Here is some good news that will make you feel in harmony with human race !

The Billion Tree Campaign is an initiative launched in 2006 by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) for stimulating tree plantation througout the world. Citizens, communities, entreprises and governments are encouraged to register online, at www.plant-for-the-planet.org, their comitment to plant trees. Until now, this campaign has permitted the plantation of more than 13 billion trees in 193 countries! With a planting rate of 1,000 trees per hectare, this represent enough trees to cover entire Greece area !

Tired of all the bad news ? In the next weeks, read my blog, this will do you good !

Fear is one of the worst scourges of our times. Everyday, media reminds us that human race is a nuisance for planet Earth. Anxiety and despair builds up by listening or reading disturbing facts about the brutal deforestation in the Amazon, smog that covers our cities or unbridled melting of Arctic ice. Some days the news is so bad that it smells like Apocalypse...

What if we’re wrong ? Perhaps humans are more beneficial to this planet than we think ! During the next weeks, I will give you friendly and upbeat news that will put you in harmony with life and the human race !

The oldest tree in the world is a bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) growing in the White Mountains, California. This venerable tree is 5,065 years old ! It was born almost 500 years before the construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza, which dates back from 2,560 BC. Its trunk twisted by the wind, cold and drought – the temperature is around –25 °C in winter and it falls as little as 300 mm of rain each year in this region – and its many dead branches are reminiscent to the harsh climate it has endured over the centuries (intro photo: Rick Goldwaser).

During the last months, I’ve seen many mature trees being cut down in the town where I live. And I'm not the only one to attend this chainsaw massacre because there are more than 4 million urban trees cut down each year in North America. This phenomenon not only saddens me but it makes me downright angry because in many cases the death of these trees could be avoided with simple precautions. Here is a plea for an end to the massacre of our urban forests, because without trees we could not exist!