Plant a Billion Trees Campaign Wants to, You Know, Plant a Billion Trees

Andy Kondrat May 29, 2008 | 8:50 pm EST

It's true. Trees are cool. Remember that book How Much is a Million? Well, nowadays, we think bigger, and one group wants you to think about how much a billion is. That is to say: If you were to plant a billion trees, it would cover 2.5 million acres of Atlantic forest. This, by the way, is not a thought experiment - it’s a real goal from the people at The Nature Conservancy.

The target date is 2015 - only seven years to plant a billion trees in Brazil. At this point, only seven percent of what once were the Brazilian tropical forests remain. As each tree disappears, more carbon is released into the environment and the global climate becomes slightly more unstable. If this push is successful,

This reforestation effort will…remove 10 million tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year - like taking 2 million cars off the road.

A billion trees sure sounds like quite a few trees (like, say, a billion), but so far, the group says they’re over 307,000 trees into it. It only takes a dollar a tree, so and learn more and see if you don’t have any spare change lying around. A buck is only like one cheesy bean and rice burrito at Taco Bell, and you can go one day without one of those, can’t you?

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Tagged as:Atlantic forests • Brazil • How Much is a Million • Nature Conservancy • Plant a Billion • Plant a Billion Trees • plantabillion.org • rain forests • rainforests • Taco Bell • The Nature Conservancy • the sour cream at Taco Bell is not vegetarian • tropical forests

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2 Responses to “Plant a Billion Trees Campaign Wants to, You Know, Plant a Billion Trees”

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All we would have to do in Canada and the US is stop growing man’s hybrid lawn grass and his rolls of turf.
I did three years ago and have at least 29 plants and trees growing without my help in my yard.
Another bonus: no more fertilizers and weed and feeds going down storm drains to our waters.
My neighbours know I am a bit of an activist.
I gave them this poem.

Chaos and Creation In My Own Back Yard
Inspired by Sir Paul McCartney
For my neighbours

While I was away, in a foreign land,
My green lawn grass died; weeds took a stand.
They didn’t need water. They grew from the dew.
Changing carbon to oxygen, for me and for you.
Instead of man’s grass, which requires much noise,
Nature’s plants grew, without poison or toys.
Dandelion, chamomile, milk thistle, clover,
Ground covers and trees were growing all over.
Many of these plants were sought after and used,
To help us stay healthy. Is nature being misused?
Bad business is rampant. Why try to take down,
Our natural medicine, that many renown?
Lets all stop lawn maintenance pollution!
Be NOT of the problem. Be OF the solution!

Lora Bruncke
lora bruncke May 30, 2008 | 1:31 pm EST
Yesterday our son was 40, and we all gave him money because we knew he would use it wisely. So he buoght tree plants and right now he is planting them all over the place.

When I grew up in Iceland during WWII there were hardly any trees in this country. Since then millions of trees have been planted. So when I returned to my childhood home a couple of years ago I found lots of trees all over. Where I recall large areas of sand and earth, you now find lupines and other plants creating delightful areas of beauty.

Iceland is more than earthquakes.
Johann June 17, 2008 | 11:52 am EST

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