supplies are more vulnerable to pests and disease, and where freshwater is in irregular or short supply.”
The overuse of natural resources will come to an end, simply because the resources will run out. And while nature will always find a way for a new way of life, mankind won’t.
This may sound harsh, so don’t get us wrong. We LOVE our planet! It’s gorgeous, stunning, mesmerizing, and breath-taking. It gives us joy, relaxation, workouts, and a good sense of thrill. But our planet is (just like we humans can be) burned out, literally, and she needs our HELP.
So, let’s give an example of the result of a little bit of help to our planet!
In 1940 Costa Rica was still mainly covered in rainforest, about 75%. Though exact numbers are difficult to determine, it is thought that half of the rainforest got destroyed in a little over 40 years. Usually, the biggest reason behind deforestation is agriculture, though in Costa Rica it was a combination of multiple reasons such as agriculture, the logging industry, and population growth.
As a response to the massive devastation of the rainforest, in 1996 Costa Rica’s government stepped in to restore and preserve the rainforest. They not only made it illegal to chop down the rainforest, but they also introduced the Payments for Environmental Services (PES) Program. This program is focused on REFORESTATION. With the use of different laws, it represents a financial incentive system to give payments to small landowners of natural forests and plantations for ecosystem services.
So, how is the situation in Costa Rica right now? Today, almost 60% of Costa Rica’s land is rainforest again!
This example proofs that humans can work perfectly WITH nature, instead of AGAINST nature. Or, as Sir David Attenborough would say: “We need to recognize that we are part of nature, not apart from it.”
And this, right there, is one of the 5 reasons why we launched the Green Stamp!
3. Donating has never been that easy
After reading the above, it might make you wonder what you can do to pitch in. Because we have a strong belief we shouldn’t overcomplicate pitching in, we wanted to provide a platform that is accessible for everyone. We used to work a nine to five job, so we know like no other how life takes over and focus on these crucial topics fade away. And, that’s totally okay!
The Green Stamp provides a platform that gives you quick access to multiple ecological and sustainable resources. We can all easily implement more GREEN in our lives!
But we asked ourselves another question: how can we bridge daily life with pitching in for our planet? For this, we’ve found quite a lucrative solution, if we may say so 😉
The Green Stamp is partnered with webshops worldwide. Webshops you use to order all sorts of things online. If you use the banners we’ve placed on our website, we will donate 50% of the affiliate commission we earn to one of the unique, ecological, wildlife projects the Green Stamp is partnered with.
This might sound complicated, so let’s clarify this a bit more: When we, as the Green Stamp, direct a customer to a specific webshop, they give us a small appreciation for doing so. Usually, this appreciation is a percentage of the purchase amount. From this appreciation, the earned commission, the Green Stamp donates 50% to the wildlife project of your choosing!
The fun part is that it doesn’t cost you anything extra, but it enables you to donate to help our planet! You can still focus on the things that your life revolves around, but you can pitch in.
But, to what kind of wildlife projects does my donation go? The wildlife projects the Green Stamp is partnered with, all donate a certain amount of their profit to help protect nature, wildlife, or support local communities. The earned commission you donate to them will therefore not only support the project itself, but also one of the causes they work with!
Fun fact: we got inspired by helping these specific wildlife projects while visiting the Jaguar Conservation Ranch in Bolivia.
4. Eco choices don’t have to be that difficult
We strive by the phrase “like attracts like”. What this has to do with ecological, or sustainable choices in life? A lot!
As long as we keep focusing on things that aren’t (as) good for us and our planet, we keep walking in circles. What if we start focusing on things that maintain our planet, and even better: restore our planet?
Focus on the good, and the goodwill grow! Out of these beliefs, we decided to put full focus on the existing ecological and sustainable options out there. Because believe us: there’re many! It’s like being a kid, walking around in a candy store!
Over the last year, we have learned a lot about how to implement multiple ecological choices in life. We quickly learned that most of these things aren’t difficult to implement and aren’t necessarily more expensive (as we thought before). The perfect example for quick-eco-wins we displayed on the page ‘Eco-friendly travel items’. Though these items are ideal to travel with, once we’ve started using natural deodorant crème, we would never want anything else. Natural products are just, naturally, better 🙂
5. We live life to our fullest potential
“There we go again, another person claiming they’ve got it all figured out.” No worries, we don’t, not by far.
The only thing we did, is opening up a conversation within ourselves to figure out what we are passionate about. We combined that with our capabilities and shaped that result, in the terms of how we want to appreciate life.
We shoot for the moon, earth. Simply, because that gives us the most satisfaction by knowing we did everything we could.
We want to vouch for what we are passionate about. The joy we feel when exploring the world, the relaxation it gives us, the incredible workouts while hiking, or the thrill when jumping out of a plane: we want countless generations following us, to be able to experience the exact same. We’ve got this incredible planet we inherited, and we feel it’s our duty to help protect it, now that it needs us most.
These are our reasons for launching the Green Stamp. And, while we’re only at the start of this journey we’re already extremely grateful for all the support we’ve got over the last few months.
We are ready to make a global impact. Are you?
