Our budget per months includes:

1. Maintenance of the 4 acres of secondary forest at the rescue center in the heart of Manuel Antonio

2. The Vet and Wildlife Caretakers house

3. The Medical Vet Clinic

4. The rehabilitation and quarantine cages

5. The best nutrition available for the food plan of each animal

6. Fulltime veterinary care

7. Animal caretaker working 24/7

8. Night Guard

These costs come to an amazing $2000 per month. We want to continue growing just like we have, we want to rescue and release more animals; and the only way is with your help. We need to continue accepting all the wildlife in need, to be able to help them all, we don’t want to have to turn any away due to lack of economic resources. We also have an extensive wish list for more and better veterinary equipment.

If you care for the rainforest and its wildlife, please help us with this noble cause. There are two ways of doing it:

Come to our Souvenir Store and Shop. 100% of the proceeds go to save the rainforest. (You can also make a donation or adoption in the store).
Go to our website and make a donation: www.kidssavingtherainforest.org
Please come shop in our store, it is open 7 days a week from 7 AM until 10 PM. If you want more information you can call us at 2777 2592 or send an email to: Janine@kidssavingtherainforest.org

So you can get a great deal, buy a great gift, and safe the rainforest at the same time! It is a win-win situation and the rainforest thanks you!

Author : Nicole Landers

Gisele Bundchen born in Brazil is a supermodel, actress, mom, an active environmentalist, is now also an animated eco superhero.

Along with AOL and A Squared Entertainment, Gisele launched a web series on AOLkids.com, “Gisele & The Green Team”. The web series and interactive site is a creative destination that is educational and entertaining, showing Gisele and a group of teenage supermodels with super eco powers. Gisele firmly believes if one respects themselves they will respect the world around them too. In a recent press release, Gisele states, “There’s a vital connection between empowering our youth and protecting our planet. We hope to not only teach young girls about important environmental issues, but support them in building self-confidence and discovering their inner potential.”

She is the Goodwill Ambassador for the U.N. Environment Programme and for the past five years, has donated a percentage of the profits from her line of sandals, Ipanema Gisele Bündchen, to protect the Atlantic Rainforest in Brazil. Gisele’s beauty is undeniable and she recently launched a line of skincare, Sejaa Pure Skin Care. Sejaa is all natural and produced with as little impact on the environment as possible.

Another one of Gisele’s causes has been a family affair; The Agua Limpa (Clean Water) Project applies sustainable environmental management and promotes the recovery of riparian vegetation and the micro basins of Horizontina and Tucunduva (State of Rio Grande do Sul, Southern Brazil), which is the region where the top model was born. She also has a blog where she shares her projects and passion with the world. Truly beautiful from the inside out, her insight and love of the earth are what makes her a true eco-heroine.**

Janine Licare’s journey in environmental activism and founding Kids Saving the Rainforest is truly remarkable. At the young age of four, she and her mother left the US and settled in Costa Rica. Growing up with nine other children in her graduating class, she was the first to go to college in the US, and was accepted into the prestigious Stanford University.

Kids Saving the Rainforest (KSRF) is a non-profit founded in 1999 when Janine was only 91/2 years old and she saw first-hand something needed to change. With her mother, she created the KSRF store in Costa Rica where 100% of the proceeds from locally produced items are sold to tourists to raise awareness and funds. The monies raised contribute to preserving the local rainforest land, rehabilitating baby and injured animals, supporting a wildlife sanctuary, and to insure the survival of the endangered Titi monkeys.

The next phase for Janine and KSRF is to grow the Animal Rehabilitation & Educational Center in Costa Rica to study and create proper living environments for some of the rarest species of monkeys left on our planet, including the Titi and Spider monkey.**

Trudie Styler is a force to be reckoned with. A renowned film producer, founder of Xingu Films, an actress, mother, organic farmer, activist, environmentalist, married to Sting and has 20 years of work in preserving rainforests around the world under her belt, she founded Rainforest Foundation International in 1989 along with her husband. They both saw first hand what was happening in Brazil and focused on taking action with the indigenous people, later funding programs in other countries such as Latin America, Asia and Africa. In 1999, Rainforest Foundation FUND replaced Rainforest Foundation International and today the mission is to protect and support indigenous peoples, and traditional populations of the rainforest in an effort to protect their environment and fulfill their rights.

