To mark this year’s Earth Day, the theme of which is “invest in our planet”, we’ve teamed up with veritree to plant a further 8,400,000 verified, carbon-capturing trees by 2025. (This will take our total to 9,768,002, but who’s counting?! - we are!)
A man-made crisis
The 6th and most recent IPCC report predicts that man-made climate impacts will significantly increase ill health and premature deaths in both the near and long term. Glacial retreat and mountain ecosystem damages are fast approaching irreversibility. Climate change is the single biggest challenge we face as a species, and we caused it.
Facing such bleak prospects, it’s easy to feel powerless and anxious. But giving up is not an option - apathy feeds the downward cycle. There’s growing evidence that progress IS being made, and now is the time for more positive collective action: we have to work together to get out of the mess we’ve made for ourselves. If you’re looking for a great summary, and some positivity, Kurzgesagt has a great video on YouTube that’s worth a watch.
A natural solution
Nature has an amazing ability to recover, if given half a chance. It’s estimated that humans have contributed to the loss of around half the planet’s forests. In concert with other technologies and policies, scientists say re-planting some of those lost trees could be the fastest and most economical way to help restore equilibrium and limit rising temperatures. It seems fair and appropriate that we should replace what we’ve taken.
Trees are unique because they have the potential to positively impact local communities, create true sustainable economic value, provide a habitat for wildlife AND lock up carbon.
Reforestation, done right
It’s critical that the right trees are planted in the right place and done so with local community support. It’s also important that those trees stay in the ground.
To achieve this, we’ve partnered with veritree, a restoration platform that uses blockchain technology and ground-level data collection to bring transparency, accuracy and traceability to global restoration efforts.
These trees will be planted in Kenya and Madagascar. If you’d like to follow our journey to 1 billion trees you can on our dedicated 1B Trees page.
If you’d like to do your bit there’s lots of ways you can get involved, and every little helps. You might consider having your business take the Million Tree Pledge, sign yourself or your business up for a monthly subscription with our friends at Ecologi to offset your carbon impact, or you could raise awareness in your local community or write to your MP and ask what they’re doing to avert an undesirable future. For more ideas, read our list of ten practical Earth-saving tips and start making a difference today.
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About the author
Darren H
I'm Darren and I'm the Senior Copywriter at Krystal. Words are what I do. Aside from writing, I play guitar and sing in my band Machineries Of Joy, work on getting my 2nd Dan in Taekwondo and seek adventure with my wife and daughter.