The life-giving forests we need to cherish are in danger.
The president believes America's
public lands are ripe for exploitation. He wants to open many of our most precious natural treasures to drilling, logging or mining.
Such activity would no doubt destroy important habitats for American wildlife, soil our water and topple thousands of acres of trees. Trees are crucial for life on Earth. They create life-giving oxygen and provide habitat and food for millions of species. They provide renewable materials for humans like paper and wood. They help to stop soil from eroding and can even cool down the environment by when they release their moisture into the air. But most importantly, they can help fight climate change.
Trees absorb harmful gases from the air, including carbon dioxide, which is considered to be the worst of the greenhouse gases. In fact, according to a study by researchers at Swiss university ETH Zurich, restoring our lost forests could help take up to 205 billion tons of carbon in total out of the atmosphere. That's more than 20 times the amount humans create in a year. This year, the country of Ethiopia, a nation of 110 million people, just broke a world record by planting the most trees in a single 12 hour period. In July, spearheaded by the country's prime minister and his Green Legacy Initiative (GCI), the nation gathered together to
plant more than 353 million trees in 12 hours! That's more than 3 trees per citizen! Thirty percent of Ethiopia was once forested, but the government let deforestation get out of hand and now just 4% of the nation's forests remain. Now with the GCI hopes to regrow some of their lost forests.
There can be no doubt that we need more trees to help us cool down the planet.
American forests are under attack now more than ever. As President Trump attempts to open our lands to, we run the risk of destroying forests that can help the world combat climate change.
This is particularly dangerous, especially since these companies will destroy carbon-absorbing forests while at the same time adding more carbon-emitting products to the market. Ethiopia's record crushes India's 2017 record of planting 66 million trees in the same period. And it got us at Care2 thinking. Imagine if the US, a country of almost 330 million people, got together and tried to beat Ethiopia's number?
While the Amazon burns, and forests topple from Ghana to the Solomon Islands, let's play our part to replenish the world's tree population. If we could get our government to commit to a Green Legacy Initiative in the States we could beat Ethiopia's record and, more importantly, help the environment. Let's ask Congress to plan a Green Legacy Initiative here at home and let's see if we can beat Ethiopia!