The Foundation turned 21 years old in 2010, and to date, Trudie has raised more than $23 million for the cause. On one of her many visits to Ecuador she witnessed first hand the environmental damages caused by oil exploitation in the rainforest.

“I met mothers in Ecuador who have to make an appalling decision: either to give their children no water or contaminated water, knowing that it will make them sick,” recalled Trudie. There are over 30,000 people and half are children that were exposed to oil contamination through air, water and land in the provinces of Sucumbíos and Orellana. The contamination led to wide spread cancer, miscarriages, skin disorders and respiratory illnesses. After meeting the families first hand, Trudie enrolled The Rainforest Fund, UNICEF and the Frente de la Defensa de la Amazonia, a pilot project that brings clean water to areas with high levels of contamination, severe health needs, poverty and minimal access to basic services.

Specially-designed filtered water barrels that cost no more than $500 to build enable families, health centers and schools to have clean water, even in the most toxic areas.

Working with the local community and tradesmen, the water barrels were installed in rural houses and shelters. If maintained, these filtered water barrels will last up to 50 years.

“Once you see and meet the families that are so in need of clean water you realize how lucky you are just to be able to bring up your children in a safe place with a supply of clean water,” said Trudie.

Winning many accolades over the years for her work in the environment, in 2010 Trudie launched an organic food brand in the UK called, Lake House Table. She is truly unstoppable.**

Daryl Hannah, a high profile actress best known for films such as Kill Bill, Blade Runner and Splash, is also known for her activism in preserving Planet Earth. Through her website, she focuses on stories about human rights, environmental preservation, and the welfare and protection of other species.

A subject dear to her heart, Daryl works with Amazonwatch.org, a non-profit that protects the rainforest and advances the rights of indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin. Most recently Daryl aided Amazon Watch with the Peruvian Amazon Achuar Indigenous Leaders and demanded during a stakeholders meeting in Los Angeles that Occidental Petroleum (Oxy), clean up their pollution in the rainforest.

Between 1971 and 2000, Oxy drilled more than 150 wells and built nearly 300 miles of roads in the formerly intact Amazon rainforest homeland of the Achuar indigenous people. For every barrel of oil Oxy produced in Peru, they dumped eight barrels of toxic wastewater into the Amazon. The Achuar ask that Oxy take full responsibility for cleaning up the environmental disaster it left behind when it departed after 30 years.

From this tireless effort from Daryl and Amazon Watch, this indigenous tribe won an appeal in December for this human rights and environmental lawsuit. This is major victory for the indigenous people of Peru and the preservation of their rainforest.

Daryl’s work has not gone unnoticed; she is truly an eco warrior of the highest good.**
Tags : “COCO ECO MAGAZINE,” “GISELE BUNDCHEN,” “TRUDIE STYLER,” “DARYL HANNAH,” “JANINE LICARE” Click here to read more

Kids Saving the Rainforest eBook

Thank you Ferma at Ecobuddies for creating this e-book!

Kids Saving the Rainforest recently partnered with Blue Banyan Inn, an environmentally friendly bed and breakfast located right outside of Manuel Antonio. The Blue Banyan is part of a 75-acre ecologically sustainable community, encompassing KSTR’s new Wildlife Sanctuary and International Volunteer Center, tilapia farms, nurseries, and botanical gardens. As a KSTR volunteer, I spent part of my time working at the Blue Banyan Inn, helping them move towards their goal of becoming fully self-sustainable. My primary job, along with Rodrigo and Tio, two of the workers on staff, was to harvest a food source for the animals housed at the sanctuary.

Every Wednesday, Rodrigo, Tio, and I drove through the thousands of palm and teak trees that buffer the Blue Banyan Inn and protect the animals within from the noise and stress of civilization. The property is surrounded by primary and secondary rainforest with expansive mountain ranges looming in the distance, separating one of the greenest parts of country from the Pacific Ocean just 20 minutes away. Wildlife is abundant in the area, and on several mornings I spotted scarlet macaws flying over the valley on their way to forage for ripe fruit. Tiki, the resident blue and gold macaw at the Inn also welcomed us to his world each day with endless chatter.

The patches of fruit trees, vines, and compost holes on the farm needed to be tended. Our first task was to clean the brush from the pineapple, maracuya, and cana crops. Wielding only machetes and our determination, we conquered chest high weeds, razor sharp leaves, insects, and of course the sun. The rewards, however, were well worth it. At lunchtime we picked the best-looking pineapples we could find, and after having resisted them all morning, we finally got to enjoy their natural sweetness. The pineapple, like many of the fruits grown on the farm, would also serve as food for the animals in the sanctuary.

