About two weeks ago on October 25, 2019, a single video was uploaded to YouTube that started one of, if not, the biggest fundraising movements that the internet has ever seen. This video, titled “Planting 20,000,000 Trees, My Biggest Project Ever!” made by Mr. Beast in collaboration with Mark Rober created the TeamTrees challenge which strives to plant twenty million (yes, the number two followed by seven zeros) trees by the start of 2020.
To accomplish this ambitious goal, these two individuals have partnered together with the Arbor Day Foundation, a non-for profit organization, to plant all these trees. As stated and proven by the foundation, every dollar donated will equate to one tree being planted in an environmentally safe and sustainable way by December of 2022.
Furthermore, they’ve also collaborated with numerous other YouTubers on the platform to help raise money. Even YouTubers like PewDiePie, one of the largest channels on the entire platform with over a hundred million subscribers, have also expressed and provided their direct support.
But even with all this is going on, how did it all start?
To explain, we need to go back to May 2019 when Mr. Beast, a YouTuber, first hit twenty million subscribers. Known as the YouTuber who completes numerous extravagant and attention-grabbing stunts (many of which pertains to assisting those in need), he wanted to do something extremely large for such an impressive milestone. As such, he turned to Twitter for answers, ultimately concluding on this result.
However, even though this was the case, there was still a large challenge in front of him. While attempting to manually plant all the trees, he found that, even with an army of over five hundred fans, they still barely managed to plant over three thousand trees in a day, a rate which would have been much too slow to complete this challenge. Because of this, he teamed up with Mark Rober, an educational YouTuber and ex-NASA engineer, to help discover other methods to accomplish this goal.
Through their collaboration and research, they finally concluded on two sources. One was this video and movement stated above and two was through many automated drones which would spread seeds to help plant trees in recently devastated areas (like by wildfires).
But why plant trees?
As you may be able to see from right outside the window, the climate has been rapidly changing. Even within the past five years, we’ve seen much greater variability within the temperatures. We’ve shattered record highs and lows and even here, we are seeing record-breaking early snow falls within the year./cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/63847855/burning-earth.0.jpg)
And that’s not surprising, given what we are doing to the environment. As researched by CBS News, we are releasing upward of 2.4 million pounds of carbon dioxide per second. Furthermore, the parts per million (or basically the ratio of carbon dioxide) in our atmosphere has also nearly tripled since 1950 (as discovered by NASA).
Because of all this carbon dioxide, its starting to change the only home we have. We’re seeing predictions of sea levels rising upward of 2 meters, estimates of global temperatures increasing by three degrees, and projections of over fifty percent of all animal species going extinct.
But there’s still things we can do to prevent this impending future.
As researched by North Carolina State University, a single tree can absorb around 48 pounds of carbon dioxide per year. And even though that’s not a lot compared to the amount we are producing, it’s still a step in the right direction. However, not by very much.
A research conducted by CNN concluded that we would need to roughly 1.2 trillion trees to reverse ten years of climate change. But even though this figure is sixty thousand times greater than the goal of TeamTrees, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try and make a difference.
Every tree, every dollar, every word still makes a difference in protecting our future. Even if you can’t easily or cheaply plant a tree, go to teamtrees.org and donate a bit. They’re currently at $14.8 million raised! And, if you can’t do that, still try to spread the word! You can attend a local climate strike, post something on to raise awareness on social media (like #teamtrees for example), or even just tell your friends!
ANY effort can make a difference and let’s help create a future that we won’t regret. #teamtrees.
This is great! I love your use of this blog to spread awareness for this amazing cause! I remember watching a video about the impact that 20 million trees will have on the environment. Here’s the link: https://youtu.be/-cPdImejxEQ. After weighing the enormous benefits against its almost negligible cost, it’s only logical to donate money to this cause or simply plant a few trees outside of your house. They way you put it is great. Even if this act alone cannot solve all of our climate change issues, it is most definitely one very big step in the right direction!
I literally just finished a future blog about deforestation what a coincidence! I love how you talked about how important trees are to our environment and how without them, carbon dioxide emissions go up and therefore greenhouse gases go up significantly. TREES ARE SO IMPORTANT!! and I don’t think a lot of people realize this, so I’m glad to see you bringing attention to this. I think the organization TeamTrees is very cool and they’re doing a great job bringing attention to planting trees and the environment. $14.8 million is not a small number! So I think it’s very cool how they’re raised that much money and planted 1.2 million trees because I believe we need to do something to help the problem, and planting trees is one solution! Even though TeamTrees is a small organization, they’re doing so much to try and help, which I love. One thing I would keep in mind for your next blog is make sure your voice is flowing throughout the entire post because I feel you had voice in some parts but it died down in others. Otherwise, I loved your blog and I definitely agree that change needs to happen in order to save the Earth. Great blog!!
I love how you chose to write about this internet phenomenon. In addition to the more than $20 million that the fundraiser will most likely raise, TeamTrees is a perfect demonstration of what online communities can accomplish. A lot of people discredit online activism as empty and pointless, but the actual impact of TeamTrees works to show that the Internet’s efforts can lead to tangible results. Yes, large contributions have been made by Elon Musk and other famous youtubers/celebrities, but a vast amount of the contributions are from everyday viewers donating just a couple dollars. While people generally think that online virality only leads to things like KSI vs Logan Paul fights, #TeamTrees proves that platforms like YouTube can make an actual difference.
I also saw this phenomenon take over the Internet these past few weeks (mostly through Mark Rober’s video)! I think the first thought that came to mind was: “will this really help at all?” As you mention in your post, the estimated number of trees needed to reverse some effects of climate change is 60 times the number of trees they plan to plant. But thinking about the topic a bit more, I realized that it wasn’t necessarily the individual trees that mattered. Rather, I thought that the most important takeaway from this viral Internet phenomenon that took over Youtube like a wildfire (although I guess that’s not the best way to describe planting trees) was that people can change the world together. 20 million trees is… a lot. But, as of right now, there have been $15 million donated already. Imagine if this was a sustained effort. I guess, I just hope that this is not a one-and-done kind of ordeal. Climate change is undoubtedly a huge problem which needs to be urgently addressed, not on a national scale, but an international scale. I like the call to action you included in your final sentence. WE must make ANY effort for a better future.