Let’s Just Plant A Trillion Trees
The Climate Denier's Playbook
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Tree Planting Shenanigans
This chapter features a humorous exchange about tree planting initiatives and the absurdities of corporate environmentalism. The hosts engage in playful banter, blending comedy with critiques of superficial climate solutions, while one adopts the persona of a baking YouTuber and the other an arborist. Through a chaotic narrative, they highlight the need for genuine environmental efforts amidst their exaggerated discussions about planting a trillion trees.
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Episode notes
Why stop emitting when we can just plant a bunch of trees?
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CREDITS
- Created by: Rollie Williams, Nicole Conlan & Ben Boult
- Hosts: Rollie Williams & Nicole Conlan
- Executive Producer: Ben Boult
- Post-production: Jubilaria Media
- Researchers: Carly Rizzuto, Canute Haroldson & James Crugnale
- Art: Jordan Doll
- Music: Tony Domenick
- Special thanks: The Civil Liberties Defense Center, Shelley Vinyard & The Natural Resources Defense Council, Angeline Robertson & Stand.Earth
SOURCES
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- Popkin, G. (2019, October 24). Catchy findings have propelled this young ecologist to fame—and enraged his critics. Science.
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- St. George, Z. (2022, July 13). Can Planting a Trillion New Trees Save the World? The New York Times.
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- Kennedy, B., & Tyson, A. (2024, March 1). How Republicans view climate change and energy issues. Pew Research Center.
- Roll Call. (2020, March 11). Is the GOP warming to climate action? Trillion trees plan hopes for growth. YouTube.
- Speaker Kevin McCarthy. (2023, June 29). Speaker McCarthy and House Republicans Fight For American-Made Energy in Columbiana County, Ohio. YouTube.
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- Rep. Clay Higgins - Louisiana (District 03). (2024). Open Secrets.
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- 2023 National ECongress.govnvironmental Scorecard. (2023). League of Conservation Voters.
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- Veldman, J. W., Aleman, J. C., Alvarado, S. T., Anderson, T. M., Archibald, S., Bond, W. J., Boutton, T. W., Buchmann, N., Buisson, E., Canadell, J. G., Dechoum, M. de S., Diaz-Toribio, M. H., Durigan, G., Ewel, J. J., Fernandes, G. W., Fidelis, A., Fleischman, F., Good, S. P., Griffith, D. M., & Hermann, J.-M. (2019). Comment on “The global tree restoration potential.” Science, 366(6463). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aay7976.
- Erratum for the Report: “The global tree restoration potential” by J.-F. Bastin, Y. Finegold, C. Garcia, D. Mollicone, M. Rezende, D. Routh, C. M. Zohner, T. W. Crowther and for the Technical Response “Response to Comments on ‘The global tree restoration potential’” by J.-F. Bastin, Y. Finegold, C. Garcia, N. Gellie, A. Lowe, D. Mollicone, M. Rezende, D. Routh, M. Sacande, B. Sparrow, C. M. Zohner, T. W. Crowther. (2020). Science, 368(6494). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abc8905
- Anderson, T. R., Hawkins, E., & Jones, P. D. (2016). CO2, the greenhouse effect and global warming: from the pioneering work of Arrhenius and Callendar to today’s Earth System Models. Endeavour, 40(3), 178–187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.endeavour.2016.07.002
- Hasler, N., Williams, C. A., Vanessa Carrasco Denney, Ellis, P. W., Shrestha, S., Terasaki, D. E., Wolff, N. H., Yeo, S., Crowther, T. W., Werden, L. K., & Cook-Patton, S. C. (2024). Accounting for albedo change to identify climate-positive tree cover restoration. Nature Communications, 15. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-46577-1
- Viani, R. A. G., Bracale, H., & Taffarello, D. (2019). Lessons Learned from the Water Producer Project in the Atlantic Forest, Brazil. Forests, 10(11), 1031. https://doi.org/10.3390/f10111031
- Vadell, E., de-Miguel, S., & Pemán, J. (2016). Large-scale reforestation and afforestation policy in Spain: A historical review of its underlying ecological, socioeconomic and political dynamics. Land Use Policy, 55, 37–48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2016.03.017
- TED-Ed. (2023, December 19). Does planting trees actually cool the planet? - Carolyn Beans. YouTube.
- Howard, S. Q.-I., Emma, & Howard, E. (2022, December 12). “How are we going to live?” Families dispossessed of their land to make way for Total’s Congo offsetting project. Unearthed.
- Garside, R., & Wyn, I. (2021, August 6). Tree-planting: Why are large investment firms buying Welsh farms? BBC News.
- Gabbatiss, J., & Viisainen, V. (2024, June 26). Analysis: UK misses tree-planting targets by forest the “size of Birmingham.” Carbon Brief.
- Buller, A. (2022). The Value of a Whale. Manchester University Press.
- Alexander, S. (2024, May 3). A Billionaire Wanted to Save 1 Trillion Trees by 2030. It’s Not Going Great. Bloomberg.
- No Watermark Clips. (2019, May 21). King of the Hill on Carbon Offsets. YouTube.
- Choi-Schagrin, W. (2021, August 23). Wildfires are ravaging forests set aside to soak up greenhouse gases. The New York Times.
- Hodgson, C. (2021, August 4). US Forest Fires Threaten Carbon Offsets as Company-Linked Trees Burn. Inside Climate News.
- What’s the potential of a trillion trees? (2020). Crowther Lab.
- Luhn, A. (2023, December 13). Stop Planting Trees, Says Guy Who Inspired World to Plant a Trillion Trees. Wired.
- TED Audio Collective. (2022, July 3). Can planting trees really stop climate change? | Thomas Crowther | The TED Interview. YouTube.
- Fleischman, F., Basant, S., Chhatre, A., Coleman, E. A., Fischer, H. W., Gupta, D., Güneralp, B., Kashwan, P., Khatri, D., Muscarella, R., Powers, J. S., Ramprasad, V., Rana, P., Solorzano, C. R., & Veldman, J. W. (2020). Pitfalls of Tree Planting Show Why We Need People-Centered Natural Climate Solutions. BioScience, 70(11). https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biaa094
- Oglesby, C. (2021, Feb 9). Republicans want to plant 1 trillion trees — and then log them. Grist
CORRECTIONS
- Felix Finkbeiner was 13 years old when he spoke at the United Nations, not 12.
- The industry that has currently contributed the most to Rep. Bruce Westerman’s career campaigns for federal congress is the Forestry & Forest Products industry, as reported by Open Secrets. The Oil & Gas industry is listed as #2.
DISCLAIMER: Some media clips have been edited for length and clarity.
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