How our reforestation plans are changing - Q4 Transparency Report & Vote Results

[@MossyEarth]

We would love to hear any feedback you might have so that we can incorporate it into future membership votes and Q&As. In the coming week I will try to answer as many comments on this video as I can. - Cheers, Duarte

[@allisavercool227]

It might be helpful to give us the option to tag/self sort out questions and comments based on what they're about. For example, administrative questions, questions about rewilding that can be better answered by a biologist, or something like that.

[@skaterfreak7658]

@@allisavercool227 y

[@sixshotsniper]

I would put all the comments and feedback into a text editor (or a website that will do it) and get a count of individual word/phrases. Then you can filter comments by those containing those specific words that came up frequently (or things only a few people brought up). You won't be able to cover everything but short of having some kind of AI parse through the feedback, it might be the best way to see the general ideas.

[@gardendeeds]

Just an Idea for you and the screening of the questions. We need to make it like a KZbin comment list. For example, have the questions on the website and let us, the members vote on those questions, as if it were youtube comments with lots of likes to various questions. Then you just need to see the most liked/voted questions that we would like answered. We do this in the finance industry, where we vote for questions to be answered by the CEO, In this case You! Keep up the good work!

[@ryanbarnes9275]

If y’all ever come stateside the federal government here just approved the removal of a couple damns on the Klamath river here in California. It’s gonna be a really big win for salmon as the river used to be the third largest salmon provider and is a huge win for the native tribes here. Definitely worth a look into for you guys

[@MossyEarth]

We have been looking at dam removal opportunities actually, we will add this one to the list. - Cheers, Duarte

[@Argcz]

Hey, just curious - were they hydro-power dams? I find myself conflicted on whether removing dams is good or bad idea when it comes to the big picture. Thanks

[@rgio1885]

@@Argcz I agree, but in general the ones that are taken down are either very old, don't provide that much power to begin with, or both. They're not taking down the hoover dam, if that's what you were getting at lol.

[@ryanbarnes9275]

@@Argcz I think some where. The Klamath runs from Oregon into NorCal so there is a lot of ground to cover. But usually they only take these down because they are too expensive to keep running compared to what it would take to fix them. They never do this from the goodness of their hearts it’s always what hits their wallets. Profits before the planet 🙄

[@pdhabets]

@@Argcz There are some Wikipedia articles - search for Klamath River Hydroelectric Project and UnDam the Klamath. According to wikipedia, the 4 dams to be removed were all up for license renewal, and would have needed retrofits for fish passage. Total generation capacity for all 7 dams is 169MW, or 0.2% of state generation.

[@natalyakeane]

honestly, the transparency is soooooo much more important than the small amount of resources it requires. so many charities are a black hole of fundraising money, things go in, no one knows what comes out, other than ceo pay figures, which are often obscene. so producing these reports is the bare minimum of what is necessary for an org like this

[@balazslakatos1660]

Your commitment and professional communication is super inspiring. Rewilding is probably the most important activity for humanity for the next 100 years. I hope to live long enough to be able walk in future dense forests in places that are degraded and empty lands today! Thanks!

[@MossyEarth]

Thank you Balazs! That means a lot to me and the team :) - Cheers, Duarte

[@kx7500]

Freedom fighting is the most important activity. No single action to achieve that across the board is going to work as the world is a diverse place.

[@4kpliter791]

You can make a change too!!!!

[@mr.lonewolf8199]

I love how you do this transparent videos about money and plans with your members. This really gives us a confidence to support yours work in the future

[@MossyEarth]

Thank you! That means a lot to everyone here at Mossy Earth :) - Cheers, Duarte

[@adamkeifenheim1727]

I love these quarterly videos (and all the others) because of how transparent it is. This means more to me (and all Mossy Earth's other methods of communication) than third party certifications.

[@MossyEarth]

Hi Adam! Thank you for the kind words and I am glad you enjoyed the video despite all the rambling on my side 😅 - Cheers, Duarte

[@captaincosmos89]

I was in Ireland last summer, and what struck me is the total lack of trees and forests. I asked a local, and apparently the english cut down most of the forests for lumber. It would be great to see you guys reforest Ireland as well.

[@kyotokid]

100%

[@joncawte6150]

they blame the English for absolutely everything🤣🤣🤣

[@Jefflurr_]

Not sure if it is included in your budget already but it would be interesting to see how much you make from your KZbin videos and how/if that money is used for projects or just extra money for operating costs. Love your stuff. Been a member for about a year now. NOTE: This could also include other revenue streams other than memberships, gifts etc

[@MossyEarth]

This was included in the last report but not this one. Our bad, should be back in the next one. Last quarter KZbin brought in £13,306.07. This pretty much covered more or less the cost of the video team. So we actually just use KZbin as a way to make our "main advertising" free. Also it of course helps educate people so you could say it has an impact too, just not on our projects. For context, KZbin brings in 600-1000 members to Mossy Earth every month. This is a lot of funding, so we are very happy with this balance :) - Cheers, Duarte

[@JonBrownSherman]

MORE FUNGI EVERYWHERE! BRING ON THE FUNGI! In all seriousness, I fully support any project you guys think is important and will help create the healthiest forests possible. China's monoculture forest failures are all the evidence we need to know that there's more to a healthy ecosystem than just planting trees. Keep up the great work!

