Cool Earth started in June 2007 aims to tackle the climate crisis in a cost-effective, mass membership way, long before governments are able to swing into action. It will enable individuals and groups including schools and businesses, to directly fund rainforest protection on a massive scale and safeguard this invaluable resource. Keeping carbon where it belongs - 20% of carbon emissions come from deforestation - The Eliasch Review and the UN regard halting destruction of rainforest as the first step in tackling climate change - And yet stopping deforestation is not recognised in any UN or government solution to climate change - Cool Earth will change this by harnessing public opinion to put a fair value on the rainforests and stop global warming Linking capital to climate - Rainforest destruction usually earns local communities nothing and yet destroys their future income and a priceless environmental resource - Individuals, schools and businesses can sponsor as little as a half an acre of rainforest for just £35 - This not only protects the most endangered forest for the long-term but funds local conservation by local people Real action on climate change - Just half an acre will also lock up 150 tonnes of CO2 or 15 years of an average person’s emissions - Sponsors of Cool Earth can view their plot with Google Earth, get regular updates on its biodiversity and local conservation - With 6,000 supporters already signed up, Cool Earth is a bottom-up solution to climate change that leap-frogs political inertia