Category: Events

Arbor Day is only a week away! Arbor Day is a holiday that celebrates the planting, upkeep, and preservation of trees. The first Arbor Day was held on April 10, 1872 in Nebraska; they planted approximately 1 million trees! Within 20 years, Arbor Day spread throughout the nation to every state save Deleware. In 1883, it spread internationally to Japan, Europe, Canada, and further. It became a national holiday in 1970 during Nixon’s presidency, and is now a treasured annual event across the globe.

The need for trees is ever-growing. According to UN Forestry Data, around ten million hectares of forest are destroyed globally every year; for reference, that’s an area the size of Portugal! Around half of the deforestation is offset by regrowing forests, so overall there’s a loss of around five million hectares each year. Imagine if we could bridge the gap; 1 hectare of #forest captures anywhere from 2-5 tonnes of #CO2 a year _{(this depends on several factors such as the rate of growth, the age of the forest, location, number of trees, and more)}. According to a 2019 survey, adding nearly 1 billion hectares of forest could remove two-thirds of the roughly 300 gigatons of carbon humans have added to the atmosphere since the 1800s.

Adding forests wouldn’t just sequester carbon; forests provide a host of added benefits including enhanced biodiversity, improved water quality, reduced erosion, improved air quality, and more. Forests can help provide jobs, recreation areas, and can attract tourists for everything from one-of-a-kind views to rare bird species. And it might sound cliche, but a forest starts with you.

So this Arbor Day, get your hands dirty and plant a tree! Visit the Arbor Day Foundation event map to see what’s happening in your area.