Why Trees?

Global warming and climate change are complicated and complex, as are their solutions. There is some good news from scientists – trees matter big time. Plus, helping to grow the tree canopy is something any citizen, organization, company and government can do right away, today. No need for new policy, new laws, or committees.

We find this hopeful and compelling. We hope our Readers will too. 

Swiss scientist Thomas Crowther makes a clear case for why trees matter. The ground-breaking study he co-authored and published in July 2019 in the journal of Science, mapped tree density at a global scale for the first time.

The findings caught the attention of scientists, media, governments and the public by storm by quantifying how many trees exist globally and offering research evidence for why efforts to scale up global tree planting are needed and what the gains might be, in terms of positive impacts for helping to slow global warming.

We realize that tree planting (reforestation) doesn’t replace the overarching need for other concurrent actions to reduce or avoid harmful carbon emissions in the first place. We are excited, nonetheless, by the promising potential that scaling up tree planting offers in terms of being a big part of the solution to slow global warming, and we are motivated to act.

Just how much trees matter, is captured in this CBC piece profiling the study’s findings — “The study calculated that over the decades, those new trees could suck up nearly 750 billion tonnes of heat-trapping carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – about as much carbon pollution as humans have spewed in the past 25 years.”  (Click here for the article https://bit.ly/34lo2em.)

The organizers for Earth Day 2020 have set an ambitious goal – to plant 7.8 billion trees in 2020 – one tree for every person on Planet Earth. 

Just as we are learning how much trees matter, we believe that each one of us matters and makes a difference on climate change. That’s why we are learning how to blog, so we may keep on sharing with others as we continue to learn, connect, and do more together on this all important global challenge. Our goal is to post something every Thursday, so we hope you will visit our blog often!