How to Support Border Partners

Heating Homes, Saving the Planet

The sustainable technological revolution is here. Are you in? Do you want to shrink your carbon footprint?

By supporting our campaign to construct 25 more biochar producing stoves in the community of Puerto Palomas, Mexico, you will:

help to heat the homes of 38 low-income families;
provide a community with expanded access to healthy, fresh produce
mitigate the effects of climate change by sequestering at least 140 tonnes of atmospheric carbon in the first year of operation
Save the burning of over 15,000 pounds of propane that would be used each year heating those 38 homes
Have your donation MATCHED dollar for dollar by a generous anonymous supporter, doubling your impact

At this point you may be wondering: what exactly is biochar? This charcoal substance produced in our stoves is an ancient natural soil amendment that we make in a closely controlled burning system. It can be made from any number of agricultural products, but we burn the pecan shells available in abundance in this region that would otherwise go to waste. Biochar produced in the stoves is composted with cow manure and then applied to community gardens and farms.

Every $800.00 raised will cover the costs to build and operate a biochar stove and heat the home of a needy family in Palomas at no cost to them, while increasing crop yields in our community gardens and farms by up to 35%.

Project Impact: An Overview

Expanding our biochar project to build 25 more stoves that heat homes and produce biochar will have the following impacts in each of Border Partners priority action areas.

Health & Wellbeing: Biochar produced by our stoves will permanently sequester over 1,000 tons of carbon from the atmosphere over 10 years, contributing to lower local pollution levels and mitigating the effects of climate change. In our high desert climate the temperature drops into the 30’s every night and can go below freezing during the five month heating season.

Economic Growth: Used as a soil amendment, the 280 tons of Biochar produced by our 38 stoves in the stove's 10 year estimated useful life has potential to increase crop yields of local farms by up to 35%, providing an additional source of income. The money saved by families on heating means they have more to spend on food and other necessities.

Sustainable Technology: This project will provide sources of no-cost, energy-saving, carbon neutral technology and work hand-in-hand with locals to ensure effective, long-term success over the next 10 years.

Education: People in the community and beyond can learn about biochar from educational resources about this project freely available online.

This regenerative, sustainable energy source will heat homes, help feed a community, and sequester carbon contributing to climate change mitigation on a global scale.

Please partner with us to expand this project and extend resources for a climate-friendly, sustainable future for all, one ton of Biochar at a time!

Who are we?

We know it’s important to trust the organizations that you support. Border Partners is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit working with people in Puerto Palomas de Villa, Chihuahua, Mexico since 2008. We believe sharing resources across borders and working collaboratively to improve education, health, the environment and the local economy will have long term benefits for everyone involved. Find out more at borderpartners.org.https://borderpartners.org

Do you want to learn more about how Biochar is already making a difference in the sustainable energy and agriculture movements, in Palomas and beyond? Read more about us on the technology sharing information initiative page on our website: https://borderpartners.org/tech-share/

Future Prospects

Financial Viability & Sustainability: As our biochar stove inventory grows we will be able to sell carbon offsets and credits. This money will be used to increase the number of stoves in Palomas and to help start similar projects in nearby towns and cities. In addition, our procedures and technologies will be available to the world via our tech sharing website page.