The Trillion Tree Campaign

A few points on the trillion tree initiative:

• This is an irrefutably good idea, as trees absorb CO2 and convert it to both above- and below-ground tissue that remains sequestered, at least until the end of their lives.

• It’s also “irrefutably good” that the U.S. president is suggesting that this country will participate in the plan, though, when he spoke on the subject today at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, the audience must have been rolling its collective eyes, given Trump’s utter disdain for environmental responsibility.  Is he trying to confuse? Distract? What could his motive possibly be?  🙂

• Even if fully implemented, it’s not nearly sufficient to effectively counter the meteoric rise in greenhouse gas emissions and thus climate change.

• Though this is a great idea, an even better one would be to stop the widespread destruction of the Amazon rainforest.

As reported here, making this happen, if it occurs at all, will require a great deal of coming together at the local level.  Most of us agree that poaching elephants and rhinos is a terrible thing, but in the regions in which this is occurring, the ethos of the district is what prevails; what you and I think about the horrors of the mass slaughter of nature’s most magnificent creatures is totally meaningless. Planting a trillion trees is equally meaningless if most of them are removed by the communities’ people who are pursuing other ends that supersede environmental sustainability.