Videographer Teams up with Arbor Day Foundation to Plant 20 Million trees

In 2019, it isn’t the Lorax who speaks for the trees, but the power of the online community.

In early October, videographers and YouTube creators Jimmy Donaldson, known by his online persona Mr. Beast, and Mark Rober teamed up to develop and plan a campaign to raise 20 million dollars to plant 20 million trees by January 1, 2020. In order to achieve such a large goal, Donaldson and Rober paired up with the Arbor Day Foundation, a not-for-profit conservation and education organization set on inspiring people to “plant, nurture and celebrate trees.” The foundation provides classes on sustainability and provides ecological support for communities affected by natural disasters.

Although the project began simply as a way to encourage other creators on the YouTube platform to donate and spread the word, it didn’t take long before it leaked into the real world, reaching 12 million dollars in a little over a week. Some notable donors include CEO of Tesla Elon Musk, who donated a million dollars, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey donating $150,000, CEO of Youtube Susan Wojcicki with $200,000 and even makeup entrepreneur Jeffree Star with $50,000. 

On top of that, thousands of YouTube creators have chipped in from big names like Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg and Tyler “Ninja” Blevins to smaller channels such as James “TheOdd1sOut” Rallison and Irish creator Daniel “RTGame” Condren. More and more creators have donated due to the overwhelming encouragement of their fanbases; some have even started their own ways of raising money. Mark “Markiplier” Fishbach’s merch store donates proceeds to Team Trees and Sean “JackSepticEye” McLoughlin ran an eight-hour charity live stream. The project has grown so big it has even gained the attention of A-list actors like Mark Ruffalo and Chris Evans.

“I haven’t always been the most environmentally friendly,” said Donaldson in his initial video titled “Help Me Plant 2,000,000 Trees” that announced and launched the project. “I used to be of the mindset that someone else will figure it out. That’s not how it works. We need all the help we can get.” 

Donaldson went on to say that we only have one earth and it is our job to take care of it.

“Recently, a lot of not so great things have happened, like forest fires and pollution problems. People often make fun of our generation for complaining about problems and not taking action. This is why I created Team Trees,” Donaldson said.

Although the idea has been praised, there are also some criticisms. Some argue that planting trees does nothing to help with climate change and that planting too many trees in one area is actually harmful to the environment. The Arbor Day Foundation has assured critics that these 20 million trees will be planted in areas around the globe that need them and will be native to the area. Restoration has been proven to help with climate change in the long run, albeit not on its own. Planting is a start, but it is still up to humanity to change the ways we live and treat our home.

A spokesperson for Team Trees said that the impact of these trees will absorb and store 1.6 million tons of carbon, the equivalent of taking 1.24 million cars off the road for a year. They said it will also result in 1.5 billion cubic meters of avoided water runoff, the equivalent of filling the water bottle of every person on Earth every day for a year, and remove 115,000 tons of chemical air pollution, enough gaseous pollution to fill 14,000 Goodyear blimps.

“We have the power to make a huge, positive change,” said McLoughlin. “Climate change is something that really matters and it is very, very real, so please take it seriously. We’re really making a difference here.”

You can donate to Team Trees at www.teamtrees.org or with the YouTube donate button on Donaldson’s video here.

—sydney.dahle@gmail.com

@dillydahle