[@MossyEarth]

MORE FUNGI :D - Cheers, Duarte

[@matthewdavies5875]

Some exciting and diverse interventions in the new approach.

[@MossyEarth]

Same here! - Cheers, Duarte

[@Fin_Ale]

Are there any plans to begin any sustainable reforestation projects in Ireland? Our for cover is under 1% on an island which used to have 80% forest cover, there is also extreme lacking of biodiversity in the types of trees planted by state bodies here. Love all the work you guys do and excited to see your projects in the future!

[@MossyEarth]

Hi Alex, we have actually had projects to plant trees in Ireland. We ended up not continuing due to lack of ability to scale. Hopefully one day we can revisit the idea. Perhaps this new reforestation budget approach will allow us to implement some impactful projects there. - Cheers, Duarte

[@patrikarh]

I know you guys mostly work remotely as a team, so something like a round table conversation between you would be hard to organize, but I still think these videos would be on another level if you could add for example the biologist(s) to the conversation. Maybe pre-film the parts where they answer questions specific to their area of work :)

[@MossyEarth]

Thanks for the tip Patrik and agreed! - Cheers, Duarte

[@argeltal5684]

What I really love about you as a member is that you eager to be educational and financially transparent. Personally, I would rarely participate in such polls and rather just watch your nice videos, because I trust your expertise and I am satisfied so far. And as long as you give a proper explanation of your decisions about the project and I do have a feedback channel, I don't feel the need to participate in it at all. If I have a question about project direction, I know that I can reach you and my questions will be answered, and that is the most important part for me.

[@MossyEarth]

Hi Argel! Glad that you feel such a level of confidence in our work. That means a lot to us! You are right in saying that you can simply reach out and have your questions answered but we feel that gathering this "bulk community feedback" is a really efficient way to gauge what our members are thinking and that is important to us. - Cheers, Duarte

[@sillydilly2725]

This video makes me feel good about supporting Mossy. Thank you for clear communication, while still trying to refine your process.

[@MossyEarth]

Thank you this means a lot to me and everyone at the team :) We will continue to do our best! - Cheers, Duarte

[@jacksonclark3537]

I absolutely love your dedication to your projects! I'm studying Environmental Engineering and Biology in college, and I'd love to one day be able to do something like you guys do here in the US.

[@MossyEarth]

Thank you Jackson! Be sure to shoot us a message when you kickstart that rewilding project. Always looking for collaborations :) - Cheers, Duarte

[@teenager240]

I really appreciate your transparency. It was one of the main things that attracted my atention and impressed me. I was looking for an organisation that I could support for a long time, I looked at different carbon offsetting projects, local initiatives, organisations that go to court against polluting companies etc. I found it difficult to choose until I found Mossy Earth. I can see where the money is going, I learn so much with every report and every update to a project. Teaching about the processes means that also those who did not study biology can understand the challenges better and the complexities that you are dealign with and that it amazing. I agree with the metaphor that this voting is like changing the terms of the contract, because it makes me feel part of this project. It makes me feel heard and appreciated. It recognizes the need to understand and the willingness to learn. Yes, it is slower but truly democratic and this is the beauty of it. If you just announced this change from focusing on trees to focusing on healthy forests, I would also be happy and agree. But this way I feel that I was part of the decision process and it makes me even more exited to be a part of such a wonderful community of people. Thank you for your motivation, patience and bravery! You are awesome!

[@andrewclarke9978]

I have worked in conservation and land management for 12 years in Australia here are my thoughts. Focus on what you do that other organisations don't. I think the rewilding projects offer the most value. Focus on recruitment over planting, yes (more diverse, provenance guaranteed) Direct seeding where viable, yes Protecting existing forests is much cheaper and more efficient than plantings new ones. It would be good to see the membership better informed on why this is. Diversity of habitat is important, often the verge of different habitats has the greatest biodiversity On microsomal fungi I was told that when revegetating some species that do poorly without the appropriate symbiotic relationship the method used was collecting a sample of soil from the base remnant populations of that species from the local area and then dissolve that soil in water. Than all you have to do is water the plants introducing the microsomal fungi to that plants base. Also some animal species including small rodents that dig and turn over the soil are some of the most important spreaders microsomal fungi within an environment.

[@enternalinferno]

I absolutely love these longer in depth videos about a topic. The regular videos are absolutely great, but I think many people also like the long form format these quaterly reports bring.

[@leereecer]

You have the right ideas here I think. You can plant the forest (the scaffolding) but if you also provide the vital nutrients and wildlife, even in much smaller amounts, you are building a base for it to work off of. I think it's the best way to be!

[@scandilad5152]

Hi, new member here. You have mentioned a few times now that some people think you shouldn't "waste" time on the transparency stuff and reporting in general. I understand their sentiment but would like to point out that the extra transparency will help garner trust and may be the deciding factor for some people's decision to support this project or not. Just my 2 cents, thank you for the report, even though I'm a bit late to the party lol.

[@PaulCoxC]

I really enjoy hearing the comments and thoughts from our members, and proud of how open we're trying to be, and how much we want to keep improving

[@brettkenyon4679]

I do not live in Europe, otherwise I would be more involved. Mossy Earth inspires me and makes me wish we had NGOs like this in NZ. The charisma, accountability and openness in projects and management are to be applauded. I have already told someone involved with Auckland Zoo about what you guys are doing.

[@joncawte6150]

I don't live in Africa or the Americas but still support the work being done there!

