Help us: Planting trees to fight climate change

A new study published recently has been making headlines: planting trees is the most effective method of fighting climate change. This is because trees store an especially large amount of CO2, which is harmful to the environment and largely responsible for global warming.

In the academic journal "Science", researchers from ETH Zurich have come to the conclusion that Earth could tolerate a one-third increase in forested areas without cities or farmland being affected. According to the study, there are especially large expanses of space for new trees in Russia, followed by the USA, Canada, Australia, Brazil and China. New forests could make it possible to store two thirds of the 300 billion tonnes of CO2 that humans have put into the atmosphere since the industrial revolution.

We must act quickly

This is actually encouraging news that climate change can still be effectively fought against using a natural and essentially simple measure like reforestation. Nonetheless, it is clear that we don't have much time left. “We need to act quickly as it will take decades for the forests to mature and achieve their potential as natural CO2 storage,” says principal investigator Tom Crowther.

Let us work together to help

Fortunately, we don't have to wait for large-scale changes. We think it's time to get started and do something now, so we've decided to plant lots of trees!

"Stop talking. Start planting." That's the motto of Plant-for-the-Planet, the organisation we're now working with. Plant-for-the-Planet is planting trees for us on the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. The reforestation project covers a total of 22,500 hectares of land, where local workers are planting 9 indigenous varieties of trees. Each tree will store at least 200kg of CO2 in its lifetime, while trees which are optimally cared for can even reach 500kg. The project is being professionally advised and monitored by Crowther Lab, the same research team that published the study cited above.

If you would like to support Plant-for-the-Planet yourself, you can find more information here.