It is not difficult to grow trees. It is quite easy overall. It just takes a little care and patience and discipline, which can be certainly fun. It is giving a gift to future generations – one that keeps on giving. Like any gardening one must find what the plant wants and try to do what it needs. If every person grew just one tree –  well, that’s a whole lotta trees. If a few people grew many trees –  all the better. We could reforest the world. We could make every arable landscape edible for us and other creatures. Just willpower will do it. Only a bit of skill is required.

Below are some statistics concerning deforestation and like subjects.

A little over 30% of the earths land surface is naturally forest covered which is about 4 billion hectares. These forests house 80% of terrestrial biodiversity. Rain-forests once covered 14% of the earth’s land surface housing 50% of its terrestrial biodiversity; now they cover a mere 6% and some conservative estimates state that the last remaining rain-forests could be consumed in less than 40 years.

~” More than 20 percent of the world oxygen is produced in the Amazon Rain forest. More than half of the world’s estimated 10 million species of plants, animals and insects live in the tropical rain forests. One-fifth of the world’s fresh water is in the Amazon Basin. One hectare (2.47 acres) may contain over 750 types of trees and 1500 species of higher plants”.

~ Globally since the year 1700 forest loss is over 300 million hectares. That is about 1 million square miles, that’s larger than the states of Texas and Colorado combined. Forested areas have shrunk by 50% in the past 8,000 years. The worlds’ forests annually absorb 30% of human made carbon emissions and carbon dioxide rates are the highest now in perhaps 10 million years.  In the 1800s’ alone roughly 120 million hectares of forest was cleared in the eastern United States. Humans have drastically transformed about 1/3^rd of the ice free land surface of the world due to agriculture and animal husbandry.

~ Europe has only about 5% of primary forest covering, perhaps less. Over half of the European endemic (native) tree species are endangered close to extinction and of marine fishes, 1,220 species- 7.5% are threatened with extinction due to mainly over-fishing, coastal development, energy production, mining, and pollution. About 10% of its native animals are at the brink.

~Logging accounts for more than 2/3rds of forest destruction worldwide, mining, human occupation and forest fires (human or otherwise) account the rest.

~Over 6.5 million trees were cut down to make 16 billion paper cups used by US consumers only for coffee in 2006, using 4 billion gallons (15,000,000 m³) of water and resulting in 253 million pounds of waste. Below are a few statistics concerning deforestation and why we must go the opposite direction.

An acre of forest is cut every second. Every day 30- 140 species are estimated to be going extinct. Many of these are very, very small.

~ According to the IUCN Red list; Out of the 112,000 assessed species of plant and animals over 27% are endangered. Approximately 25% of all mammals, 30% of conifer species and 40% of all amphibians, 10% of the bird species, 30% of sharks and rays, 30% of coral reefs which are home to 25% of marine life, 25% crustaceans are threatened with extinction. More than 30,000 species, plant and animal are considered to be facing extinction immediately. Extinction rates are thousands of times higher than “normal” rates due to hunting, poaching, deforestation, mining and habitat loss in general. The decline in wild life populations globally could be over 50% just since 1950.

• IUCN Red list:  International Union for Conservation of Nature.; Red List of Threatened Species.    www.IUCNredlist.org  Founded in 1964, is a comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. It uses a set of criteria to evaluate the extinction risk of thousands of species and subspecies.  
  

                                                                                                        We can re-paradise our world.

    It is estimated there are over 1 million environmental organizations around the world

Please look into these below; join one, or many, voice and send your support.     

Type in their name on the internet, also look into a list for hundreds more environmental organizations; this will lead to MANY thousands more  around the world. Start with your locale there is definitely at least one in your area, then go further. Support them. They are supporting you!   You might also consider buying my book “Evergreen” ….. where 96% of profits of all books sold are to be donated to environmental organizations. Some of them are below.      

