“From the Ground Up: Voices of the Carbon Market” is a mini-documentary spotlighting individuals in the American South and the Midwest participating in carbon removal and methane abatement projects.
When Alisha Logue was gifted her grandmother's farmland it was a dream come true, "but then it became a financial burden." She had to figure out how she would pay the taxes, ultimately enrolling in a program run by the American Forest Foundation. "It came down to them saying they would pay me to plant trees," Logue said. While it seemed to good to be true, everything unfolded according to plan. "We're just watching the trees grow."
Wayne Wiltshire remembers when, in the 1990s, an oil man came to town and convinced his parents to let him drill on their farmland, and then disappeared. Recently, Wiltshire let Tradewater plug and cap those wells, and is relieved that they're not longer a hazard. "The person that drilled that well is responsible for clean up afterwards. That wasn't happening," he said, "and it's quite a common problem all across the United States."
Greg and Tricia Monier come out to their cabin to hunt, fish, cook, eat and camp with family. When the neighboring property went up for sale, they worried about what type of development would come in, and were relieved when Chestnut Carbon bought it. "We share the same principles in preservation of our forestlands," Greg Monier said. "It's an added plus that they are improving the climate regime."
American Forest Foundation (AFF) developed a program that brings rural landowners into the carbon market. Landowners lease their land to AFF to plant fast-growing loblolly pines. Participants can selectively harvest timber at 12-15 years when the forest is thinned (to improve forest health) and when the 30-year lease is up. Arjun Durr goes into the field to meet and recruit farmers and learn how the program is working on the ground.
Thousands of aging, corroded gas wells are leaking methane all across the US. Methane (CH4) is 80 times more heat-trapping than CO2 during its early years in the atmosphere. Casey Whitford, of the Chicago-based company Tradewater, tracks down these wells and oversees the process of getting them safely plugged and capped.
Much of the South's historical forests have been cleared to make way for homesteads and farms. As agriculture has shifted away from smaller farms, Chestnut Carbon is purchasing marginal farmland and putting it back into thriving forest ecosystems. Forester Sarah Ford designs planting plans for millions of oaks, hickory, sweet gum and other native species being planted now in states including Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas.
The voluntary carbon market (VCM) channels finance toward critical but underfunded climate solutions. Since 2002, it has delivered more than four billion metric tons of greenhouse gas reductions and removals–an amount equivalent to the annual energy use of nearly 500 million homes in America.
By scaling urgently needed finance, carbon markets support innovative technologies and sustainable practices that protect natural resources while minimizing carbon pollution. In doing so, they also create new revenue streams and livelihoods for individuals, families, and entire communities–like those highlighted in this documentary.
Research shows that companies that invest in carbon markets are decarbonizing their operations twice as quickly as their peers. With high-integrity carbon credit programs, businesses, individuals, and public sector partners can work together toward a shared goal: protecting our climate and the natural resources that sustain global growth.
Beyond is a dynamic alliance of companies and NGOs scaling corporate climate finance through high-integrity, market-based mechanisms. Founded in 2020 and hosted by the We Mean Business Coalition secretariat since 2024, Beyond unites diverse partners to drive systemic climate solutions.
We foster partnernships, build knowledge, champion bold advocacy, and amplify voices for meaningful change. Guided by integrity and innovation, we are moving further and faster toward a zero-carbon future. Together, we are accelerating collaboration, finance, and impact.
For more information about the film, and the people and projects it features, please get in touch with our PR team.
Email: partners@forgepr.com
“From the Ground Up, Voices of the Carbon Market” is an educational campaign that aims to demonstrate the tangible benefits of the carbon market to people and the environment. It is also the title of a short (13 min) documentary film.
“From the Ground Up, Voices of the Carbon Market” showcases a cross-section of Americans who are passionate about their land, and want to see a better future for themselves and their families. In this film, we meet landowners from all walks of life who have decided the best thing for their land, and their families, is to make their land a part of the climate solution. Projects include afforestation (establishes forest in an area where there was no previous forest cover for a long time) program in Georgia developed by the non-profit American Forest Foundation; a project to plug and cap leaking gas wells in Illinois, developed by Tradewater; and another native afforestation project by Chestnut Carbon.
The concept was originated by Stacey Solie. Stacey, Christian Banfield [Director /Photographer], and Patrick Nease, worked and traveled together to make the film and photographs. Beyond Alliance provided strategy and partner/project support to bring the film to fruition.
The film is part of a broader educational campaign to expand perspectives about the voluntary carbon market; to show that real, impactful climate actions are being funded by the carbon market; and to give voice to people participating in carbon market projects.
Member organizations of the Beyond Alliance selected projects based on their potential to paint an interesting and unexpected portrait of what it means to be involved in a carbon credit project, and chose to narrow the storytelling to projects within the US.
The film will premiere at Climate Week NYC. For more details, contact partners@forgepr.com.
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