Once the land was cleared, Cristian, an employee of the nearby Palma Tica Company and expert in agriculture, helped us design a compost heap and a plant nursery. He generously supplied KSTR with a few hundred kilos of cow dung to start our heap, which, knee deep, we shoveled evenly among the decomposing greens of the recently trimmed farmland. The grubs 5 to 6 feet down in the compost heap were the largest I have ever seen, and that was exactly what we wanted for nutrient rich compost.

Christian also offered advice on how to care for the fruit trees on the property. In order to produce the most fruit, we trimmed the trees into a cup shape, as he suggested, so that the sunlight could get to the leaves on the inside of the tree.

This led to one of my memorable experiences at the farm. I was about 10 feet up in a limon tree with my machete cutting some of the inside branches when I felt a sting on my neck. Having lived in the rainforest for 8 months, this was nothing new and I assumed it was an ant. “Hormigas!” Rodrigo said from down below. “Si, hormigas,” I said and continued cutting. Seconds later, I was stung multiple more times. Rodrigo was trying to tell me something, but I was too busy trying not to fall out of the tree while holding the machete and trying to deal with the stings to really understand. Suddenly, I turned around to see a baseball-sized bee hive with hornets swarming around my head. I immediately jumped from the tree, not realizing I was heading straight for Rodrigo and Tio below. The look on their faces was unforgettable as I landed with a machete in one hand and bees flying everywhere. I picked up a dead bee, looked at Rodrigo and said, “Hormigas!!??”. “No” he said, “abejas….” Apparently, there was a bit of a language barrier that time, but in the end we all laughed it off.

The new Organic Farm at the KSTR International Volunteer Center now has two functioning compost heaps and healthy crops of pineapples, sugar cane, and passion fruit. Along with planting and caring for dozens of banana, limon, water apple, mango, wild cashew, and guayaba trees, we also helped complete the new plant nursery. Our efforts will increase the amount of crops KSTR can harvest to feed the animals—and even the guests—at the Blue Banyan Inn. With KSTR’s help, this beautiful community will give back to the land and animals that make it so special, and I’m very grateful to have been a part of that process.

The center is being funded in part by long-time KSTR volunteer, Everett Janssen who volunteers to help sick, injured and orphaned wildlife in Minnesota. The actual structure will be a three-story building consisting of 6 dorm rooms, a lounge space, expansive outdoor terraces, and habitation for the volunteer director. The center will be able to accommodate up to 24 volunteers, and alternative housing is available at the Blue Banyan Inn or off-site at Hotel Mono Azul. Volunteers will also have access to the Blue Banyan Inn’s restaurant and outdoor areas for group meetings and free time. Everett plans to be very hands-on throughout the project and hopes to set up, organize, and run the volunteer program during its initial stages.

The Volunteer Center is the next step in KSTR’s ongoing mission to help educate people about the local rainforest and its inhabitants as well as global environmentally sound practices. Volunteers will have the opportunity to care for animals at the sanctuary, plant trees, and learn about organic gardening and sustainable living. Click here for more information about our volunteer program.

You can help support the new KSTR Volunteer Center by donating money that will be used to furnish the center with beds, tables, lights and other things making it a great place to house our volunteers. Click here to donate to our building program.

What was your most memorable KSTR experience?

When we were new to the whole animal rescue thing, we had this one squirrel monkey that was brought in and had been electrified. It ended up dying but we took it to the vet to perform a necropsy because at that time there were only about 1200 squirrel monkeys left in Costa Rica. They were dying out and there was a huge sense of panic at KSTR about what was going to happen to this species of monkey.

That was my first necropsy and after the vet cut the monkey open, he opened the intestine and pulled out this worm–a parasite so long–and I remember thinking this is what’s killing the monkeys. I was so shocked and so perplexed that this huge parasite was coming out of this adorable little monkey.

What are you up to these days now that you’re no longer living in Costa Rica and running KSTR on a daily basis?

Three years ago I left to go to Stanford University in California. I recently switched majors from earth systems and now I’m studying history. History is really exciting and new for me because growing up in Costa Rica we only learned history about this area and not about the rest of the world.

