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 We at Verve, Inc. believe that consumers can
make a big difference in determining the fate of the earth. We
hope that everyone takes an active interest in learning where
their products come from and how they get to other parts of the
world. We cannot exploit the earth’s natural resources
indefinitely without facing disastrous consequences. An
alternative is sustainable development -- economic practices
which create a balance between ecology and economics, providing
jobs and expanding regional development in a way that sustains
the environment. This is a vision that can be supported by
conscientious consumers and by the thoughtful sourcing of
products. Sustainable economic systems are committed to ensuring
that the products being harvested will continue to exist in the
future.
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For example, sustainable logging projects call for
specific trees to be cut down according to a long-term plan,
while engaging simultaneously in reforestation projects.
Sustainable economics in forestry also focus on generating
markets for non-timber forest products, such as medicinal
plants, oils, nuts, waxes, and resins, like chicle. Chicle, the
sap which is the main ingredient in the gum base of Glee Gum,
comes from the Sapodilla (ironwood) tree. Sapodilla trees grow
in the forests of southeastern Mexico. Chicle is important in
the forestry economy there, second only to lumber. The Mexican
states of Campeche and Quintana Roo produce an average of 300
tons of chicle a year, enough to help support over 2,700 farming
families (campesinos). The skilled farm laborers who harvest the
chicle are called chicleros. Because there is a market for
chicle, and because the sustainable harvest of it provides an
economically viable way to make a living, chicleros have good
reason to invest in the maintenance of the forest.
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In the past (and in some places even today)
chicleros had to take out loans to support themselves and their
families throughout the harvesting season. Loans were typically
granted by middleman contractors, known colloquially as
“coyotes.” The contractors would later buy the raw chicle from
the chicleros and then sell it to big companies capable of
processing the chicle into gum base (a marketable commodity).
These loans created a system of dependency, obliging a chiclero
to work until the contractor determined that his loan had been
repaid. But with chicleros mainly working to pay back loans,
they rarely made enough money to cover their other expenses.
Harvesting chicle was similar to indentured servitude.
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Dissatisfied Mexican chicleros eventually
rallied into regional cooperatives. In 1994, the cooperatives
came together to create the Pilot Chicle Plan (PPC, or Plan
Piloto Chiclero) –- a financial and organizational system
intended to grant chicle-growing communities autonomy. This in
turn led to the formation of the Natural Chicle Producer’s
Union, designed to represent the interests of the chicleros and
to increase sales of natural chicle. The Union’s main goal is to
enter the global market and sell chicle directly to gum
producers in Europe and Asia. By getting chicleros a fair price
for raw chicle and increasing the demand for chicle
internationally, the Union eliminates the need for middlemen.
The cooperatives in turn receive higher prices for their
product, and have a greater incentive to protect the forest
which sustains them.
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Communities living and working in the forest
are often the best equipped to protect it. Sometimes
conservation projects focus so much on protecting the land that
they can be detrimental to the people who depend on the forest
for their livelihood and basic survival. On the other hand,
commercial extraction projects that focus solely on removing
forest resources may ensure temporary income for
forest-dwellers, but they also endanger the present and future
stability of the forest. That’s why the National Chicle
Producer’s Union, taking environmental, human, and economic
factors into account, tries to empower chicleros to become
stewards of the forest.
The problem is whether there is a sufficient
market for sustainably harvested products. Without a market for
chicle, the chicleros can’t earn a living. Enter Glee Gum! By
using natural chicle in our gum base, we’re increasing the
natural chicle market, securing valuable employment for
chicleros, and supporting sustainable practices in the
rainforest. Of course, we can buy chicle and make gum all day
long, but we can only chew so much of it. We need a market for
our product too! That’s where YOU and other responsible
consumers come in. By purchasing Glee Gum, you too are
supporting chicle-growing communities, and, in turn, providing
incentive for the continued protection of the rainforest. And
that is something to feel truly gleeful about.
Picture yourself walking through a lush
green forest. The heat is intense; sweat beads up on your skin
and trickles down your back. Moisture is everywhere- dripping
off the leaves, forming pools on the forest floor, and creating
a mist in the air. The ground is soft and spongy, covered with
decaying leaves and branches. The silence is occasionally broken
by the buzz of an insect or the trill of a bird- none of the
howls and grunts you’d expect from a Tarzan movie!
