LOS ANGELES, CA - May 29, 2008 - The Niapele Project announced today that it is offsetting its carbon emissions with Carbonfund.org, one of the country’s leading carbon offset organizations. As a CarbonFree(TM) Small Business Partner, The Niapele Project is offsetting carbon emissions from its business operations and travel through the support of Carbonfund.org's renewable energy, energy efficiency and reforestation projects. This commitment establishes The Niapele Project as an environmental leader in the non-profit community and demonstrates the proactive steps The Niapele Project is taking in the fight against global climate change.

The Niapele Project promotes sustainable strategies for the empowerment of vulnerable refugee children, through the development of community-based initiatives. It focuses on children and the communities in which they live, while acknowledging the correlation between the environment and the livelihoods of vulnerable populations.

"Each member of The Niapele Project staff has witnessed the effects of limited access to clean drinking water and a lack of sanitation in West Africa. Whether we work in the field or from our home offices, we remain aware of our personal and professional impact on the planet. We believe that the success of our empowerment strategies is intrinsically connected to a commitment to social and environmental sustainability," said Celina Guich, Co-Founder and Co-Director of The Niapele Project. "To this end, The Niapele Project has begun a partnership with Carbonfund.org to offset our carbon footprint and neutralize our impact on the environment. This is a natural extension of our work on behalf of refugee children and our imperative to promote sustainable development."

The Niapele Project helps feed, house and educate refugee children orphaned by civil war. Even these admirable activities have a carbon footprint, and it's a testament to The Niapele Project that it is taking responsibility for its climate impact," said Eric Carlson, Executive Director of Carbonfund.org. "We're proud to partner with a fellow non-profit group like The Niapele Project to make their humanitarian work more sustainable."

About The Niapele Project
The Niapele Project aims to have a direct, meaningful impact in the lives of vulnerable refugee children. We achieve this by working in partnership with the community, assisting them to fulfill the needs that they have identified, through the development and implementation of initiatives that create the necessary conditions for children to move beyond survival and thrive. Our current projects include improving nutrition and the health of refugee children by serving daily meals at an elementary school, providing an environment which empowers orphaned and abandoned children and supporting a center for handicapped children.

About Carbonfund.org
Carbonfund.org is one of the country’s leading carbon reduction and offset organization, making it easy and affordable for individuals, businesses and organizations to reduce their climate impact. Carbon offsets enable individuals and businesses to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions that they are responsible for in their everyday lives by supporting high-quality verified renewable energy, energy efficiency and reforestation projects. Carbonfund.org works with over 400 corporate and non-profit partners including Discovery, Volkswagen, Dell, Orbitz, Environmental Defense, and Lancôme.

Carbonfund.org

Carbonfund.org

Carbonfund.org (www.carbonfund.org) reduces the threat of climate change by making it easy and affordable for any individual or business to reduce their carbon footprint and support climate-friendly projects. With its easy-to-use calculator, low offset cost per ton of CO2, and certified offset projects, Carbonfund.org is proving that anyone can reduce their impact on climate change easily and efficiently. Carbonfund.org is a nationally recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit business, and a member of the EPA's Green Power Network, the Chicago Climate Exchange, and Ceres. Carbonfree and "Reduce what you can, offset what you can't" are trademarks of the Carbonfund.org Foundation.

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