[@fenixfox4366]

Yes people need to dø research ill also say its important to show both pros and cons so people can see ā well rounded oppinion and understand better on what you think / know what will happen

[@MossyEarth]

The white paper will have all the clear pros and cons as I mentioned :) - Cheers, Duarte

[@palmsky1119]

Honestly this is the only channel I've seen doing stuff like this with so much communication with it's subscribers/members. Very unique and transparent.

[@KevIsOffGrid]

Not a member, but am a watcher. Do like how you go about things, and involve your funders. Thought it was worth saying.

[@MossyEarth]

Thank you! That is good to know! - Cheers, Duarte

[@kristianskaland2485]

I'd say that planting trees are part of rewilding, and it should be left up to you what soecific projects you do, whether they are full rewilding projects, or "just" tree-planting. EDIT: Do note, however, that I am not currently a member, and as such don't have a vote.

[@MossyEarth]

Hi Kristian, thank you for the input! - Cheers, Duarte

[@jasonbullock2816]

do the best you can we are counting on you save us save us all and the beautiful animals

[@MossyEarth]

😂 We are only a small part of what needs to be something huge! However, I appreciate the faith you have in us ❤️ - Cheers, Duarte

[@ooooneeee]

No pressure😂

[@rodrigocarnier8035]

I'm 18min into the video, and must say: what an amazing way to connect with your members, your bigger audience and even the wider world that could eventually become interested in your methods and experience (researchers, or future ongs). I wish our political systems were as transparent, professional and trusting in the power of bringing people together in an educative way, towards collective decisory systems, as this is. It warms my heart to see all this effort poured into the communicational aspect of your initiative. The analogy between it and the role of (good) journalism into making better democracies is impressive: as important as the development of any country's politics, economy, social equality, education, etc, is, I have seen in these past years how much we still need a healthier journalism to bring people together into a more educated and conscious political practice, regardless of their agreement. So I think this 1:15min video is a very strong demonstration of your commitment towards proper communication that engages, educates and even lays down a documentation of the very process of growth of Mossy Earth. It almost makes me wish I were a biologist hahaha. Good job and keep the good work!

[@MossyEarth]

Thank you Rodrigo! That is exactly why we do things this way. You summarised it really neatly. - Cheers, Duarte

[@pdhabets]

Hi Duarte, I don't remember how I voted, but I think I would have leaned against the white paper. You've convinced me though. I've previously enjoyed reading pamphlets and reports like those from the Quivira Coalition and I'm excited to see what y'all have to say. Perhaps it could be part of a shift of focus from intervention to outcome (as you say). I appreciate y'all's ideas and transparency, and can't wait to see what y'all get up to next.

[@MossyEarth]

Hi! Thank you for your comment, we really appreciate the feedback! As I said, I think we have made a mess of things with the original questions in the vote which led to some confusion. I hope the whitepaper and accompanying video will really help with this. Some more news in a few months! - Cheers, Duarte

[@c0niferal]

Love these transparency videos. It's a built-in safety net against things going wrong within Mossy Earth, it speaks so strongly to your respect for your members, & it's so reassuring as to your humility before the facts - something that as you say, rewilding & conservation work has sometimes lacked historically e.g. people acting with very little knowledge of what impact it'll have. Much respect, huge thanks :)

[@Melanie-ei3ie2dt3u]

I'd be interested to hear from members who offered a Mossy earth membership as a gift to their loved ones for Christmas how it was received. I often considered doing so but couldn't imagine my family and friends enjoying the gift too much as they usually have other value systems or wordly priorities. It was a great video and to answer one of your questions, I think if you ask your biologists to answer specific questions beforehand, you can probably relay their response to us easily without using their time sitting here with you + transport, logistics and all. Awesome work, thank you.

[@robertluxenhofer1579]

I gifted three memberships for christmas to my family. Nobody complained and they all pretended to be happy :-)

[@Melanie-ei3ie2dt3u]

@@robertluxenhofer1579 Haha nicely phrased, thanks 👍

[@MossyEarth]

Hi Melanie, good point! All those biologists have a camera with them so I might add them to the mix next time. Thank you for the feedback! - Cheers, Duarte

[@LoisoPondohva]

Well, I'd think it would entirely depend on a person, no? And there's nobody that knows your loved ones more than you. If I gifted a membership to my sister, who is only interested in a new iPhone and her next shopping trip, I think she would be disappointed, putting it mildly. My brother, on the other hand, who regularly goes for week-long hikes and river sails, would be happy. So, yeah. Also, expectations of value matter. If it is expected that the gift, let's say, is around 100$, and you give a 15$ membership, that would have one reaction. If the expectation is 15$, then that 15$ membership, at least by my standards, is one of the biggest values for your money you can get.

[@derjurator1157]

Hi, again a great video! Thank you very much guys!

[@MossyEarth]

Thank you! - Cheers, Duarte

[@mattjones2492]

I missed the vote, but I 100% support this change. Let nature replant itself whenever possible and maximise the impact of your human interventions.

[@Circularsounds]

Thanks for this excellent video! I love how much you include us members in your thinking and am inspired by the way you run your organisation. Looking forward to further updates!