I’m also currently doing research through the biology department at Stanford on endangered species in North and Central America. I’m very much interested in every aspect of biology, including marine. This past summer I worked at the aquarium of the Bay in San Francisco.

What are you going to do next year when you graduate?

I’m applying to Teach for America and also for some environmental fellowships. I’m very used to working with the government to help change things here and institute new laws so I’m hoping to combine that knowledge with environmental work in the future.

Do you think you’ll ever come back to live in Costa Rica in the future?

I don’t think I’ll be coming back to Costa Rica full time, although I do think I could work for KSTR full-time around the world. I loved living here and it was a great experience.

What’s your involvement in KSTR now?

I’m still very much kept in the loop. My mom is here running the day-to-day operation, but I get cc’ed on everything. Now we have volunteers all over the world to help out, but I’m still involved in all of the major decision making.

How has KSTR’s mission changed over the years?

Originally, our main goal with KSTR was to educate children about saving the rainforest and to empower them to feel that they really can make a difference. We taught kids locally at KSTR and sometimes had educational articles published in places like National Geographic for Kids. As those kids grew up, they became the next generation of people to make a difference especially with global warming and rainforest preservation. Back then you didn’t hear much about global warming or deforestation in Costa Rica; people just weren’t aware. The next generation has to 100% put a foot down and follow the 3 R’s: recycle, reuse, and renew.

Now, we are focusing more on children internationally, rather than just locally. We have gotten a lot of international publicity throughout the years, especially in elementary school textbooks for children around the world. Children were given assignments in school to write us letters in English asking us how they could help make a difference and save the rainforest.  We had sister organizations and children from around the world who contacted us and asked us how they could become a member and what they could do to make a difference.

In response we created the membership initiation that is still in place today. To become a member, a child has to do something to help save the rainforest. We provide a list of 10 different possibilities and the child had to do one of those things and write to us about their experience.

Aside from trying to make a difference with children, our mission has always been to help the titi monkeys. We do need help from primatologists and scientists as well and occasionally have groups come to study our animals and problems with disease, dying populations, etc.

Does KSTR have any activities specifically geared towards adults?

We are in the process of trying to reach out to adults. We do get people who come through Manuel Antonio who want to volunteer. When we have volunteers come in, they stay at the Blue Banyan Inn, our newest partner. They help out at the animal sanctuary on the Inn’s premises, which is run by Kids Saving the Rainforest. They have the opportunity to help raise and care for monkeys there and can also participate in planting and horticulture projects. They can also volunteer at our rescue center, cleaning cages, walking animals, and helping with reforestation efforts.

What’s the KSTR kids camp all about?

Initially the camp was held every Saturday during the summer, but now due to popular demand it’s held year round. Kids come in and learn about the history of KSTR and our efforts. Just as we did in the very beginning, the kids make arts and crafts–rocks, bookmarks, bracelets, and earrings–that are sold in the KSTR store. Each week there is a different lesson plan. It could be regarding an endangered species, or renew, reuse, recycle (the 3 R’s), or what happens to a plastic bottle when it’s not recycled but tossed into the rainforest or ocean. Sometimes we take them into the park and they distribute our “11 Reasons Not to Feed the Monkeys” pamphlets to visitors. The camp is from 9-12am, and we get everyone from local kids to foreign kids that are visiting to expats that live here. Any child age 6 to 18 can attend. We charge 2500 colones ($5) for a day at camp, which includes snack and transportation, and of course all proceeds go right back to help save the rainforest.

Janine Licare

Part I: A look back at KSTR

We were lucky enough to catch up Janine Licare recently back home in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica where at 9.5-years-old she founded Kids Saving the Rainforest (KSTR) in 1999.

Tell me a little bit about the history of KSTR.

When KSTR started it was just my friend and I. We made and sold arts and crafts on the side of the road—painted rocks, paper mache, and hand-drawn bookmarks.

At first we didn’t know what we were going to do with the money that we earned from selling the arts and crafts. We saw that the rainforest all around us was being used to build hotels so we decided to donate the money we raised to buy property to help save the rainforest. We gave about $180 to one of those organizations that you see advertise at the beginning of movies back when there was VHS and no DVDs. The money was intended to save 4 acres of land. We had this great idea to go visit the 4 acres that our money went to, so my mom took us on a road trip across the country to visit the land. When we got there a representative from the organization told us that he wasn’t sure what they did with the money, that sometimes the money goes to the staff or administrative things and sometimes to caring for trees or any number of things.

