President Donald Trump is notorious for his ignorance on climate change. So instead of sitting by while his administration harms the planet, a British climate scientist, an American PhD candidate, and a French and Kiwi sustainable hat company founder decided to take action. They started Trump Forest to encourage people to plant trees, and have seen a huge response: so far hundreds of people around the world have pledged 130,999 trees.
“Where ignorance grows trees” is the tagline of the Trump Forest project. Dan Price, Jeff Willis, and Adrien Taylor initiated the project in March of this year in New Zealand with a contribution of 1,000 native trees from Taylor’s company Offcut (which plants a tree for every cap sold). From there, hundreds of people in places as far-flung as Malawi, Japan, and the United States pledged to plant trees too.
Related: Meet the teen planting 150 trees for every person on Earth
Trump Forest isn’t after money, according to their website. Instead, they hope people will pay for and plant trees where they live in the name of America’s president, or donate to charity Eden Reforestation Projects.
Taylor told the BBC of Trump, “Only a small percentage of the world voted him in, but we all have to deal with the consequences of his climate ignorance.” The organizers told the BBC they would need to plant a forest as big as Kentucky to offset Trump’s policies. They also estimated they’d need to offset 650 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2025 to make up for the actions of America’s commander-in-chief – that’s over 100 billion new trees. They think it’s feasible.
Wouldn’t a forest named after Trump just bolster his already large ego? The organizers say people have complained about that, but they’d prefer if the president got on board. Taylor told the BBC, “We kind of want him to love the forest; this is his forest after all. We would love it if he tweeted about it.”
Price said, “All we’re trying to do is pick up the slack he created and do the work for him.”
If you want to get involved, you can check out the project here.
Via BBC
Images via Pixabay and Ozark Drones on Unsplash