[@MossyEarth]

Hi Darren, really appreciate the positive feedback, it motivates me and the team to keep doing better! Thank you for being a member and making it possible for us to do this work :) - Cheers, Duarte

[@briiree]

As a new joiner this is very helpful. Having small Q&As in the shorts section of youtube with the biologists might both be easier to deal with and reach a wider audience. Also as people receive updates and see the impact through videos, I think they will easily be fine without tree counting, which I think might be already at this stage underrepresenting the team effort! Keep up the good work!

[@tmerbex552]

Thanks for taking your time to go through everyone's questions so thoroughly - it is what makes Mossy Earth great - IMO Regarding your question at 1:08:30 - perhaps a useful first step would be to tokenise the words and symbols in the responses. Once they are tokenised you can then run more statistics on them like how many times each token occurs and how it is related to other tokens. Of course you would need a fair bit of post-processing to remove short words like "the", "a", etc. and interpret the results. It should be pretty straight forward to write a Python script, or you might be able to leverage some Machine Learning Library's word processing capabilities. Anyway, just a thought and certainly not my area of expertise

[@MossyEarth]

Thank you for the suggestion! We might have to look for a tool that does that out of the box as we don't have the "developer power" to spend on that at the moment. Poor Paul is busy enough trying to keep our website afloat and launching some new features. 😁 - Cheers, Duarte

[@davidweinberg168]

@@MossyEarth some simple analysis might be to use a free online word cloud generator. It may not tell you much, but it would be easy. Fun fact: one of the techniques it relies on is called "cluster analysis", something reforesting would also have :)

[@GunnarShaffer]

Great communication, I'm sure you learned a ton just preparing to make this video and that is the important point. I believe we all trust you because of the openness and transparency.

[@edwardabercrombie1961]

Your sincerity in addressing people's views is awesome 👍

[@fionahamer7202]

So impressed with what you get done with your budget. It costs me approximately $10 a tree to fence and plant on my farm in Australia.

[@makingapoint]

dont forget companies are double(and much higher) counting tree planting. some planted trees are claimed by several companies.

[@Maplenr]

Love these longform videos, your voice is calming and I love being able to support the minutes watched haha. Much love

[@kyotokid]

Finally signed up as a member, keep up the great work!

[@veeran3314]

Thank you brother ❤

[@MossyEarth]

Thanks Veeran! - Cheers, Duarte

[@deepbluetree]

I love that you guys sit down to explain and clear things up!

[@hunterhq295]

Wish you good luck we need lots of restoration

[@arber123]

Love the new video!!!!!

[@MossyEarth]

Thanks :D - Cheers, Duarte

[@melissamybubbles6139]

I'd love to see you plant understory plants once the trees have reached a certain point of maturity.

[@perjohanaxell9862]

Planting smaller arias and letting them spred naturally has the benefit of getting more trees of different ages. It can actually be a problem when all trees in an area grows old at the same time.

[@nathanmaxon4692]

I think the most important part of a budget report is covering what overhead costs actually mean, so membership can know that all the overhead costs are justified

[@MossyEarth]

The overheads are the salaries for our 14 person team as well as bits related to accounting, tech costs such as the website and also travel to project locations. We might include it in the next report if you think it is interesting, but the important thing is that it is less than 20% and allows us to effectively run Mossy Earth to use the other 80% as efficiently as possible. - Cheers, Duarte

[@nathanmaxon4692]

@@MossyEarth The fact that you have salaried staff and your overhead is less than 20% is already amazing, given that most charities circle to even achieve that. It’s certainly not a concerning number at all for Mossey earth, just one more way to show how good you guys are at what you do. Love you guys a ton!

[@Liesl_Frank]

I love that you love to do these outdoors But I'm pretty sure that none of us expect you to do them in the freezing cold 🥶

[@MossyEarth]

😂 I enjoyed it more than being indoors until the rain/sleet came of course... I must say though after watching the video back I am constantly fiddling with my gloves 😅, its a bit distracting! - Cheers, Duarte

[@Liesl_Frank]

@Mossy Earth as a Sydneysider currently enjoying 30C Sunny days, you looked so frigging cold Maybe do the next quarter Q&A from Portugal Might I even suggest from a beach near the Kelp plantations 😉🏖

[@LZDU]

Hi, I worked in the marketing department of a multinational that frequently does this types of surveys, the best way you could deal with the security of these questionnaires would be to add some form of verification through login so that only the people who actually are members could actually vote for example, there aren't many other ways to guarantee the security needed for those types of campaigns apart from actually asking for some form of regional government ID, love the work you're doing

[@sarahwatts7152]

Streamlining comments on surveys: Offer free-form comment sections in which the survey respondent chooses a topic for their comment. You would need to provide a number of these comment blocks so that people feel that they can stick to one subject for each comment. This way comments come pre-sorted; hopefully the sorting would also itself be a metric (x comments on A, y comments on B, et cetera)

[@MossyEarth]

Hi Sarah! This is a great idea! Added to our feedback list for next time :) - Cheers, Duarte

[@LoisoPondohva]

​@@MossyEarthas a senior-level full stack web developer with experience in data-modelling I can help you with whatever technical improvements you need. For free, of course.

