Celebrities , influencers, and entrepreneurs are making a lot of effort to plant new trees . There are currently 8 billion people on Earth: if each of them planted a tree a year for 20 years , could the effects of climate change be slowed?
This is what would happen if everyone planted a tree a year for 20 years
In the hypothetical case that each and every one of us dedicated part of our time to planting a tree a year, in two decades, there would be 160 billion trees . Obviously in this way and with this large number of trees, something could be done to slow down climate change if we take into account that the main gas that causes global warming is carbon dioxide. The latter is absorbed by plants, through photosynthesis, and is used for plant growth.
Obviously, the amount that is absorbed changes according to the plant species; an average tree absorbs 22 kilograms of CO2 per year and, if a person planted 20 trees per year , over the two decades it would have helped absorb 450 kilograms of carbon dioxide (obviously considering the possibility that all trees survived, which is unlikely).
If we take the United States as an example, we can point out that each average person living in this country produces no more and no less than 15.5 tons of carbon dioxide per year. This means that if every person living in the US planted one tree a year, it would only make up for the absorption of about 3% of the carbon dioxide.
In Spain, however, each citizen produces an average of 5.8 tons of carbon dioxide (there would be a compensation of almost 9%). Such an effort would certainly help the planet, but it is not enough if we take into account the data on cutting down trees and not planting them.
In fact, 15 billion trees are cut down each year and stopping deforestation could be a very important step in limiting climate change. This is not enough, and humans must also quickly start reducing their annual carbon dioxide emissions. Individually, a lot can be done: for example, reducing meat consumption or car use (in favor of public transport or green transport). Obviously, and above all , the governments of the world, companies and large companies must also do their part. Only in this way can we reduce the risk (and limit the damage) of climate change.
