As we close this year, we reflect on a journey fueled by hope, innovation, and your unwavering commitment to a livable future.
Together, through the Grandparents Fund for Climate Restoration, we have taken bold steps toward addressing one of humanity’s greatest challenges: restoring our climate to a safe and sustainable state.
From planting the seeds of transformative projects to building partnerships that amplify our impact, this year has been a testament to what we can achieve when we unite for a common cause.
With gratitude for your support and belief in this mission, we’re thrilled to share our milestones and the inspiring plans that lie ahead for the coming year. Together, we are proving that a restored climate is not just a dream—it’s within our reach.
Warm wishes for a joyful holiday season
and a hopeful, peaceful and restorative year ahead,
Ilan Mandel,
The Grandparents Fund for Climate Restoration
Some Of Our 2024 Achievements
The Climate Restoration Alliance was launched and now has a powerful steering committee and almost a dozen Climate Restoration Ambassadors.
Over 400 people and 10 new organizations adopted the Climate Restoration Resolution, bringing the total number to 17. The Resolution was also introduced in Congress (press release).
In 2025 we plan to reach 10,000 people, 100 organizations and 25 Climate Restoration Ambassadors.
The Climate Restoration Alliance Steering Committee
Climate Restoration Alliance Steering Committee
We have created a powerful alignment and collaboration with Rotary Clubs and Districts, and Rotarians are committing to making Climate Restoration an idea whose time has come. Our fundraising campaign with Rotary for the Buoy Test is progressing nicely, alongside our own campaign.
We are developing the field of CR-MRV (Climate Restoration Monitoring, Reporting & Verification) as a critical tool to measure, manage and monetize Climate Restoration carbon removal.
The Buoy Test Project (“Surface MRV”) is moving forward nicely. We purchased the first buoy and our team of San Francisco Bay Area scientists and engineers is working to integrate a CO2 sensor with the buoy, and start testing the equipment.
Assuming we’ll have sufficient funding, and everything goes well with the integration, our plan is to start the 30-day sea test in March.
Here is a picture from last week: Jagdish is activating the buoy data acquisition and satellite communication systems. This system will be used to send the sensor data to our back office for tracking and analyzing.
Jagdish activating the satellite communication network for the buoy
Significant progress has been made on developing the algorithm needed to analyze satellite images and calculate the carbon removal rate over time (“Satellite MRV”).
We’ll update more on that next year.
We made excellent progress in 2024, and 2025 will be the Year of Climate Restoration!
Together, we can restore the climate for future generations!
So, again, Warm wishes for a joyful holiday season
and a hopeful, peaceful and restorative year ahead,
Ilan Mandel,
The Grandparents Fund for Climate Restoration
Thanks to you we have raised 46% of our $70,000 budget, and purchased the first buoy!
The buoy was picked up last week from San Francisco by Alan, our lead engineer.
In parallel, design work has been happening. Here is Alan inspecting a PTFE membrane after it had been exposed to 18-ft of depth – This is the first time a large membrane (1.5″ pipe with O-ring seal, so about 1.65″ diam circle of exchange area) has survived our 18-ft depth test!
What’s Next:
We plan to finalize a design by late December and then create and install fixturing to mount the detectors on the buoys and integrate them with the satellite communication system.
We will then test this first buoy in January in nearby bodies of water while acquiring the 2nd and 3rd buoys (we need your help for that!). When those are received, they will be fitted with detectors in preparation for the offshore test sometime in late February.
To those who are committed to Climate Restoration:
The recent U.S. election has raised questions about the future of Climate Restoration efforts. To set the record straight: we are moving full speed ahead, and we do not anticipate any new barriers on the horizon. Our roadmap is simple: begin restoring the climate next year, reach full-scale by 2030 and restore the climate by 2050.
Progress is being made on all fronts: the projects are moving forward, funding campaigns are underway, and more and more people and organizations are adopting the Climate Restoration Resolution.
The Grandparents Fund for Climate Restoration supports critical Climate Restoration programs that can reach full-scale by 2030, and restore a safe climate for our children by 2050 and give them a livable planet.
One of these programs is the Climate Restoration Alliance that invites people, organizations and communities to commit to restoring the climate by 2050 and make Climate Restoration an idea whose time has come. (“Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come” — Victor Hugo).
We are pleased to feature our newest Climate Restoration Ambassador – Frank Mondi, who is also a member of the Climate Restoration Alliance Steering Committee.
