Our Impact

Why mangroves

Acre for acre, a mangrove forest can store up to 4x more carbon than most tropical forests, much of it tucked into the mud beneath its roots. Its tangled roots break storm waves, hold eroding shorelines in place and shelter young fish. That means more food for the fishing families who live along the coast. A Kenyan mangrove can live for about 100 years.

Who plants your tree

Your tree is planted in Kilifi, on Kenya's coast, by the EarthLungs Reforestation Foundation. Women's groups and youth teams from the coastal villages raise the seedlings and plant them by hand. These are real jobs, with steady pay, health insurance and retirement benefits. Families tell the team they can now feed their children and pay school fees.

How we know it grows

Every tree is logged by GPS and checked by Veritree, an independent team that uses field photos, satellite images and AI to track survival through the critical first five years. Kenya's Chief Conservator of Forests has called this work the best he has seen in the country.

Printed only for you

Every cotton tee takes about 800 days of drinking water to grow and make. That is why we never print one until you order it, so none of that water is spent on a shirt nobody wears.

Want to plant more?

Plant Mangrove Trees: 10 trees $10 · 25 trees $25 · 50 trees $50 · 100 trees $100. One dollar plants one tree.

Faith began in a garden

Caring for creation is part of why we garden, and part of why we started Inspired Garden Life. When you wear one of our shirts, a tree is growing somewhere because of you.

Questions about our tree program? Email support@inspiredgardenlife.com.

Sources

  1. Mangrove carbon: Donato et al., "Mangroves among the most carbon-rich forests in the tropics", Nature Geoscience, 2011; UNEP, "Mangroves: a super solution".
  2. Mangrove age and lasting soil carbon: Verheyden et al., Gazi Bay mangroves, Kenya's coast, 2004; NOAA Blue Carbon White Paper, 2022.
  3. Coastal protection: Menéndez et al., Scientific Reports, 2020. Fish nurseries: Mumby et al., Nature, 2004.
  4. Planting and jobs in Kenya: theGoodAPI (Sprout) and Veritree, 2024.
  5. Water per cotton tee: WWF, from Chapagain et al., UNESCO-IHE water footprint study.
  6. Kenya mangroves through Sprout: theGoodAPI.
  7. Planting and monitoring in Kilifi: Veritree.
  8. Satellite and AI monitoring in Kenya: TriplePundit, 2025.