Tree Planting Programs

By Audrey Sylvain

Tree Planting Programs

 

Trees are a very important part of nature and since we are kids we are taught the uses of them. For something that is so widely known to be important for our environment mass deforestation is a problem we face. People have taken it upon themselves to regrow the many forests we have lost and planting trees is something that many people do in their free time or as a job.

There are many tree-planting programs out there.  They vary in the size of the number of members they have but no matter how it is organized they are still making a change. What these programs do is go to different areas where there is space for more trees.  They plant trees in different ways such as from seeds, saplings, or seedlings which are a bit bigger but still small enough to transport. These executions can take up to months at a time to fill a new area with trees.  In addition, all the equipment can be expensive so lots of programs do fundraisers or get funded by the government.

There is some controversy whether planting more trees is the best way to combat climate change when in hindsight the best solution would be to decrease greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere but trees do help in many ways. Forests are what is known as a carbon sink.  This means they stash carbon as new material and take it out of the atmosphere.  This doesn't off-put the mass amount that is being produced but it does help if we reduce that. Trees can also be habitats for many animals which is important because keeping forests alive and well so that the environment is healthy is something that will benefit all of us.

Moving forward with these programs,  it's important to get new generations involved, and with social media, there are many ways to do this. As an example,  American Youtuber named MrBeast started a project called Team Trees.  He set up a website where people could donate where every one dollar they would plant one tree.  This project has skyrocketed with many people supporting it. It also started a trend of people planting trees and raising money to donate to this organization. Social media can have a great impact on the environment and seeing people use it positively is inspiring.

Looking at how something so simple as planting one tree can build up and contribute to an even bigger project helps us realize how important it is to continue works such as these. We have taken so much from our planet without giving back.  Even though planting a tree or many trees isn't a solution to any major problems such as climate change it still contributes to a solution of reducing greenhouse gasses. There are millions of organizations out there around the world and they are all helping to save the planet.

Resources

Laboratory, Alan Buis, NASA’s Jet Propulsion. “Examining the Viability of Planting Trees to Help Mitigate Climate Change – Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet.” Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet, 7 Nov. 2019, https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2927/examining-the-viability-of-planting-trees-to-help-mitigate-climate-change/.

“#teamtrees.” #teamtrees, https://teamtrees.org/. Accessed 7 June 2021.

“What Is A Tree Planting Program? - THE ENVIRONMENTOR.” THE ENVIRONMENTOR, 9 Apr. 2019, https://blog.tentree.com/what-is-a-tree-planting-program/#:~:text=A%20tree%20planting%20%E2%80%9Cprogram%E2%80%9D%20is,a%20green%20community%20access%20space.