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This verdant and serene place is the
rainforest, and its quiet is deceptive- it teems with a greater
diversity of life than anywhere else on the planet. Biologists
estimate that just one hectare (about 2.5 acres) of the
rainforest along the Rio Dulce in Guatemala, for example,
contains around 250,000 species! These include rare animals like
the jaguar, tapir, iguana and scarlet macaw. There are two kinds
of rainforests. Temperate rainforests can be found in cool,
moist places such as along the northern Pacific coast of the
United States and some parts of Chile, Japan and the United
Kingdom. They usually contain ten to twenty different species of
trees, and plants like mosses and ferns. Tropical rainforests,
on the other hand, can contain hundreds of different kinds of
trees and plants. You can find tropical rainforests near the
equator. Over half of all tropical rainforests are in Latin
America; one third of the world’s tropical rainforests are found
in Brazil. Other tropical rainforests are located in Southeast
Asia, the Pacific Islands and West Africa. The largest remaining
tropical forest on the continent of North America lies in the
six million acre Peten region of northern Guatemala and southern
Mexico. Next to the Amazon, the Peten is the largest tropical
rainforest in the Americas. Sapodilla trees are found in the
forests of the Peten. These trees produce a sticky sap called
chicle, the original substance from which all chewing gum was
once made, and the basis for Glee Gum!
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The ecological stability of the Peten is
severely threatened by the increased development in the region.
Outsiders are attracted by the natural beauty and by the
potential for commercial exploitation of the natural resources
there. But the increased population and infrastructure are
contributing to serious regional deforestation. Although
rainforest soil is rich and productive, it is not good farmland.
That’s because in the rainforest, the good topsoil only extends
downward about 12 inches. After that, the ground becomes
impermeable clay. The Maya, indigenous people who for centuries
have lived in and depended upon the forest for sustenance,
developed successful adaptive techniques for growing food.
Unfortunately, their traditional way of life is being abandoned,
replaced instead by the destructive techniques of monoculture
and cattle raising. To illustrate the difference between
rainforest soil and farmland, consider this: when you look at a
crop growing on good farmland, the crop is only a small fraction
of the biomass in the system. Far more biomass lies buried in
the soil down to a depth of several feet. In contrast, when you
look at the trees in a rainforest, you are looking directly at
most of the biomass. It is all up in the air, and very little is
in the soil.
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Only the top few inches of rainforest soil
is fertile. When the forest is clear cut or burned in order to
plant food crops, the soil remaining can only function for a
season or two before it is depleted. Once the rainforest is
cleared off, the soil is exposed to the direct sun; the sun
destroys the bacteria and fungi, leaving just the meager
nutrients in the top few inches of soil in which very little can
grow. The heavy rains will wash away the remaining topsoil if
there are no roots to hold it in place. The land is left
practically unusable, barren where it was once teeming with
life. In addition to the conversion of rainforest to cropland,
increased tourism and the extraction of natural resources (such
as timber) have led to major construction and infrastructure
projects which continuously threaten the natural ecological
balance needed for such rich biodiversity. Where there was once
undisturbed forest, there are now roads with cars and trucks.
They not only pollute, but also represent a serious disturbance
to the traditional lifestyles of the Maya and the entire
ecosystem. The loss of the rainforest affects all of us around
the world. We often don’t realize just how dependent we are on
plants for supporting our lifestyle- particularly those plants
that grow exclusively in the rainforest. Products such as
rubber, oils, fruits, nuts, and chocolate are all harvested
commercially from the great biodiversity found in tropical
rainforests. Many commercial medicines are made from rainforest
plants. The wood and pulp of trees cleared from the rainforest
are used for lumber, as well as to make furniture, homes, and
paper. Rainforests once covered 14% of the earth's land surface;
now, less than 50 years later, they cover only 6%. Over 150
acres are lost every minute of every day. Experts estimate that
every day we also lose 130 species of plants, animals and
insects (including species we may not even be aware of!), as
they become extinct due to the destruction of rainforest land
and habitats.
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Our global ecosystem is fragile, and the
destruction caused with our machinery, infrastructure, and
careless stewardship have created serious ecological problems
worldwide. Glee Gum alone is not going to prevent the massive
destruction in the rainforest, but there are lots of other
companies and organizations dedicated to sustainable product
development. There are many ways of making small changes in our
lives that, in the long run, can help to alter the
helter-skelter course we are on now. Below are links to other
websites about rainforest conservation, sustainable development,
and other sustainable products. By living thoughtful,
responsible lives, we can make a difference. And on that note,
we’re going to climb off our soapbox and pop a piece of Glee
Gum. Mmm… helping the environment tastes great!
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