    Those working in the Northwest region of United States

The Trees Foundation. Trees Foundation was created in 1991 with the mission to restore the ecological integrity of California’s North Coast by empowering and assisting regional community-based conservation and restoration projects. www.treesfoundation.org

North Coast environmental Center.   The mission of the North Coast Environmental Center is to promote understanding of the relations between people and the biosphere and to conserve, protect, and celebrate terrestrial, aquatic, and marine ecosystems of northern California and southern Oregon.  www.yournec.org

EPIC.   Environmental Protection Information Center.   The Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC) is a community based, non-profit organization that advocates for science-based protection and restoration of Northwest California’s Forests. EPIC was founded in 1977 when local residents came together to successfully end aerial applications of herbicides by industrial logging companies in Humboldt County. www.wildcalifornia.org

Klamath-Siskiyou Wild-Lands Center.  KS Wild’s mission is to protect and restore wild nature in the Klamath-Siskiyou region of southwest Oregon and northwest California. We promote science-based land and water conservation through policy and community action.  We envision a Klamath-Siskiyou region where local communities enjoy healthy wildlands, where clean rivers are teeming with native salmon, and where connected plant and wildlife populations are prepared for climate change. www.kswild.org

Mattole Restoration Council  The Mattole Restoration Council is one of North America’s oldest community-led watershed restoration organizations. Established in 1983, the Council’s primary mission is to understand, restore and conserve the ecosystems of the Mattole River watershed, with attention to threatened Coho and Chinook salmon and steelhead.  www.mattole.org

Sanctuary Forest, Inc. Sanctuary Forest is a land and water trust whose mission is to conserve the Mattole River watershed and surrounding areas for wildlife habitat and aesthetic, spiritual and intrinsic values, in cooperation with our diverse community. Sanctuary Forest.org.

  Helping the Redwood ecology specifically.

Save the Redwoods League. A nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect and restore coast redwood and giant sequoia trees through the preemptive purchase of development rights to notable areas with such forests. www.savetheredwoods.org

 Sempervirens Fund.  Their mission is to protect and permanently preserve redwood (Sequoia Sempervirens) forests, wildlife habitat, watersheds, and other important natural and scenic features of California’s Santa Cruz Mountains, and to encourage public appreciation and enjoyment of this environment. www.sempervirens.org

A VERY small list of those working in on protection, preservation, conservation, restoration and education: 

 Archangel Ancient Tree Archive is locating, archiving, and propagating the best trees to help solve the world’s environmental problems.  www.ancienttreearchive.org

Ancient Forest Alliance is a registered non-profit organization working to protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests and to ensure a sustainable, value-added, second-growth forest industry.

Center for Biological Diversity is a nonprofit membership organization known for its work protecting endangered species through legal action, scientific petitions, creative media and grassroots activism.

 Dogwood Alliance advances environmental justice and climate action by mobilizing diverse voices to protect Southern forests and communities from industrial logging; especially for use in Biomass.

Environmental Defense Fund is a United States-based nonprofit environmental advocacy group, known for its work on issues including global warming, ecosystem restoration, oceans, and human health, and advocates using sound science, economics and law to find environmental solutions that work.

 Earth First! is an international movement composed of small, bio-regionally-based groups.

Earth island Institute supports activism around environmental issues through fiscal sponsorship that provides the administrative and organizational infrastructure for individual projects.

Friends of the Earth seeks to change the perception of the public, media, and policymakers — and effect policy change — with hard-hitting, well-reasoned policy analysis and advocacy campaigns that describe what needs to be done, rather than what is seen as politically feasible or politically correct.

Global Forest Watch is an online platform that provides data and tools for monitoring forests. By harnessing cutting-edge technology, GFW allows anyone to access near real-time information about where and how forests are changing around the world.

Forest Conservation Portal database of new, analysis, maps of the world’s forests, is dedicated to ending deforestation, preserving old-growth forests, sustainably managing other forests, maintaining climatic systems and commencing the age of ecological restoration.

