In case you haven’t heard, incredibly popular YouTube content creator Jimmy Donaldson, better known as “MrBeast,” has set up a goal of planting 20 million trees by the beginning of 2020. MrBeast is usually known for doing crazy challenges involving large sums of money and charitable stunts such as tipping waiters with bars of gold.
Earlier this year, a fan made a request for him to plant 20 million trees in celebration of reaching 20 million subscribers. Several months and 5 million subscribers later, MrBeast has now taken this up as his self-proclaimed “biggest project ever”. He created and launched the #TeamTree fundraiser via a video on his channel, where he assembled a team of a few hundred people and planted 1500 trees over a span of a few days. Despite falling quite obviously short of the 20 million tree goal within the video, he devised a plan on how he could achieve his original goal.
MrBeast has teamed up with the Arbor Day Foundation, one of the largest non-profit conservation organizations in the world dedicated to planting and nurturing trees. The foundation also enlisted the help of another YouTuber: Mark Rober, a former NASA engineer.
In reference to the recent wildfires in California, MrBeast implored how “We only have one earth and it’s important we take care of it.” He continued by saying how recently, he feels like older generations “keep making fun of our generation for retweet activism,” as they believe that the youth participating in climate strikes and online climate activism are not actually doing anything practical to tackle the climate emergency and ecological crisis that we are facing.
The money raised via his YouTube #TeamTree fundraiser will be donated directly the Arbor Day Foundation to help him achieve his ultimate goal, as every $1 will fund 1 tree being planted.
Despite his good intentions, MrBeast has actually received some criticism over his charitable project, with some individuals complaining that planting 20 million trees will not stop or prevent climate change. MrBeast responded to the criticism by tweeting this statement, “Just to be clear we all realize 20 million trees won’t fix climate change. But at the end of the day 20 million more trees is better than 0! We want to take action because doing nothing is how we got here!” Indeed, trees are the front-line soldiers in the fight against the climate change. Let’s take a look at the impact that planting 20 million trees alone will have:
Trees help with temperature control
Trees reduce the air temperature by blocking and reflecting sunlight, consequently creating cool areas of shade. For example, if you had a massive tree planted next to your house, the tree would cast your house into shade and prevent it from heating up by being exposed to direct sunlight. That decreased temperature can decrease the use of air conditioners and ultimately reduce your electricity bill. Urban neighborhoods with a higher percentage of trees can have a reduced temperature of up to 11 degrees Fahrenheit! Basically, you will actually be saving money by donating!
They can host many different species
Each tree can host a wide variety of animals, from birds to insects. One single mature oak tree can be home to as many as 500 different species. Unfortunately, the earth is losing species rapidly due to the affects of deforestation, over-fishing and man-made climate change, causing us to be in the middle of the sixth mass extinction. With many species requiring trees for shelter, food and the raising of offspring, donating a little as 20 trees will be like building an entire city for animals!
Studies have shown that trees can actually lower crime rates
Studies have shown that spending time in a grove of trees can help with de-stressing as they generate a sense of peace. The relaxing affect nature has upon your body means that being among trees can actually help reduce blood pressure by lessening cortisol and adrenaline. In Japan, there is a practice of ‘Forest Bathing’ or ‘Shinrin-yoku’, where individuals are taking time off and spending it relaxing in forests. This is a form of healing medicine as they believe that trees make you happy! Indeed, happier people commit less crimes!
I think this is a pretty awesome venture for MrBeast, and if you are interested in donating, click on the link below! Remember, each one of us can make a difference and together we make change!