Trump Forest Countering Ignorant Climate Policy

Founded in New Zealand in March 2017 by British climate scientist Dr Dan Price, American PhD candidate Jeff Willis and French-New Zealander Adrien Taylor (pictured right), the Trump Forest movement has now gone global, attracting notable supporters like Canadian author Margaret Atwood.

Trump Forest was started by the three friends to offset the carbon emissions caused by US President Donald Trump’s dismantling of the Clean Power Plan and re-stoking of America’s coal industry.

They’ve partnered with a non-profit that plants trees in developing countries and maintain a website where they track trees pledged on a map. People can either donate or plant their own trees and send a scanned receipt.

“We figure we have to plant enough trees to cover the state of Kentucky,” Willis said.

That’s about 10 billion trees, said Willis, speaking to Metro News Canada from Christchurch, where he is studying. But more than 800,000 trees have been pledged all over the world so far.

“It feels quite frustrating with Trump. Every single day there’s something new, and being able to have a really concrete positive impact … has been really cool,” he said.

Just last week, Syrian officials announced they would sign on to the Paris agreement on climate change, making the US the only country on Earth that doesn’t support the landmark accord to reduce global emissions.

“Trump is essentially leading the US backwards and dragging the rest of the world with it,” Willis said.

The 28-year-old manages social media for the project and said New Zealander Lucy Lawless – of Xena, Warrior Princess fame – was one of the early champions.

Taylor is also the founder of sustainable cap company Offcut Caps, which launched Trump Forest with an initial contribution of 1000 native New Zealand trees.

Original article by May Warren, Metro News Canada, November 8, 2017.