[@theunknown4834]

Not sure whether others suggested this but I think these video would fit very neatly into a second channel imo. It separates what people wants to see (aka the end results) and the intricacy in the project. Through this it will be much easier to direct your viewers to a single place. dunno if that made sense

[@MossyEarth]

Hi! That makes sense but from our perspective this channel gets a lot of attention. So if prospective members see some of our popular videos and are looking to learn more about us then they can easily do so in the same channel :) - Cheers, Duarte

[@EinzigartigesLeben]

@@MossyEarth maybe make two playlists. one for actual content and one for transparency purposes

[@MossyEarth]

Hi Sophie, we have done so already :) Maybe need to reorganise the homepage a bit... - Cheers, Duarte

[@dennisklomp2361]

​@@MossyEarthagree, came from the big hitter videos and discovered this quarterly report. That definitely motivates me to become a member. So unless the relative low amount of views impacts your algorithm, Id recommend keeping these videos on this channel

[@Symbiontey]

I am half way through the video right now, and i need to put down some comments before i forget them again. - About splitting the budget: I am torn apart about where to take the money for diversification from. Climate change happens right now. But it also happens long term. So i can't get a solid opinion what is the best approach to fight it. I thought about taking the amount you need half and half from the rewilding and the reforestation budget. But i am unsure. I know that rewilding is important and has influence on forest growth too (wolf, lynx, bison, rhodents ...). Also i see rewilding kelp as reforestation too. ;) - Reducing tree numbers: When the transition between both mentioned approaches is fluent, what measures fit better into the current state of our forests? Companies and governments that go for CO2 compensation by planting just trees migth be of good use, when Mossy Earth can make the approach more sustainable with their measures. (For example by creating islands with more diversity of trees and understory life in adjacent areas, so the species can spread over time). Of course i would support approaches like that, even if the amount of planted trees decreases. - Overcommitment of tree planting by 2050: I'd like to see some numbers about that, cause statements like this are always depending on the assumptions that are used for calculation. (What areas are considered suitable for tree planting? How many of these areas will already be devastated by fire and drought till 2050 and will need to be replanted? How are the areas protected from logging? ...) - Growth of Mossy Earth: I agree that initiatives are often compared by their price per tree. Optimizing a process towards only one easily identifiable key figure is really popular lately. Please see growth Mossy Earth more like growth of forests: growing steady and sustainable is better than growing fast and getting sick of it. That's why i want to say thank you, because you care about growing a community that makes their support dependant on reasonable decisions and love for nature instead of depending on one key figure.That's why i appreciate you guys making the survey and making this video. I look forward to the whitepaper. I always considered writing papers as a good thing to check for myself, that my reasoning is seamless and understandable for outsiders. So i like the idea, that you do the same, with the nice side effect that we can read it right after. :D I do not expect any answers on my comment here. Though i would be happy if you consider including the following things in the whitepaper: - How is the current state of forests in your operating range / Europe? - Overcommitment by 2050: How did the calculation work? - If Mossy Earth would stop working right now, how would forests and wildlife most likely evolve in Europe? - If Mossy Earth steps back in, what measures would have the highest impact to improve this process? (improve by quality and/or speed) And another question about improving the impact: - What could be possible catalysts that weren't considered in the past? (You already educate the community about wildlife importance, you plant trees, you make ecosystems healthier by rewilding) ---> Could it be possible to enable the community by teaching them how to be active themselves? (KZbin tutorial about how and where to build beaver dam analogs, KZbin features of local organisations ...) Thanks for your awesome work Duarte! - Sym, happy supporter for a few months now : )

[@jjs4050]

Good video 😉

[@MossyEarth]

Thanks JJS - Cheers, Duarte

[@moderfart]

Quality native forest area increase would also be an interesting metric. You would need to define what a quality forest is of course...

[@MossyEarth]

That could be a good metric indeed!

[@natheniel]

the best way to comb thru the questions is to let a NLP (natural language processing) AI (something akin to ChatGPT) to summerise it for you. another easy way out for doing this is more of a corpus linguistic approach, basically count the number of keywords in all the questions and "guess" what people are interested in and try to come up with some FAQs on your own.

[@givemeaminutetothink]

I so appreciate these quarterly breakdowns. I think the idea of putting the votes on a calendar or somehow at least getting it on our radars with more advance notice would be super helpful. That way, at least for me, I would know to look for the email and read it right away. Normally I take my time with emails from Mossy as they are non-urgent and often educational and lead me down delightful yet distracting rewilding internet rabbit holes that I don’t always have the time to dedicate to quickly. As for the actual contents of this video, I enjoyed the detailed update and I’m excited about the growth. I’m also reassured to see that y’all are treating this growth responsibly and continuing the detailed and careful planning and management of your efforts. I know growth is exciting but I tend to also worry about doing too much too fast and overextending. Doesn’t seem to be a need for me to worry about that here. :)

[@MossyEarth]

Thank you! This feedback is music to my ears... I completely agree on giving our members more notice time and even scheduling this so nothing is rushed. When it comes to managing growth, the way we are trying to approach this is to make sure we spend 50,000 or 100,000 the same way we are currently spending 2000. So essentially only scaling the kind of interventions which are really efficient and ready to make an impact. We've been hiring quite a few biologists and they have been refining our approach to project selection in the winter months. I am confident this will start bringing in some results soon :) - Cheers, Duarte

[@EQTVAM]

I loved this video. I am not a member now, but this transparency and honesty you communicate really makes me believe more and more on your projects. I've been subscribed to your channel for some time now and am thinking of becoming a member. The filming outside was wonderful. Thanks for all the work you are doing. Do you know of any similar projects in Latin America? I would like to contribute to my own part of the world.

