There are a lot of lessons we can learn from trees. These silently strong and powerful organisms are there to remind us to stay present, appreciate stillness, and never forget our roots. But the biggest lesson they teach us is just how powerful collective efforts can be. As the lungs of our planet, trees are vital to our existence. They provide us with oxygen, store carbon, stabilize soil and give life to the world’s wildlife.
If the past two years have taught us anything — it is just how connected we truly are and how strong we are — and can be — together. Collective efforts have been the constant theme of the past years. We all masked up, learned how to use Zoom, and re-learned the value of genuine connection. To nature, to each other, to ourselves.
In this new year, one theme I think we all share is hope. Hope for a return to more “normal” times, hope for our health and safety, hope for more meaningful connections, hope for fulfilling our dreams and goals, and yes, hope for the planet and its future. Our future.
Turning Hope Into Action
Whatever led us here, we all understand that collective choices can forge change. More and more are adopting sustainable lifestyles every day, and traditional industries are reforming to serve these markets. In both big and small ways, each of us contributes to shaping a better tomorrow for all.
With the start of a new year, we can all choose our ways to contribute to a better planet. Whether you decide to go vegan or lower your consumption of animal products, shop less, care for what you already own, or make more conscious choices, your day to day choices have an impact.
The Best Time To Plant A Tree Was 20 Years Ago. The Second Best Time Is Now
Founded a decade ago in Florence, Italy, Treedom — a certified B-corp –promotes sustainability and social welfare through tree planting. With Treedom, you get to support cooperatives of smallholder farmers in developing countries who want to plant trees, sustaining their work in the early years when trees are not yet productive. Treedom provides farmers with know-how and technical support for planting and managing trees. The trees are photographed, geolocated and monitored by Treedom over time, and the farmers you are supporting take care of your trees! This allows thousands of farmers to save the initial costs of planting new trees, ensuring food autonomy and income opportunities over time.
Much more than a tree: How Treedom helps people and the planet thrive
Treedom works to fund tree planting worldwide, allowing anyone to plant a tree remotely. Unlike most tree-planting initiatives, Treedom lets you follow, online, the story of the project your tree belongs to. Since 2010, they’ve planted over 2.9 million trees, supporting over 170,000 farmers across 17 countries, including Kenya, Colombia, Guatemala, and Cameroon.
Treedom focuses on local agroforestry projects, that incorporate trees in an agricultural system, favoring the virtuous interaction between the other species and sustainable use of resources and land. This helps to improve soil, fauna, flora and biosphere while drawing down carbon from its overpopulation in the atmosphere and storing it in the woody parts. It provides farmers with knowledge, training and income opportunities, stimulates biodiversity and reforestation in their land, battles soil erosion and desertification, and empowers locals to implement sustainable systems.
The realization of small agroforestry systems allows making clear choices concerning each project area’s specific characteristics and needs. The tree species planted are native or respect the biodiversity of the different territories. Finally, all trees absorb CO2 in the course of their growth, naturally generating a benefit for the whole world.
“We believe that throwing 100 seeds in a field does not mean planting 100 trees. And we believe that intensively planting a single species is not a sustainable and biodiversity-friendly choice. We believe that communities of people living in a given place are the best custodians of trees, so we support them financially and help them to plant and grow trees on their land. The trees will benefit them, the place where they live and the whole planet. We believe in the bond that, through trees and thanks to Treedom, can be created between distant people. We believe that each and every one of us must make an effort to reduce our CO2 emissions, and in doing so, we can also help to absorb them by planting trees. We believe that we can make this planet greener. And we want to do it in the right way”.
Trees with transparency: how geotagging trees is important
Every tree is part of a project and, therefore, also part of a story—a story that needs two things to work: a photo and GPS data of the tree. Though photographing and locating the trees is a huge logistical task for Treedom and its local partners, only through the incredible commitment of these people that it is even possible at all to process every single tree. Geotagging enables transparency and guarantees that each of the trees has been planted. It helps ensure quality control of the trees, provides users with a picture of their tree and forms a real emotional bond between the tree, the tree sponsor and the local smallholder who cares for the tree.
The Right Tree, In The Right Place And For The Right Purpose
Planting trees is not enough. If not thought through, it can do more harm than good. Tree planting is complicated work. Not only from a technical point of view – as skills and resources are needed to create appropriate locations for small trees to grow – but also from a strategic point of view. Planting trees is not enough, as trees must be supported in their growth. This means thinking in the medium and long term, and for this, you need to find the right tree for the right place and the right purpose. That’s why Treedom considers environmental benefits at both a local and global level as well as the social aspects.
Local environmental benefits: Treedom aims to deliver the maximum benefits to the ecosystem in which it is carried out. Therefore, each project has its distinct characteristics and areas in which tree planting can positively affect. Still, the most common of these are: combating soil erosion, enriching biodiversity, protecting soil fertility, creating sustainable ecosystems, etc.
Global environmental benefits: During its lifetime, every tree absorbs CO2 (carbon dioxide) from the atmosphere and stores it in its woody parts. This process removes CO2 from the atmosphere, and its effects are more significant the taller the trees are allowed to grow and live.
Social and economic benefits: By involving local smallholder farmers, Treedom delivers social benefits to the local communities participating in their projects and bringing them to life.
Here you can find out which countries Treedom works in and their unique tree-planting needs.
“Funding, community building, training and technical assistance are the fundamental steps in starting each new project. Above all, it is crucial that communities derive direct benefits from trees in terms of food resources and economic opportunities. They are the keepers of the trees, they will enjoy their fruits”.
Let’s green the planet: how you can start planting your personal forest?
Be it a birthday, wedding, a notable accomplishment, environmental resolution or just something to remember: celebrate it with a forest! Your forest will be made of many trees, and every tree will have its story.
Trees also make a unique and meaningful gift: You can also gift a tree to your loved ones, especially now for Valentine’s Day, and Treedom will deliver it via email, text message, or by sending you a printable card.
Head over to the Treedom website, and when clicking the “plant a tree” button, you will find a variety of trees to choose from, such as cacao, mango, coffee, avocado, banana and many more. You will also find trees with different meanings or select a specific country where you want to plant trees. Treedom also tells you how much carbon your tree will be offsetting to help inform your decision.
What are the hopes you desire to plant this year? I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts below.
Interested in planting a tree with Treedom?
Disclaimer: This post has been made in collaboration with Treedom. All the opinions are my own.