Among other things, Frank was instrumental in getting the Climate Restoration Resolution introduced in Congress (see below), and in getting Rotarians, Clubs and Districts to commit to Climate Restoration.
A personal message from Frank is included below.
We will continue to keep you up to date on our progress and align our growing and powerful Climate Restoration community.
For future generations.
Ilan Mandel, The Grandparents Fund for Climate Restoration
Sensors & Buoy Test For Climate Restoration Projects
The first Climate Restoration project is developing nicely.
As you recall, OIF (Ocean Iron Fertilization) is about replicating a natural CO2 removal process by intentionally adding of small amounts of iron to the ocean surface to promote phytoplankton blooms.
Before launching the pilot OIF Project in the Philippines, we are planning a small experiment in California to test the measuring equipment. This involves deploying 3 buoys equipped with sensors connected via satellite.
The buoys will be deployed 60-70 miles off shore, and float around for about a month while we track their position and CO2 levels at their location.
A team of San Francisco Bay Area scientists and engineers is currently working on integrating a CO2 sensor with the buoy, so that CO2 data will be sent via the buoy’s built-in satellite communication.
As the Buoy Test Project developed, its budget grew to $70,000 with some added unexpected expenses. Our plan is to raise $50,000 from Rotary members and clubs, and match it with $20,000 from the Climate Restoration Fund.
The fundraising campaign was launched last week, and Rotarians are invited to make donations via the Rotarian Foundation of Livermore.
The resolution was sponsored by Rep. Thompson, Mike [D-CA] and sponsored by Rep. Anna Eshoo, G. [D-CA], Rep. Salud O. Carbajal, [D-CA], Rep. Shri Thanedar, [D-MI] and Rep. Joseph D. Morelle, [D-NY].
This is a huge step forward in making Climate Restoration an Idea Whose Time Has Come!
For our US friends: please thank your Member of Congress, or invite her/him to cosponsor it.
NEW: The Togo Bamboo Project
While removing the excess carbon from the atmosphere is our focus, we also support regional carbon removal projects that have the potential to scale, while providing social and economic co-benefits.
The Climate Restoration Fund is proud to support the Togo Bamboo Project, developed by the Climate Restoration Network, in partnership with multiple Togo stakeholders, including the Togolese Government.
Bamboo is known for its rapid growth rate and high carbon sequestration ability.
The Togo Bamboo Project aims to create a thriving and sustainable non-invasive Bamboo cultivation & industry on 10,000 hectares in the Northern region of Togo, near Tandjouare.
This project clarifies that the brand of Climate Restoration goes beyond just the atmosphere. We recommend that all climate action be branded as Climate Restoration since Climate Restoration is focused on the goal of giving our children a livable planet and everyone can participate.
Beyond direct employment, the project will engage with local communities to ensure their involvement and benefit. This will include educational programs on environmental stewardship, sustainable farming practices, and the benefits of bamboo in soil conservation and reforestation.
With this newsletter, we are officially launching the fundraising campaign for this project.
Climate Restoration Ambassador of the Month:
Frank Mondi
Frank-Mondi
I am a retired Veterinarian who has been blessed with a beautiful wife of 61 years, 4 wonderful children, 11 amazing grandchildren and 4 precious great grandchildren.
I’ve had a rewarding career caring for many 4-legged family members who provide us with unconditional love.
As a man of faith, I believe that each of us is given an opportunity to have our lives make a difference in our world. A world where the lives of our children, grandchildren, pets and wildlife are at stake.
My favorite quote:
“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in that gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th US President (1858-1919).
I contribute to The Grandparent’s Fund on a regular basis as one expression of my caring, and I take every opportunity that I have to make a difference by bringing up the conversation about my concerns for our climate.
Please join us in making Climate Restoration an Idea Whose Time Has Come!
Please sign the resolution (or click my link below) and make a monthly contribution to express your commitment to future generations:
The Climate Restoration Fund supports critical climate restoration programs to restore a safe climate for our children by 2050 and give them a livable planet.
Our newsletter is designed to keep you up to date on our progress and to keep those of us who care about our mission aligned together in a powerful community.
As you recall, OIF (Ocean Iron Fertilization) is about replicating a natural CO2 removal process by intentionally addition of small amounts of iron to the ocean surface to promote phytoplankton blooms.