[@JensOdense]

Do you have any plans to include more footage of older projects and/or more of the process of your work. In some of your videos i feel it needs a bit more doing. To clarify I like when you are on location, but stuff like your Iceland forest videos are missing some doing in my opinion

[@MossyEarth]

Hi Jens, the issue is the balance between filming (with our own crew or with partners) and doing the actual work. I agree with you that perhaps we need to plan better to film more of the work instead of just the outcomes. The tricky thing is some projects are fully our own and some projects are with partners and the latter ones are hard to plan for because our partners have their own timelines as well. We are working on it essentially and hope to do better this year! - Cheers, Duarte

[@JensOdense]

@@MossyEarth it’s good to hear it’s on the radar. What I imagine is not necessarily that something like 1/3 of your videos should be doing, but I do feel a whole video only talking about what you have done feels somehow empty. So in my opinion, just 10 or 20 secs of even just mobile footage of the “doing” is enough to alleviate my gripe in your typical 6 to 12 minute format.

[@MossyEarth]

Agreed! Thank you Jens!

[@EinzigartigesLeben]

get a social media manager for those comments that sorts and groups the comments, so you only need to see those comments who are unique questions, and the manager can also refer some questions to those people who are the experts in your team. might be an expense, but if your youtube channel grows further like now, i think you can do that maybe in the next year or so

[@MossyEarth]

We are actually going to be hiring a community manager soon! Great minds think alike :) - Cheers, Duarte

[@drvanon]

I am personally much in favor of using the variety of methods for optimal effect. I think removing artificial limits is a good thing. On the other hand "a tree for a pound" is an incredibly effective marketing strategy since it ties such a clear value to a donation. Would it make sense instead to make commitments in square meters over time? What is the replacement commitment that you want to make?

[@NethDugan]

FUNGI!!!! Also, to what extent do you work with indigenous scientists? Indigenous folk have particular perspectives and relationships with their lands and are often one of the strongest defenders of nature. If you move to New Zeland or the Americas or other areas will you make sure they're a part of the team organising efforts on their traditional lands?

[@MossyEarth]

Currently we do not work in areas with indigenous communities but when we do we will be sure to include them in our planning of course! Already now we always rely on a deep well of local knowledge. - Cheers, Duarte

[@yeetskeet1581]

is there a mossy earth for new Zealand?? i'd love to get involved and learn as much about the ecosystem in a local context!

[@MossyEarth]

Hi Yeet, we currently do not have any New Zealand projects or team members. I would love to do something there as I lived there for 9 months and love the country and its people. It's just at this stage we have so many places we could work in that it is hard to get it all started at once... - Cheers, Duarte

[@nightpups5835]

So how to handle large, varied responses, a few tricks do is a sort by length. So, 5 word or less responses (done by character count or word count depending on software) which is a simple statement, medium statements being 5-20 words (can be changed to better fit your data) and finally long responses. Also, you can sort out anything that has a ? or the question words of who/what/when/where/how/why (and the oft used does) character to identify most questions quickly. Thanks is another key word to search for and you'll be able to compile those type of comments together. This isn't perfect but it can clean up the responses into easier to approach pools. For this one in particular, health could be a useful sorting word since there was a lot of questions about health of the forest.

[@illuminoussky]

In context to reading through massive amounts of feedback I would suggest adding an area titled something like "feed back category." It would essentially be a dropdown menu to categorize peoples concerns. For example categories may include: Financial Concerns, Clarity Concerns, or Health v.s. Size Concerns. You can also make subcategories if that helps and just organize the feedback a little better and choose which ones to read and which ones are similar to all the others you've already seen. Of course, you may miss a lot of categories at the start, but the more you do this the better you will get at thinking outside the box and adding categories of concern. Obviously you should always leave an Other category and feel free to read through all of those, but this way you at least limit the amount you feel the need to read manually.

[@hananas2]

I'm all for it! I always like to think about the most efficient way to get the best long term result. But I think we environmentalists are pretty good about thinking long-term anyway, or else we wouldn't care so much about the environment ;)

[@Rose4Life38]

Found this insightful and helpful

[@joncawte6150]

Forestation isn't just about planting trees, a forest is made up of many parts and just planting trees is creating the equivalent of planting a commercial plantation, almost a monoculture. You only have to look to nature and industry to see what works and what doesn't. Commercial forest are generally monocultures that doesn't support much life other than the main crop and some hardy hangers-on, on the other hand, natural forest generally support thousands of species and it is when 'man' sees the forest as a commercial resource that things go south. It should be obvious that; when planting a new or re-establishing an old forest that the forest as a whole needs to be taken into account and that concentrating on one aspect is a short-sighted goal. The reason I have, recently, become a member of this organisation, is that your approach to re-naturing and re-wilding seems to be on the right path. You aren't forcing your ideals on anyone and have a relatively diverse project list. The fact that you are open to, and potentially, take into account, others, opinions is refreshing and that you seem to be transparent in the use of funds received. I feel that other organisations could take heed a little. I would like to make a suggestion on the videos, if I may, that I think may help members/viewers understand the projects a little more, it is nothing drastic other than making them a little longer and take more time to explain the 'nature' of the project, sometimes the videos seem stunted in their content. Perhaps expanding, a little more, the reason as to why particular species are benefitted by a particular species being (re-)introduced. Eg., Oak trees supporting 300+ other species and giving details on some of the prime species supported. Or explaining why not having a complete forest cover is beneficial in supporting a greater diversity of wild flowers. Perhaps making a more specific video on the projects area biotope would help the larger scale understanding also. I understand you are not here to be videographers or wildlife programme makers but from the 'confusion' that has been caused by the poll it seems, to me, that some have not the understanding of what it takes to create nature.

