About
About #CanopyBird Campaign
Salt Spring Coffee is doing a fundraiser for its 1% for the Planet partner Canopy to support their efforts to protect ancient and endangered forests.
You can participate in three ways through the campaign:
Change for Canopy
We all have the power to influence our communities and shape the world we live in. Whether you are just getting started with a sustainable lifestyle or are further transforming your life, sign up for the Canopy Pledge to commit to supporting the health of the world’s forests.
It’s a big, exciting challenge and we are here to help. The Canopy Bird Challenge is 21 days of ideas and small steps you can take to put your pledge into practice to positively impact ancient and endangered forests. Put your pledge into practice
Coffee for Canopy
Our Canopy Bird blends beans from Latin America and Sumatra and that means a full body. Heavy, with layers of dark, earthy tones. We give $1 to Canopy when you purchase a specially marked bag of Canopy Bird. Keep your eyes peeled for them in stores this summer.
Every sip of coffee you take is good for the birds.
Create for Canopy
We’ve created a special Paint-by-Number poster that celebrates Canopy’s story. Yes, those Paint-by-Numbers, a throwback to the painting kits with grey or blue outlines and numbers that correspond with tiny paint pots. This summer we’re inviting BC-based artists and change-makers to get creative with a nostalgic art form. More details to come. Show your creativity
Catch us on the Fly
How can you help?
Drink Coffee! Every sip of Salt Spring Coffee you take supports organic agriculture and is fair to farmers. And 1% of our total sales is donated to non-profits like Canopy doing good things for the planet.
Take the pledge! Small changes in our daily life can create lasting change. Pledge to live in a way that treads lightly on our forests. Our 21-Day Canopy Challenge will jump start and help you positively impact our world.
Get Creative! Is there anything more spectacular than the colours of birds? Celebrate and learn about the bird species that call Canadian forests with our Paint-by-Number project.
21-Day Challenge
THE #CANOPYBIRD 21-DAY ACTION CHALLENGE
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." — Margaret Mead
The best way to incorporate changes in our lives is to start as small as you can, and do small things every day. With this idea in mind we’ve created a 21 day action challenge to motivate, inspire you to honor your Canopy Pledge.
Sign me up!
First things first - take the Canopy Pledge. Join a flock of inspired people committed to caring for forests in Canada and beyond. Now you're ready to start our 21 day action challenge.
You've got this
Conserving forests can seem intimidating, but the way you live has enormous impact. Daily habits can be transformed with a consecutive, dedicated plan. Think a cleanse, but WAY more fun.
Small steps, big change
The Canopy Challenge is simple - for 21 consecutive days you commit to doing one of the small actions on the list below. That’s just three weeks of consistent, fun & engaging small challenges for you to do with your family, friends or colleagues.
It's for the Birds
Our lives have different rhythms, so we’ve designed the 21 Day Canopy Challenge to fit your life. Pick your favourite daily action challenges from the lists below.
Make a Difference Everyday. Try These:
Participate
- Zap the waste! Learn about Zero Waste programs in my city to use at home/work.
- Read a book celebrating nature, and pick up an e-book, borrow a library copy or one printed on Ancient Forest Friendly paper.
- Green my workplace! Have conversations with your boss and staff about steps to build a cleaner, greener workplace.
- Learn about sustainable fashion choices and what’s in the clothes on your back by visiting canopystyle.org.
- Give the gift of time. Contact your favourite environmental organization and offer an hour, a day, or set-up a regular gig!
- Put your wallet to work. Donate to an organization that supports conservation, like Canopy.
Go Wild
- Go on one new hike in an endangered forest.
- Spot a starling! Go bird watching
- Field trip. Visit a bird sanctuary
- Grow something! Start an indoor herb garden, planters on your balcony or plan a flourishing food garden for the summer.
- Immerse yourself. Visit a nature museum, like the Museum of Natural History in Victoria, or the Beaty Biodiversity Museum.
- Bird songs! Download an app to learn and identify bird calls
- Hug an old-growth tree! Tag your image with #canopybird and share where you were in the forest.
Small Steps
- Less waste in your mailbox. Stop my junk mail by creating a sign.
- Reduce. Reuse. Recycle!
- Compost. Set-up a bin in your home, yard or building and learn about your cities composting programs.
- Don’t be a bird brain. Prevent bird collisions with my windows with decals.
- Stay cool. Wash your laundry in cold water to save energy.
- Light e-footprint. Put email banner “please consider the environment before printing” on my accounts.
Purchase Power
- Get cookin’! Make meals using produce from a local Farmers’ Market.
- Swap your style! Host a clothing swap.
- Avoid purchasing products with paper/packaging that is not recyclable in my community.
- Green my library. Choose books printed on recycled paper.
- Not all paper is equal. Purchase Ancient Forest Friendly paper products.
- What’s in your bathroom? Buy 100% recycled toilet paper.
- Be brand loyal. Support brands that do not source from endangered forests.
- Gift experiences. When considering gift purchases, I will think about giving experiences instead of stuff.
- Bulk up! Buy in bulk/support a refill store.
Paper & Packaging
- Hands up! Air dry your hands and use washable towels at home.
- Scrap it! Use a scrap paper bin and reuse paper for lists, notes and more.
- Buy tree-free or 100% post consumer waste paper.
- Mug shot. Commit to using a coffee mug or tumbler , no more paper cups.
- Brown bags no more. Use a reusable lunch container for a trash free lunch every day.
- Drink up! Commit to not buying bottled water and bring your own refillable water bottle.
- Double up! Reuse paper that is printed on one side.