Before launching a full-scale OIF project, we are planning a small experiment in California to test the measuring equipment. This involves deploying 3 buoys equipped with sensors connected via satellite.
The buoys will be deployed 60-70 miles off shore, and float around for about a month while we track their position and CO2 levels at their location.
Here is an update from Jim Wilson, tirelessly working with a group of empowered students and Congressman Thompson to introduce the Climate Restoration Resolution into Congress in the upcoming months. It goes next for legislative council approval, a process that can take two weeks or more.
The Resolution ends with:
“… Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), that Congress formally recognizes our obligation to future generations to restore a safe climate, and declares climate restoration, along with achieving net-zero and net-negative CO2 emissions, to be a climate policy priority; calling on the President, Secretary of State, and the United States Ambassador to the United Nations to pursue a climate treaty that will restore and stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations to preindustrial levels as our common climate goal.”
What a major achievement that will be!
More updates soon…
The Climate Restoration Alliance
The Climate Restoration Alliance connects and empowers people and organizations committed to restoring a livable planet. We aim to achieve carbon dioxide levels close to pre-industrial levels by 2050 and restore our natural ecosystems to allow humanity to flourish.
The Climate Restoration Alliance invites communities, organizations, companies, faith leaders, First Nation leaders, and the general public to endorse Climate Restoration as an idea whose time has come, and commit to achieving it by 2050.
We partner with First Nation leaders, faith leaders, corporate leaders, heads of organizations, and the general public through our Ambassadors Program.
Ambassadors invite their communities and followers to commit to climate restoration as the climate goal we all want.
Thanks to our incredible Climate Restoration Ambassadors, the following organizations recently adopted the Climate Restoration Resolution:
Climate Restoration Ambassador of the Month:
Judith Owens-Manley
I just spent last week with six grandchildren, ages 4 to 8, and there is no doubt at all about how important it is that we protect the world we need to leave for them. Their glorious enjoyment of the parks and playgrounds, clean sparkling waters to swim in, kayak, and sail, and small, friendly, shore towns–we want that to go on forever!
This is the environment I want to leave behind and why I encourage you to reach out to your family and friends to understand climate restoration and to endorse the Climate Restoration Resolution!
As I’m writing this, I’m also making plans to go back to Anchorage, Alaska, which I do every year about this time. I know, people think it’s crazy to return to Alaska for the winter. But not if you’re cross-country skiers, where we ski for five months a year, easily. Everywhere you live, you have the pristine environments that you care about, whether it’s your lakes, your mountains, your prairies, oceans, deserts, etc. We all want our children and grandchildren to be able to enjoy the outdoors as we have–without extreme heat, extreme storms, flooding, and the inevitable losses and migrations that will come with the climate crises that we’re experiencing even now.
Please join us in making your concerns active!
I contribute to The Grandparent’s Fund on a regular basis as one expression of my caring, and I take every opportunity that I have to make a difference by bringing up the conversation about my concerns for our climate.
It’s individual for each of us why we care and how we will take action. But please do act with your children and grandchildren in mind and for all children, even if you don’t have children or grandchildren!
Please sign the resolution (or click my link below) and make a monthly contribution to express your commitment to future generations:
A Message from the Climate Restoration Alliance Steering Committee
The Climate Restoration Alliance connects and empowers people and organizations committed to restoring a livable planet. We aim to achieve carbon dioxide levels close to pre-industrial levels by 2050 and restore our natural ecosystems to allow humanity to flourish.
The Climate Restoration Alliance invites communities, organizations, companies, faith leaders, First Nation leaders, and the general public.
We partner with key First Nation leaders, faith leaders, corporate leaders, organizations, and the general public through our Ambassadors Program. Ambassadors invite their communities and followers to commit to climate restoration as the climate goal we all want.
The Climate Restoration Alliance is a program of the Grandparents Climate Restoration Fund, a US-based 501(c)3 charitable organization. The Grandparents Fund supports critical climate restoration programs to ensure a historically safe climate for our children by 2050.
Climate Restoration Alliance Steering Committee
Ambassador of the Month: Chuck Tomaselli
Climate Restoration Ambassador to Rotary
Thank you for responding to our invitation to endorse the Climate Restoration Alliance Resolution. Together, we intentionally create the world we want our grandchildren and all children to inherit.
I often think about the abundant and glorious world of nature I experienced as a child and the limitless possibility I felt. I want that world for our grandchildren. Surveys tell us that today’s youth do not experience the same sense of hope and possibility.
