Elon Musk, like most people concerned about climate change, has long railed against fracking and fossil fuels.
Cutting down on the United States’ use of fossil fuels would be difficult, but there is one simple, powerful way to combat climate change: Plant more trees.
On Tuesday, the Tesla CEO offered to donate 1 million trees through an initiative started by YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson, known as MrBeast. According to the project’s website, #TeamTrees began “in May 2019 when the internet challenged MrBeast to plant 20 million trees to commemorate hitting the 20M subscriber milestone. Fans then suggested he band together with a bunch of other YouTubers and influencers to make it happen.”
After asking where the trees would be planted — the Arbor Day Foundation promises to plant each tree “in a forest of high need around the globe” — Musk jumped on board #TeamTrees.
“Ok, sounds legit,” he tweeted, “will donate 1M trees.”
Known for his quirky online persona, Musk quickly changed his Twitter name to “Treelon.”
Ok, sounds legit, will donate 1M trees
— Treelon (@elonmusk) October 29, 2019
The goal of #TeamTrees, which comprises a vast number of popular YouTubers, is to plant 20 million trees by 2020. It’s already at more than 8 million and counting. While it might not seem like much, and it isn’t, because there are trillions of trees on Earth, planting trees is actually a powerful way to help the environment.
This summer, Ethiopians planted more than 353 million trees in less than a day in an effort to literally make their country go green. According to CNN, “A recent study estimated that restoring the world’s lost forests could remove two thirds of all the planet-warming carbon that is in the atmosphere because of human activity.”
According to the study, forest “restoration isn’t just one of our climate change solutions, it is overwhelmingly the top one,” Swiss university ETH Zürich’s Tom Crowther, who led the research, told the Guardian.
As we all learned in elementary school, trees improve the air by soaking up carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen. They also store carbon (it’s the main component of wood), and when it comes to reducing the effects of environmental pollutants, every little bit helps.
Combating climate change has become celebrities’ cause célèbre, and while Jane Fonda is getting arrested at the Capitol every week, some have moved on from publicity stunts to meaningful action.