[@melissamybubbles6139]

Dang. I would have loved to have seen you put up fences to protect forests. That's way more important than planting trees.

[@MrIanHulstein]

I like the ideas to change the reforestation method because it should allow you guys more flexibility and a greater impact over time. I do however worry how it will impact the narrative that individual donors tell themselves. Part of what makes signing up for Mossy Earth so easy is the quality data and transparency you provide your members so they can visualize and understand their impact. Im not a large donor, but I love seeing those 6 trees added to my account page each month. I love the feeling that hyper-specific data with aerial imagery and gps coordinates gives me. It feels real. I donate to other wildlife/conservation groups, but its a lot harder for me to comprehend my personal impact of 25 dollars to a million dollar program than it is to see those 6 specific trees you planted in my name. What kind of metric could be used to represent planting impact when you can no longer tell individuals the exact trees they are responsible for? Would you use tree cover/hectare as a proxy? How would you account for natural regrowth vs the regrowth caused by the intervention? Edit - Oh I see you addressed the issue of 'metrification' later in the video in the downsides and risks section :)

[@LolZL2]

Regarding the volume of comments, a fair way would be to do a random sample and read those. However, the AI idea is also interesting, have you seen the announcement of the Bing and ChatGPT integration? It could be a solution to use something like that.

[@MossyEarth]

I tried to throw the 40 pages worth of comments into chat gpt but I think I hit a limit... - Cheers, Duarte

[@julianescobar2395]

Wow great video

[@ethanstump]

Not sure if bamboo grows naturally in any place in Europe, but for carbon sequestration, there's no better plant.

[@MossyEarth]

Would love to plant some bamboo in the places where it is native of course. That would be a fun project! - Cheers, Duarte

[@xDanoss318x]

I'd love to hear this as a podcast while working out, driving or going for a walk. Just don't want to take the time to sit down and watch this. Would this be possible?

[@MossyEarth]

We should get this in a podcast format yes! Added to our list of ideas. - Cheers, Duarte

[@gauriblomeyer1835]

In Germany all forest are cared for by specialists who learned their tasks for 5 years. Without such constant care no forest can stay alive. So you have to initiate such constant care.

[@HabarudoD]

Not a member, but ... How about you make a video like this, going through the questions after sending it out to a few people to gauge their reactions/misunderstandings of questions, and then address the feedback before sending it out to everyone? That way people have a chance to clear up misunderstandings BEFORE taking the survey?

[@MossyEarth]

Hi Habarudo, That is useful feedback! Added to my list to implement :) - Cheers, Duarte

[@juliadean2473]

There's nothing more depressing than seeing the wildlife restricted to the outer fringes of a forest. Once inside, the amount of flora and fauna very quickly diminishes. I think to cluster the trees is a great idea and because there would be a wider light distribution there will be greater foliage and therefore possibly more carbon uptake than with just straight tree planting. The tree clusters will provide a diversity of age when younger varieties later spring up in between them. If the tree clusters are individually fenced then it will be very expensive in materials and manpower. It would be very handy to look at the metal fence panels USA farmers use. These could be used and then easily relocated as the trees mature. Would it be an idea for the initial cluster trees to be as mature as possible, ie with root balls? Think the work is fantastic and a white paper would be an ideal way of educating people and certifying the policies of Mossy Earth and thereby also exposing the mistakes of rash government forestry projects.

[@MossyEarth]

Hi Julia, thank you for the detailed feedback and glad to see that you are in favour of some of our new ideas and moving forward with the whitepaper. - Cheers, Duarte

[@TheVideoful100]

I have been to New Zealand a few years ago. And I have seen that they are planting in clusters. You see you bog bare hill like so many in that country and then on that area there are patches of trees and patches without. I was thinking they are halfing their effort and as soon as these trees are old enough they are seeding and filling the gaps.

[@something8245]

Hi! Do you have any experience/know about other projects on reforesting an area post-war? I am looking into reforestation work for a nature reserve in Ukraine (when the territory is freed from invasion😓) and there is extensive fire damage on what was a seaside steppe and, admittedly, a pretty monocultured forest. I was wondering how one would go about reforesting a very poor and sandy/salted soil after a massive forest fire. Are there any international organizations that would reasonably agree to subsidize the costs? I really love your organisation and projects, it gives me so much hope as a young biologist that wants to move into the ecosystem restoration field, keep up the good work!

[@PatrikInNature]

Ouyeea, long video! Let's go :D

[@MossyEarth]

Yea this is the long one… a lot of rambling 😅 - Cheers, Duarte

[@PatrikInNature]

So far it's very informative. Great job :) Greetings from Bavarian forest, Germany 📷

[@MossyEarth]

New project you are working on?

[@PatrikInNature]

Yes yes :) 4 days of wildlife photo/video/audio with my dad

[@BobbyBermuda1986]

Love the shirt

[@yumtums3018]

Personally I would love to see something in regards to the removal of dams. Which has huge benefits from allowing fish migration and spreading nutrients (for example salmon being caught by predators and then rotting in the forest). Plus the benefits it brings to estuaries etc.

[@treverthetree]

Comment for engagement!