I contribute regularly to The Grandparents Fund to ensure that my and your grandchildren will have the future we want for them. Please consider joining me in contributing to The Grandparents Fund to ensure we achieve our goal of restoring the atmosphere to pre-industrial levels by 2050.
Many of us may not be here by that time, but we can choose how we leave this planet for those we love and cherish.
Introducing: The Grandparents Fund for Climate Restoration
The Climate Restoration Alliance is one of the programs managed by The Grandparents Fund for Climate Restoration (also known as The Climate Restoration Fund), a US-based 501(c)3 charitable organization.
The Grandparents Fund supports critical climate restoration programs to ensure a historically safe climate for our children by 2050. We believe that 2024 is the Year of Climate Restoration, and we will succeed thanks to your support.
Greetings from the Philippines!
We are developing the first climate restoration project in the Philippines. Peter Fiekowsky returned recently from a visit there, after enjoying the islands with filmmaker John Bowey, where they filmed for John’s documentary series, “The Climate Restorers,” on the slopes of Mt. Pinatubo.
Following its eruption in 1991, Mt. Pinatubo caused global dimming and temperature decreases. For 15 months after the eruption, the world experienced net-zero emissions. This “Pinatubo Pause” provides insights into large-scale CO2 removal, which we aim to replicate through dedicated research expeditions. Stay tuned!
Shifting the Conversation
Over the last few months, we passed a milestone in integrating climate restoration into policy discussions in Washington, DC. Peter Fiekowsky, co-founder of the Grandparents Fund, discussed restoring a safe climate with staff at the EPA, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), and the House Science Committee’s energy subcommittee.
Our 2024 Plan
Our plan for 2024 is to:
1) Continue to develop the first Ocean Iron Fertilization (OIF) project, which has the potential to restore a pre-industrial atmosphere. OIF can revive the ocean, provide food security, and remove gigatons of CO2 from the atmosphere using existing technology and funding.
2) Continue to develop the Climate Restoration Alliance by inviting additional Ambassadors and reaching out to additional audiences. Specifically for Rotary, our goal is for Rotary International to take on Climate Restoration as its next “Global Cause”.
We are raising $250K for further development of our programs. Your partnership and support are crucial in achieving our climate restoration goals.
Imagine you’re standing at the edge of a burning building. Inside, people are trapped—but there’s a fire extinguisher within reach. Would you use it?
Now, imagine that same scenario, but on a global scale. The planet is overheating, ecosystems are collapsing, and future generations are in danger. Yet, we have the tools to restore the climate—and we’re not using them.
In two recent blog posts, Peter Fiekowsky asks the uncomfortable but urgent question: Why haven’t we ended the climate crisis? He challenges the common belief that solving climate change is impossible or that our best hope is merely limiting the damage. The truth? We already have the science and technology to restore a safe climate. The real barrier is us.
The Science Says We Can Do It—So Why Aren’t We?
In Why Haven’t We Ended the Climate Crisis?, Fiekowsky breaks down the stark contrast between what we assume is possible and what actually is possible. Most climate efforts focus on reducing emissions, which is like slowing down the burning building rather than putting out the fire.
But the reality is that we don’t have to accept an overheated planet. The tools exist to actively remove CO₂ from the atmosphere and restore it to pre-industrial levels:
Ocean Iron Fertilization (OIF): A proven process that can stimulate plankton growth, pulling CO₂ from the air on a massive scale.
Direct Air Capture (DAC): Technology that literally vacuums CO₂ out of the atmosphere.
Enhanced Rock Weathering and Ecosystem Restoration: Natural processes that accelerate carbon removal.
Yet, despite this, climate policies continue to focus on slowing the damage instead of reversing it.
For decades, the dominant climate narrative has been one of sacrifice, adaptation, and mitigation. Governments, NGOs, and even scientists have reinforced the idea that we can only limit warming, not undo it. The idea that we could actually restore the climate seems too radical—even though science supports it.
This raises an ethical question: If we have the ability to restore a safe climate but don’t, is that a failure of leadership? A moral failing?
A Call to Action: From Fear to Restoration
At Climate Restoration Alliance (CRA), we reject the idea that future generations must suffer the consequences of climate change. We believe in solutions, not despair.
The challenge now is not whether we can end the climate crisis—it’s whether we choose to. It’s time to move past the outdated mindset of mere survival and embrace climate restoration as the new standard.
