The Sarasota, Florida-based TREE Foundation's efforts to save the "church forests" of Ethiopia were highlighted in a short film published by The New York Times as part of its award-winning Op-Docs (opinion documentary) series. The work of independent filmmaker Jeremy Seifert, "What Makes a Church? A Tiny, Leafy Forest," was published on the Times' website on December 3. The film was narrated by Dr. Alemayehu Wassie Eshete of Ethiopia, an active board member of TREE Foundation which is an international non-profit organization dedicated to tree and forest research, exploration, education, and conservation across the globe. Seifert visited Ethiopia last February at the invitation of TREE executive director Dr. Meg Lowman to visualize the foundation's international work to save the essential areas of biodiversity known as "church forests." The documentary explores the crucial role that religious leaders can play as champions of conservation, in this case to construct stone walls that exclude cattle grazing and protect the forests surrounding churches. Learn more at the TREE Foundation's website, treefoundation.org.

TREE Foundation