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Every time I reminisce on the ambience that there is when reading my favorite book under a tree upcountry, I am resolute in supporting initiatives that support restoring the trees by planting and growing trees.
Let's have more of the green and blue on earth through our trees and oceans.
Rising Stars are recognized for providing high-quality answers to other users. Rising Stars receive a certificate of achievement and are on the path to becoming Community Leaders.
Rising Stars are recognized for providing high-quality answers to other users. Rising Stars receive a certificate of achievement and are on the path to becoming Community Leaders.
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July 30, 2023 edited
Congratulations to this amazing community - we did it with time to spare!!!! Next July, what do you think - 40,000 trees?
Wrapup post and updated Tree Tracker will be live next week but in the meantime THANK YOU for helping us plant all these trees!!! This is the best community on the planet.
Amazing achievement thanks to @Monique vdB and all that contributed to this.
I am naturally an optimistic person but when it comes to making a positive difference to this planet, it is hard to feel optimism.
However, this project and the other environmental initiatives not only makes a tangible difference but it also shows me that a lot of people DO care. It is also amazing to share peoples experiences but also for us to learn from other peoples experiences.
We all can do more, myself included but I always say choose awareness over blissful ignorance. Keep trying to do more, no matter how small and seemingly insignificant those changes may be.
I don't want to kill the positivity but I have to bring attention to the area that HAS to change for the future of the planet...
Rewilding, replanting, reforesting all exists to undo the damage we humans have already done BUT unfortunately, these projects run at a rate that can't even come close to matching the rate of destruction that happens each and every day globally.
In the UK for example, centuries of deforestation predominantly for farming has left the UK with just 13% forest cover, leading to the extinction of hundreds of species of flora and fauna, the story is similar across most of Europe...
Even today, property developers building on green-belt sits get a badge for "considerate construction" because they will plant a new tree for each one they destroy. There are issues with this. If they destroy a mature forest, they will destroy trees that could be hundreds of years old, they destroy an entire ecosystem with plants and animals that have lived in symbiosis. The act of destruction also releases some of the captured carbon, it has largely ignored effects on the stability of the soil and the ground and no matter what is planted, it will never replace what was lost, what would have spanned several human lifetimes. The trees they plant are pure numbers, they plant a row of trees on a roadside, which will not be able to turn into a haven for animal species to return because of traffic but they tick that box.
Across the world, the rate of deforestation is scary. I have seen first hand in Malaysia, Indonesia, Central and South America the damage that is still being done and the effects it is having in the local areas and wider world.
These ecosystems in particular are so precious because the density and variety of all life there is vital to supporting all life, including humans! Human ingenuity, technology or AI is not ever going to replace our dependency on other species for our own existence...
Not only that, our ignorance and human induced destruction is wiping out other species that have just as much right to exist as we do.
So as much as rewilding, reforestation, tree planting is and will continue to make a difference, we need to keep that going until the scales are tipped in favour of replanting instead of deforestation.
We should learn to understand the complex nature of deforestation, particularly the countries where this is happening, why they often feel they have no choice and to open our eyes to the exploitation that occurs in these countries by foreign superpowers and the lack of morality of huge corporations...
We should think about why deforestation happens, what products we consume that contribute, how can changes we make in our purchasing decisions make a difference. You cant undo the agriculture that exists but you can make product choices that to your best knowledge are ethical, sustainable and commit to helping the communities who depend on these practices, through fair pricing for their products and education.
I want end in the most positive way possible so I will encourage you, whatever country or continent you are from to look up rewilding and species reintroduction projects that are happening. There is momentum building through collective awareness, truth and taking positives steps, we can all contribute to turning the tide.
I will share an example of what can be done even in just 20 years. I visited Cloudbridge forest reserve in Costa Rica. From a forest dissected and destroyed to allow farming to an ecosystem full of life and incredible biodiversity. https://www.cloudbridge.org/the-project/reforestation/
It is proof that what we do today can start making a difference almost immediately
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