Youtubers launch a movement to help the environment

Our environment is dying. Seven billion trees are being cut down annually, 95 percent of the world is breathing polluted, unsafe air, and more than 16,000 species of plants and animals are in danger of going extinct.

Stephen Hawking predicted that human life on earth only has 1,000 years left as of 2016, which he then changed to only 100 years six months later.

However, not all hope is lost. YouTubers have rallied their subscribers together with hopes to make a difference and encourage others prevent climate change.

One such is YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson (commonly known as Mr Beast), who is known for making extreme videos, usually involving large sums of money, such as “Donating $100,000 To Random Streamers” and “Last To Stop Running Wins $20,000.”

In May 2019, MrBeast was dared on Reddit to plant 20 million trees by his fans after reaching 20 million subscribers as a celebration.

He stated, “People keep making fun of our generation for the retweet activism and not actually doing something…This is your chance to make a difference.” so with the help of fellow YouTuber and former NASA and Apple engineer Mark Rober, MrBeast created #TeamTrees, an organization that is working with the Arbor Day Foundation to plant 20 million trees by 2020. This foundation plans to achieve such a feat with the help of donations, with every one dollar donated being equivalent to a pledge to plant one tree.

On Oct. 25,  MrBeast and Rober, along with 600 other YouTubers (such as Pewdiepie, Ninja, Marshmello, Jeffrey Star, Hannah Stocking, John and Hank Green, and Gavin Free) posted videos promoting that teamtres.org was live.

The public quickly got on board with #TeamTrees. In the first 48 hours that donations were open, they raised $5 million and on Oct. 30th, only 5 days after #TeamTrees went live, they reached half of their goal, with $10 million raised.

This was achieved with the help of people from across the globe and other prominent figures, such as the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, Elon Musk, who replied to MrBeast tweet pledging “Ok, sounds legit, will donate 1M trees,” which he followed by changing his twitter handle to “Treelon.” He had made the largest donation  at the time, which took first, surpassing MrBeast’s own donation of 200,001 trees. Musk’s time atop the donor list was short lived though. Only 21 hours after donating, he was passed by the CEO of Shopify, Tobias Lutke, who in response donated a million and one trees and changed his twitter handle to “Tobi ‘Lorax’ Lutke”. AP Environmental Science teacher Stephanie Crow even got word of this stating ,“I think our environment is being put into a situation what could be damaging long term if some things aren’t done, certainly planting trees would be a great way to start healing the planet from so much damage humans have caused.”

Other creators have been a big support as well, one of them being from a famous YouTuber in Ireland, Jacksepticeye. With a mass following of 22.9 million subscribers. He hosted an eight hour long livestream playing Minecraft and for every donation made he would plant virtual trees. Jacksepticeye raised a whopping $153,000 dollars alone. More contributions include YouTube gamers like Noahj456 and Ninja, donating $10 every kill they got in the popular game Fortnite. They also took advantage of the anticipated game of the year, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Donating money based on kills accumulated during the match.

Planting 20 million trees would do a lot for the environment. One mature oak tree can be home to 500 different species, helping preserve the species that are in danger of going extinct such as the bald eagle, Sumatran tigers, giant panda and orangutan. Trees also help with  physical and mental health.

Being in a forest with trees helps people rejuvenate by decreasing anger and depression as well as lowering blood pressure and stress related hormones.

Not only do trees have numerous health benefits, they also save money. A neighborhood with trees could be up to 11 degrees cooler than one without trees, limiting the need for air conditioning, which in turn reduces energy costs by 20 to 30 percent.

Tree roots also hold soil in place, reducing erosion, which  keeps homes and roads safe, causing less need for repairs. In addition, trees can recharge water tables, resulting in less water ending up in the sewers. 20 million trees can filter 220 billion gallons of water, which fills 300,000 Olympic swimming pools.

Trees also remove carbon dioxide from the air in addition to absorbing harmful pollutants, such as carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide. 20 millions trees would remove 44 millions pounds of pollutants a year, in addition to consuming the carbon dioxide equivalent to a new car driving over 1.7 billion miles annually. (The Info-graphics show)

“Just to be clear, we all realize 20 million trees won’t fix climate change 20 million trees is better than zero! We want to take action because doing nothing is how we got here.” MrBeast tweeted. Every tree impacts the environment. It may only cost one dollar, but it is giving many animals homes, improving the health of those around you, and helps preserve the earth.

You can donate at teamtrees.org and if that is not an option at this time, it is still possible to contribute to the effort. “I think some people do a great job of taking care of our environment.

However, some people just take it for granted and negatively impact it without even thinking. Littering to me is the one thing everyone can stop doing to have an immediate impact for our environment and the organisms in it” stated Crow. All it takes is the planting of a single tree to inspire others and help save the environment.