Can Planting Billions Of Trees Halt Climate Change?

Trees are burning up around the planet at an alarming rate and impacting the climate. Now a new effort to plant as many trees as possible has taken hold around the globe. But will it mitigate climate change?   In California, 3 million acres have burned since 2017. And in Brazil, some 121,000 fires have burned since January — more than half in the Amazon rainforest.   The fires have cost the planet millions of trees, one of the Earth’s best defenses against climate change. Now a movement around the globe is trying to replace trees lost to fire and deforestation for agriculture or grazing.   In Ethiopia, the prime minister announced a new #GreenLegacy initiative that planted more than 353 million trees in 12 hours. Even YouTube stars are getting in on the act: More than 600 social media personalities recently raised over $16 million to plant trees worldwide. The effort was led by Jimmy Donaldson, a YouTube star who’s also known as MrBeast.   Reforestation is also a big part of the Paris climate agreement, which the U.S. recently abandoned at the behest of President Donald Trump.   But can planting billions and billions of trees really mitigate climate change? For that matter, is it even feasible?

Source: CNBC
Length: 11:29
Country: United States
Language: English
Date: 30.11.2019