[@MossyEarth]

Haha thanks! - Cheers, Duarte

[@Helix..]

Will you ever come to the appalachians to help reclaim lost land from lumber?

[@MossyEarth]

We would love to have a US project, and the Appalachians sounds like an interesting place for a project so thank for the tip! - Cheers, Duarte

[@c0niferal]

Re your question at the end about how to process the sheer volume of comments - is that something you can outsource to a passionate member/s, just get them to go through & create boxes as they go to collate all the duplicates? It would then reduce your workload, to receive '413 positive comments about the proposal, 18 say it was confusing' etc etc. Of course AI would be excellent here, again just to collate a lot of the simpler comments saying the same thing, but I don't know how feasible that would be to set up

[@alexzander9974]

Do you have a subscription plan for companies ? something like 5€/employee, and they can say they support you to be more attractive for recruiting and stuff. But there would need to be a way to avoid/reduce greenwashing potential for companies

[@owenschulz9504]

Any chance you’ll do work in the states?

[@MossyEarth]

We've had a project in the states before. A bit of research work on Sea Otter disturbance in California. I would really like to start something in the US. I have lived for 9 months in Colorado and 6 months in NY + many trips in other places. I really like US wilderness areas. At this stage we need a biologist full time hire then and find scalable project opportunities there and then I reckon we can start something. - Cheers, Duarte

[@fenixfox4366]

Coukd someone please go more into depth about whats happening in iceland about the non native / invaisive

[@MossyEarth]

Hi Felix, could you specify it a bit more? Are you referring to the trees we plant or the issue with the lupine? - Cheers, Duarte

[@fenixfox4366]

@@MossyEarth ī can specify ī mean about the trees im very happy with what your doing so far just abit confused to dø with the pros and cons of and what you mean by planting non naitive trees could that dø any harm to wildlife?

[@MossyEarth]

Planting non-native species has the risk of creating an ecosystem that is not suitable for the existing species in the landscape. There are some exceptions of course but generally this is an easy rule to follow. - Cheers, Duarte

[@frankbardon]

Have you considered partnering with the companies and governments that have over committed on tree planting to perform “health services” in addition to the tree planting? Seems like it could offset the tree budget and promote non “lazy” practices… allowing you to focus on health of ecosystems instead of volume of trees?

[@teen-at-heart]

I think the feedback/argument "you shouldn't give the public so much power" is absurd and I'm so tired of these kinds of "green pragmatists", who think they are so smart by saying 'we need leaders and actions and get to work'. They just don't get that beside the climate crisis we also need to fix what got us into this mess: the way humans have organized for hundreds of years and in particular how "leaders" have messed up and how too much power in the hands of very few (because it's so practical and seems so "quick") led us to so many problems. We NEED more community, we NEED more involvement of the community in decision-making, we NEED more transparency. If the green movement organizes similarly to how it was done for hundreds of years, we might save the planet, but it will be endangered again in the far future as humans then haven't changed HOW they organize. I hope people get what I mean. :) TL;DR: I loooove how you involve us and that you ask for our opinions and that you are so transparent! :D

[@MossyEarth]

I think there is a balance to be struck between spending too much time consulting and too little time actually doing things but I agree with you that in general the consultation part has been lacking. Glad you enjoy the way we do things, I'm excited to continue improving them! - Cheers, Duarte

[@CleanCrown]

I'm curious as to what you think about Ecosia? They also put focus on transparency but not nearly as much as you do. Do you think they're doing a good job?

[@gauriblomeyer1835]

If I develop a new technology in mechanical subjects I build up a prototype so that interested people can see the results which are superior. Why don’t you do the same? You are from the UK. So expect to see what kind of tree family you planted in Scotland or in England, Wales ? And what kind of animals will living there or are planned to live there in the future. A good start is to make all interested members take care of one or two or more trees planted by you with a mark of their names. So one can visit these trees, payed for by the marked members. In Switzerland this wonderful practice is used.

[@Tsuchimursu]

Big monoculture forests are better than barren wasteland, but not optimal. Given time they will slowly heal, faster than abandoned wasteland I'd bet.

[@Dustmadeout]

You could cut the cost on professional planters.

[@ManoloElCerdo]

To the part of summarizing the comments and questions, have you thought on opening internships for students on H. R., marketing or something related that might be related to reading and summarizing a lot of inputs?

[@thesilentone4024]

I was wondering when you where going to release a new video. So in places in iceland or England that are dry and have no forest left. Like I think in places that are dry or on a hill should have a 2 or 3 foot deep hole and if on hill 4 feet wide if in dry flat spot 5 foot round hole. Why you ask/say to make a water bason to help keep trees watered weeks after a rain and reduce flooding on hills as well.

[@MossyEarth]

Hi! More videos coming more frequently soon... We have been undergoing some planning and some revamps. Not sure what you mean with the dry hill and the holes? - Cheers, Duarte

[@thesilentone4024]

@@MossyEarth the holes are things you dig to make a water bowl and the dry hills i mean are parts that are basically or literally rock with no soil so there for dont hold water well so are dry.

[@MossyEarth]

Gotcha! That makes sense, thanks!

[@grenm9]

Man I'm hiking myself I can't grab any tea

[@Gwydda]

Are you going to make quarterly videos every quarter or every half quarter?

[@stewartjones2173]

Are you recruiting volunteers to provide manual labour seasonally.