Last April 2022, we teamed up with SeaTrees, an arm of the nonprofit organization Sustainable Surf, to help them plant mangrove trees in Indonesia. Each sustainable product sold during April became one mangrove tree.
The Nixon family came through in a big way and with your help, we were able to help SeaTrees plant thousands of mangrove trees!
For Giving Tuesday this year, we’re teaming up with SeaTrees again. And this time we’re focused on our own backyard.
Learn more about SeaTrees here.
Restoring Kelp Off the Palos Verdes Peninsula in California with SeaTrees and The Bay Foundation
Kelp forests are a vital part of California’s coastal ecosystem. These forests provide food and habitat for over 700 different species of fish, algae and invertebrates.
They’re also important in regulating atmospheric CO2. Kelp take in CO2 through photosynthesis and then sequester it in the deep sea when they break off and sink.
Fun fact: in the right conditions, Giant Kelp can grow up to 2 feet in a single day!
SeaTrees works with The Bay Foundation to regenerate these forests. A major problem that is tackled in this project is the over-proliferation of sea urchins.
Sea urchins are important to the ecosystem, but when they take over an area, they cause that area to become barren. That means kelp can’t grow.
By removing urchins, SeaTrees provides more hospitable conditions for the growth of kelp forests. Once enough urchins have been removed, natural predators like lobster and fish can more easily maintain urchin populations.
If after 5 years the balance between kelp and urchins remains healthy and advantageous for both organisms, the site is then considered restored.
For each sustainable product sold this year on Giving Tuesday, we’ll make a $2.50 donation to SeaTrees. Each $2.50 donation is enough to restore one square foot of kelp.
How to Get Involved
There are two different ways you can get involved with SeaTrees and the kelp forest project in Palos Verdes:
- Check out our collection of sustainable products. We'll be taking $2.50 from each sustainable product sold on Giving Tuesday and donating it to this project.
- Visit the project at SeaTrees and get directly involved with the organization: https://sea-trees.org/pages/palos-verdes-kelp
