We are living at a time of intense global change.
Planetary biophysical limits, the systems that regulate conditions for life on earth, are being breached at an alarming rate. The oceans are acidifying, the climate is heating and aridifying, causing weather chaos and wildfire and deluge. Species loss is catastrophic and accelerating, and microplastics can be found everywhere, from inside the tissues of the human brain to the breath of dolphins in the wild. We are in a time of profound and increasing crisis -- and how we respond, as individuals, as communities, and as a species, will determine nothing less than the future of life on earth.
Can we change our collective relationship to growth, and to what constitutes success? Can we change our relationship to work, to each other, to meaning, and especially to the earth beneath our feet -- the natural world all around us?
At Greensleeves we believe we can.
Though the hour is late, there is still time, and there is a clear path forward that involves saving whatever we can --- protecting, repairing, restoring -- and ultimately transforming the culture of "work, spend, consume, repeat." We can use less, connect more, and restore much of what has been damaged or lost. Together, plant by plant, piece by plot, we can transform the land, as well as the stories, actions and processes that are pushing life on earth to the brink.
Services we provide homeowners
and land managers
Invasive plant removal; by hand & by the root
Targeted work in difficult terrain; steep grade /uneven ground, sensitive biology
Process-based restoration techniques
Erosion & flood mitigation
Fuel-reduction and brush clean-up, Rx Burn preparation
Native plant seeding, cultivation, support
Living wage jobs
Workforce development
Climate adaptation & eco-restoration
Wildfire readiness & resilience
Living wage jobs
Training and personal support
Safety certifications
Experience & references
Services we provide our community
Services we provide our crew
(Photo courtesy of Light Theory Multimedia, a volunteer participant at a Wolf Creek Community Alliance restoration day, 2022.)
Inspired and informed by both environmental science, and indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), Greensleeves teams will use simple hand tools and elbow grease to to perform process-based restoration techniques on public and private lands. Greensleeves aims to increase the capacity and breadth of our regional non-profit conservation organizations already engaged in restoration projects in the Sierra Nevada. Forest Ecologists and Restoration Technicians in the field will have increasing access to mobile, agile and increasingly knowledgeable capable hand crews. And Greensleeves crew members will have the opportunity to become increasingly skilled and knowledgeable in this field, earning a living wage, and a place in the growing restoration economy. As crews gain experience and expertise they will be able to provide land owners and land managers top notch data-driven restoration and climate mitigation services, restoring ecological health and function to the wildland urban interface, while improving fire safety and climate resilience for the community as a whole. Greensleeves will create the economic pathway for restoration work to scale-up, returning the human hand to its rightful place on the land, restoring, renewing and regenerating the places we call home.
Get in Touch
We are proud and grateful to report that alongside our partners; Sierra Streams Institute (SSI) and the California Heritage Indigenous Research Project (CHIRP), we've received initial funding through the Climate Smart Communities Initiative (CSCI). We've hired our first crew and they are currently training and working under the guidance our partners on fuel-reduction and climate resilience goals. By recruiting our first teams from marginalized communities; especially people exiting homelessness, re-entering the community after incarceration or recovery, we are aligning social justice with urgent environmental need, creating synergy across both fields. By serving homeowners and land managers interested in rewilding their yards or acreage, we will begin to reconnect separated ecological islands with larger tracts of restored land -- stimulating forest health and restoring fire resilience. In the process we will support a scale-up of the restoration economy locally and regionally.
Do you love this idea and want to know more?
Do you know someone we should connect with?
Please get in touch!
Donate Now
We greatly appreciate your interest in donating to our cause! We are still in the beginning stages of this project and are working to get things fully up and running.
Please contact us at info@greensleeves.life for information on how you can donate.