We were devastated. We were these little girls who put our hearts and souls into making these paper mache vases—which in the humidity here takes forever to dry as you can imagine—and pet rocks and candles. Because of this we decided that when people donated to KSTR that they would be able to dictate where the money went specifically—to saving a tree, to putting up a monkey bridge, etc.

How did the rescue center get started?

The rescue center idea didn’t start until 2000. We hadn’t really thought about it before then. The only other rescue center at that time in this area was in the process of closing down. People started bringing animals to us because we already had this established rainforest protection agency. People kept bringing in baby sloth after baby sloth after baby sloth. We turned into a kind of sloth sanctuary. But we didn’t have a full time vet at that time, so we used a vet in town who mainly dealt with domestic animals. We had to figure out how to raise and care for the animals ourselves. We acted as their mothers. We helped them learn life skills, fed them by hand, and spent 24 hours a day with them.

Now that we have our full-time vet involved we know exactly how to care for the animals. We know precisely what goes on every day at the center with our animals. It’s immediate satisfaction to see the progress with the animals, and it’s so easy to care about a monkey or sloth.

We were lucky enough recently to get a tour of KSTR’s wildlife rescue center with Pía Martín, KSTR’s full-time vet. For the past year and a half, Pía has been caring for the animals at KSTR’s rehabilitation facility, which is tucked within 4 acres of Manuel Antonio rainforest owned and protected by KSTR. The sanctuary is managed by KSTR’s staff and volunteers and is overseen by MINAET, Costa Rica’s Ministry of Environment and Energy.

Currently, the rescue center is home to about 15 animals, among them Titi monkeys, red squirrels, marmosets, kinkajous, sloths, raccoons, anteaters, and even a toucan. The center specializes in sloths and Titi monkeys, but as the only rescue center in the Central Pacific Coast area, KSTR recognizes the need to help other species as well. The center’s trained professionals and volunteer interns work to rehabilitate and return animals into the wild and reunite them with their respective troops.

Large hand-constructed cages made from heavy wood and screens are used to house monkeys, kinkajous, and raccoons during their recovery periods. Smaller cages, pet carrying cases, and even laundry baskets make great homes for the smaller animals who feel secure in more compact spaces. All of the animals are walked or exercised daily in the surrounding rainforest and are given individualized diets, researched and prepared by Pia and other KSTR staff and volunteers.

Animals arrive at the rescue center from many different sources. Some are found abandoned and brought in by concerned people in the community; others are wrongly kept as pets and confiscated from homes by MINAET; and still others are unfortunate victims of electrocution or car accidents while trying to cross the roads.

Animals suffering from shock may only need to spend a night or two at the center, Pia explained, and can be released quickly after receiving medical attention, food, and water, while other animals with chronic conditions need round the clock attention and basic life skills before they can be reintegrated into the wild. Sammy the sloth, for example, struggled with pneumonia when he first arrived at the center and his growth has been stunted do to chronic illness. As part of Sammy’s rehabilitation, he is placed in fallen trees and low brush so that he can develop his climbing skills. Depending on Sammy’s progress he may be able to be released in about a year. KSTR plans to provide permanent homes for animals that can’t be reintegrated at its Wildlife Sanctuary located at the nearby Blue Banyan Inn.

Urgent and more extensive care can also be provided by Pia in her veterinarian office located on the grounds. Stocked with medical supplies, medicines, a microscope, and an examination table, she is able to perform surgeries, such as amputations of burnt limbs, or investigate samples from the animals to track down disease sources or forms of disease transmission.

To date this year, the center has taken in over 40 animals and expects at least another 20 by the year’s end, although, as Pia said, you can never predict how many animals will be in need of care.

For more information about the rescue center or to find out how you can volunteer or make a donation visit KSTR.

All proceeds raised from the performances will be generously donated to KSTR. Two performances will be held and tickets will be available at the door or beforehand at specified locations:

Quepos Performance: October 16, 2010 at 6pm at the Teatro Comunitario Copaza, Muelle deQuepos
Quepos Tickets: Mot Mot, Best Western, Hotel Kamuk or Mini Price Store (50 mts east of Pali)

Jaco Performance: October 17, 2010 at 3pm, Talleres Arte Lau
Jaco Tickets: Talleres Arte Lau, Centro Comerical, Plaza Coral