Grow Clean Air

In the early 1990s, a small group of citizens in Oklahoma were passionate about revolutionizing emission reduction mechanisms to create room for change rather than fighting regulations. They didn't realize at the time the impact their work would have on today's climate change protocols. The model they developed was subsequently integrated into the core of the Kyoto Protocol, the international framework convention for reducing Greenhouse Gases (GhGs) that cause climate change.

This group created a company to actively spread its innovative, everyone-wins models. Now a business with an enviable track record, this team continues to challenge the emissions reduction industry to be more innovative, more accurate, more transparent, more active and more productive: Clean Air Action Corporation.

Clean Air Action's growing concern for the future of air quality worldwide led the company to work with subsistence farmers in Dodoma Region, Tanzania, to develop and implement a new model for community forestation. In the 8+ years since its inception, this program has developed into what is now TIST, the foremost model for simultaneous carbon sequestration and local community empowerment. TIST has grown from a handful of subsistence farmers in one region in central Tanzania to over 50,000 farmers across eight regions and four countries (India, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda) in 2010, resulting in over 7 million trees of diverse varieties alive and growing today, and 6,000 more being planted daily by TIST Small Groups.

As the program spread exponentially, The Institute for Environmental Innovation (I4EI), a 501(c)3 Public Charity, was formed to fund and operate the increasing sustainable development portion of TIST. I4EI manages the nitty-gritty details of educating and enabling Small Groups to take locally determined action on environmental renewal, food security and improved health in the areas where TIST grows, thereby extending the reach of the project to include AIDS education, effective community building and a structure for creating and sharing Best Practices on numerous pertinent issues.

In 2009, Clean Air Action became the first American company to received afforestation and reforestation approval under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol for TIST India.

Purchasing carbon credits through Grow Clean Air helps I4EI and Clean Air Action make everyone's world cleaner and more sustainable.