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Frequently Asked Questions

Who runs earth.fm?

earth.fm is a non-profit initiative developed by Digital Partnership for Regeneration and Reconnection MTÜ, a Non-Profit Organisation established in Estonia (registry code 80615833). Catalin Zorzini and Borja Blanco are the board members and legal representatives of the association. Read more about the team here.

Why did you choose Estonia to register the charity?

Incorporating a legal entity can be challenging for remote teams such as ours, with founders in different countries. To create and operate a nonprofit organisation in one of the countries where we are based (France or Spain) would require one of us to travel more often than we like.

And we didn’t want to be responsible for unnecesary CO2 emissions or travel expenses that could be used for better purposes. Besides, we would like future partners to be able to join our board regardless of their location.

Inspired by this article from Invisible City, a nonprofit that supports European artists, we decided to register incorporate in Estonia. Estonia, through their digital citizenship, allows us to do precisely that. To create a legal entity that can be created and operated entirely remotely.

Who are the artists?

We gather recordings from over 100 field recordists. Please visit the nature sounds map to discover them.

How can I participate?

Join our Discourse community

Follow us on Twitter

Donate.

How does earth.fm choose its partners?

earth.fm is in the process of being registered as a Non-Profit Organisation, guided by principles rooted on altruism, scientific evidence and the systemic view of nature.

We aim to develop partnerships with local charities in the regions where nature sounds are found most valuable, and best represent the importance of preserving and healing our mother nature.

We appreciate organizations that follow the following principles, though we keep an open mind, considering the diversity in cultures and worldviews around the world.

  1. Work with local communities with deep knowledge of the local context. 
  2. Minimize overhead costs and bureaucracy.
  3. Use science-based methodologies.
  4. Are easy-going and transparent. 
  5. Do not view nature as a machine.

While at earth.fm we want to plant some trees, we do not believe in simplistic targets, such as number of trees planted or tonnes of CO2 avoided, as those often lead to unintended consequences at worst, or wasted resources at best [1]. Instead, we seek integrative approaches, such as the landscape or ecosystemic approaches, with local wisdom at heart.

With those ideas in mind, we seek to partner with organizations and projects such as the following:

Eden Reforestation Projects

Eden projects work with local communities to restore forests on a massive scale, creating jobs, protecting ecosystems and helping mitigate climate change.

We love the holistic and bottom-up approaches. They start by engaging with local communities, who then take leadership on guiding the planting opportunities, while committing to restore and protect their forests.

Source: Eden Reforestation Projects

Tree Aid

Tree Aid works with people in the drylands of Africa to tackle poverty and the effects of the climate crisis by growing trees, improving people’s incomes, and restoring and protecting land. Their focus on soil regeneration allows them to preserve water and grow food in previously degraded areas. 

Tree Aid works with local communities, for example, in reforesting land around water sources in Ghana’s Bongo District, to reduce river erosion and soil fertility. More info in the following

Source: https://www.treeaid.org/projects/ghana/bongo-reforestation/

International Tree Foundation (ITF)

ITF has been recognizing the importance of forests in sustaining life on Earth for nearly a century. This small but experienced charity focuses on supporting emerging community based groups to grow and become independent forest conservation organizations.

Among its keystone activities is the Sustainable Community Forestry Programme, which aims to preserve and regenerate local forest resources while improving local livelihoods.

Source: https://internationaltreefoundation.org/sustainable-community-forestry/

Instituto Terra

Recently featured on the latest David Attemborough’s documentary “The Green Planet”, this small charity based in Brazil, has demonstrated the huge impact of forest restoration in areas degraded by human activities.

Instituto Terra is famous for the before and after images, that reveal the potential for quick ecosystems recovery:

Currently, their institutes continues to recover thousands of hectares of Atlantic Forest, endangered by rapid deforestation.

Find the full list of recommended charities here.

Disclaimer: We started to engaged with the mentioned organizations, however, an agreement has been signed only with Eden Reforestation Projects. For the rest of the charities, no agreement or partnership has been formalized yet.