- Sorry Mr. Printer. Avoid printing wherever possible.
- Elevate your takeout! Get reusable chopsticks rather than disposable bamboo chopsticks.
Share your story
- Snap a photo from your daily challenge and share on Instagram with #canopybird.
- Find a resource about forrest & bird habitat conservation? Pin and tag with #canopybird, and check out our Canopy Bird Pinterest Board .
- Find your inner bird and Tweet it out! Follow along @ss_coffee & @canopyplanet.
- Get support. Questions? Send them with #canopybird or write us an email
- Inspire your friends and family to join in by updating your Facebook status.
- Take a break! Tell co-workers during your coffee break about your progress.
- Read articles and browse links for #canopybird challenge participants on our Tumblr.
Take the Pledge
Take the #CanopyBird Pledge
I pledge to be a part of Canopy and Salt Spring Coffee’s effort to protect ancient and endangered forests, and the species that live in them.
Paint-by-number Artwork Download
Download a PDF of our Canopy Paint-by-Number art to Create for Canopy! Print it out to cover it with colour or digitally manipulate the image however you please. Snap a photo and share with the Canopy Bird team by using #canopybird, or email a copy to community@saltspringcoffee.com
Questions?
community@saltspringcoffee.com
The #CanopyBird Pledge
- I will do my best to further forest protection by being mindful of my daily choices and habits.
- I will vote with my wallet, buying products that address the use of ancient and endangered forests in their supply chain, and will embrace organizations that support conservation of these forests and the species that live in them.
- I will cultivate my personal connection to forests by spending time in nature with friends and family.
- I will help raise awareness about ancient and endangered forests, the animals that live in them.
- I will encourage my community to participate in my efforts.
Create for Canopy
Create for #CanopyBird
We’ve handpicked some of our favourite artists and creative changemakers to help tell the story of Canopy. With brushes, paints, colour and a little imagination - they’ve taken a customized Canopy Paint-by-Number canvas and created a special collection of work.
‘CREATE FOR CANOPY COLLECTION’ LAUNCH
We launched the collection in Vancouver on Thursday, October 2 at MakerLabs.
All money raised from the auction event will go directly to Canopy and their conservation efforts in Canada, with a focus on the Great Bear Rainforest.
Create for Canopy - Submitted Artwork
#CanopyBird Submitted Artwork
We asked a flock of creative change-makers and artists in the lower mainland and Vancouver Island to take a Canopy Bird Paint-by-Number print and layer it with their story.
Each completed print was created with different materials, all expressing the connection to nature and the importance of preserving British Columbia’s bird habitat - our forests. Browse the completed work in the gallery below and learn more about our participating artists.
Artist Bios
Katherine Ransom
Katherine Ransom is a graduate from E.C.U.A.D. with a B.F.A. in sculpture.
Ally Bjornson
Alison Gegenbauer Bjornson is a green living, organic eating, food preserving, herbalist, photographing, knitting, spinning, dying, felting, sewing, crafty kind of gal.
Carlyn Yandle
Carlyn’s painting, sculpture and public artworks draw on her various ‘making’ skills.
Sarah Smith
Sarah Smith is a pre-emerging Artist who lives and works in Vancouver. She spends most of her time sketching, designing, painting, and staying pale in a basement suite off the Drive
JC Spock
JC Spock is a self-taught mixed media artist who left her corporate career at the age of 35 in order to live out her life’s passion.
Derek Tan
Growing up in Burnaby next to the lakes and the Trans-Canada Highway, Derek Tan kept looking at plants and drawing them until he ended up with majors in Biology and Art History.
Sean Karemaker
Sean Karemaker is an artist living in Vancouver, BC.
Dave Barnes
Currently residing on Vancouver Island, Dave approaches illustration and artwork with a nostalgic eye.
Brent Clowater
Brent Clowater uses soft washes, saturated colours and hard edges to turn his drawings from real life into moody and luminous watercolour paintings.
Philip McCrum
Phillip McCrum has worked in the Vancouver arts community in the 1980’s and 1990’s in a variety of capacities; curator…
Michael Bjornson
Michael Bjornson draws on his architectural and artistic practices to consider the layers of relationships that comprise a community.
Jennifer Mawby
Jennifer Mawby is an artist living and working in Vancouver, BC. Through a multi-disciplinary practice the artist engages the forms and concerns of painting, photography, sculpture, film, cinema, theatre, and soundtrack music.
Jamie Smith
Jamie Smith attended the University of Victoria and majored in Visual Arts with a minor in business. But her real…
Sara Bailey
Sara Bailey is a digital/graphic designer who has been doodling letterforms, on any surface, since she was a kid.
Kris Brownlee
Kris studied painting at Emily Carr University and finds inspiration from the community around her in the shared artist space of 1000 Parker Street.
Behind Canopy Bird
Behind #CanopyBird Campaign
Money Raised
Salt Spring Coffee is raising money to donate to Canopy as a part of our 1% for the Planet initiative. This donation is great example of Salt Spring Coffee’s 1% for the Planet giving initiatives. Canopy supports a number of ancient and endangered forests worldwide, but will use the money from the Canopy Bird campaign to focus on their work in British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest. Learn More
Behind Canopy Bird
Its name is actually drawn from the close, interdependent relationship between canopy forests, migratory birds and coffee farming. Each year, these birds return to the tropics from North America to nest in the canopies of tropical shade forests, right above where the arabica coffee plants grow. Learn More
Get in touch
Interested in the Canopy Bird initiative? Curious about our coffee? Want to participate but have questions? We’re here for you - send us a note at community@saltspringcoffee.com.