Jane Goodall, a widely-known primatologist, announced that she hopes to support the United Nations’ Trillion Trees Campaign to combat climate change by planting a trillion trees by 2030.
Her initiative, called Trees for Jane, hopes to not just plant trees but to protect “existing forest because those big trees already have stored CO2,” Goodall told National Geographic.
Goodall is also stressing the importance of saving and restoring trees. She also told National Geographic that she has “spiritual connection” to trees. In a recent short film, which Goodall narrated, she also trees are “God’s gift to humanity.”
“Trees absorb carbon dioxide. They give us oxygen. They help to make rain. So they are a gift.”
The world now has roughly three trillion trees, but the planet loses 15 billion trees a year, according theJournal Nature.
“I know that a trillion sounds like an insane number,” said Jeff Horowitz, Trees for Jane’s co-founder. “We’re not saying flat out that we’ll be able to succeed, but we want to come as close as we can.”