Forest ethics – Stand. Earth uses market power to educate individual consumers, large corporate purchasers and distributors and to protect endangered forests, reforms forestry practice, restores environmentally sensitive forests,, increase decision –making power for indigenous community.

Forest Monitor investigates the timber industry to empower forest dependent peoples and to show the links between trade, investment and deforestation

 Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization uses non-violent creative action to pave the way towards a greener, more peaceful world, and to confront the systems that threaten our environment 

 Indigenous Environmental Network is an alliance of Indigenous Peoples whose Shared Mission is to Protect the Sacredness of Earth Mother from contamination & exploitation by Respecting and Adhering to Indigenous Knowledge and Natural Law.

 Native Web links resources for indigenous people’s organizations and campaigns around the world, inks indigenous organizations and campaigns, fosters communication between native and non-native peoples.

Native Forest Council is dedicated to the preservation and protection of all publicly owned natural resources from destructive practices, sales, and all resource extraction.

Old-Growth Forest Network is the only national organization focused solely on protecting and restoring old-growth forests. It does this by identifying old forests, verifying their protection from logging and development and public accessibility, and then formally recognizing them as part of the Network. Details about the forests are then shared on the organization’s website.

Rainforest Action Network preserves forests, protects the climate and upholds human rights by challenging corporate power and systemic injustice through frontline partnerships and strategic campaigns.

The Wilderness Society unites people to protect America’s wild places to make a future where people and wild nature flourish together, meeting the challenges of a rapidly changing planet.

The Sea Shepard Conservation Society is to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world’s oceans in order to conserve and protect ecosystems and species, u use innovative direct-action tactics to investigate, document, and take action when necessary to expose and confront illegal activities on the high seas. By safeguarding the biodiversity of our delicately balanced ocean ecosystems, Sea Shepherd works to ensure their survival for future generations.

 Survival International is a human rights organization that campaigns for the rights of indigenous and/or tribal peoples and uncontacted peoples. The organization’s campaigns generally focus on tribal peoples’ desires to keep their ancestral lands.

Wildlife Conservation Network protects endangered wildlife by supporting conservationists who ensure wildlife and people coexist and thrive.

World rainforest Movement is an international initiative created to strengthen the global movement in defense of forests, in order to fight deforestation and forest degradation, does analysis, monitoring and publicity, including an extensive list of NGO’s and indigenous peoples’ organizations.

*Let people know. Talk about your concern. Share your views and raise awareness. Every person you enlighten counts. Work with those that are moving in a positive direction.  Help teach those that are not. Move the movement till we’re all included and no one is left out.

*Buy products that are as environment friendly as possible and local whenever possible to change the supply and demand.  Don’t buy products that are manufactured in ways that overtly and obviously pollute and degrade the environment.  Look in to the source of where lumber comes from, buy local, and none at all from imperiled forests. Ask when you buy. Better yet, build with natural materials if your region allows, Cob, Straw bale, and, or the like.

*Ideally Reduce mainly, try to Re-use until it’s of no use, and then Recycle.  Lessen your consumption greatly! Drive less, much less, walk more, way more.

*Buy Seasonal foods from local producers and if you can grow your own, and as much as possible. Start today. Save your seeds from the vegetables you grow, share and trade with your neighbors.

*Plant trees wherever you can in every available space. Bushes and herbaceous plants too; more plants overall mean more allies to absorb and deter an overly carbonated atmosphere. Plant localized fruit and nut trees for the future. Oaks produce large quantities of food for many animal types.

*Learn the animals in your area, how they come and go, what they may eat. Plant plants for them too. Eat of your locale, the herbs, edible plants and roots. This will localize your mind and body, helping to bring the consciousness into presence. It will also strengthen your immune system, fortifying it in resiliency with the seasons.

        *Support living, local artists and craftspeople. The dead ones don’t need to make a living any longer.