Plant a Billion Trees
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 04.22.08
A lot of trees get planted on Earth Day; perhaps it should merge with Friday's Arbor Day. Some do paltry greenwashing efforts like Subaru's lame160 trees others scale it up to a meaningful number. Like a billion. That is what the Nature Conservancy is going for, in support of the United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP), Billion Tree Campaign, and with sponsors including Planet Green. The Nature Conservancy campaign focuses on replanting 2.5 million acres of the Atlantic forest in Brazil, which rivals the Amazon as one of the greatest repositories of biodiversity on Earth, and which is 97% gone. It's easy, just a buck a tree with online shopping at ::Plant a Billion Trees
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I hope they are careful in doing this. Many species, especially in warmer climates are very specialized for where they live (endemic). Planting a billion trees of the same specie that is non native can do lots of harm to the natives, and may be counter productive...
Its important to remember that trees are just one part of an ecosystem, and if you want to restore one you have to do a lot more than just plant some trees.
If every walmart customer bought just one tree...
Thanks for bringing up this important point. The Plant a Billion Trees Campaign will only plant native trees. Our scientists have determined that over 400 kinds of native species will be utilized for this effort, and we're ensuring that only species native to each unique landscape will be planted within the Atlantic Forest.