If you’re looking for inspiration look no further! We have a list of everyday heroes who have made their mark on history by planting trees.
You may be asking yourself,
“...But WHY? Why is planting trees SO important 🤔?”
Well, the benefits of planting trees are truly endless.
Sociological Benefits
- Trees provide food, resources, and livelihood.
Economic Benefits
- 1 large tree has the potential to up property value by as much as 20%.
- Trees planted in business districts are proven to increase local sales.
Environmental Benefits
- Trees help reduce energy costs.
- Trees reduce the risk of flooding.
- Trees clean our air.
Ecological Benefits
- Lush canopies provide shade and a welcoming habitat for local ecology.
- Flowering trees are a prime source of pollinating insects.
- A single native oak tree hosts over 500 wildlife species (that’s a BIG IMPACT for as little as one tree).
Reduced Crime
- Neighborhoods and business districts with tree-lined streets have lower crime rates.
Health Benefits
- Spending time with trees is proven to help reduce stress.
- Patients in hospital rooms with a view of trees have a quicker recovery time.
... and these are just a few important benefits of trees.
By virtue of the benefits of tree planting, the inspiring individuals on this list made it their mission to PLANT MORE TREES.
Their stories are sure to INSPIRE you to do the same.
1. Julius Sterling Morton
Did you ever celebrate Arbor Day in school as a kid? You might remember being sent home from school with a sapling on Arbor Day. With its roots wrapped in a damp paper towel to keep it alive until we could plant it at home. Only for us to forget about it until we opened our backpacks on Sunday night... and now that tree is growing at our childhood homes.
Well, if you nodded along to all of that, you can thank this guy!
Julius Sterling Morton, otherwise known as J. Sterling Morton made it his personal mission to make the Great Plains more habitable. J. Sterling Morton founded the first-ever Arbor Day celebration in 1872. A whopping 1 million trees were planted throughout Nebraska that day.
Since then, the US celebrates Arbor Day annually. It’s an important day, bringing awareness and encouraging action. Everyone is excited to get their hands dirty and plant a tree. Arbor Day has become a part of many elementary educational curriculums with tree plantings happening each year at schools across the country.
It is, of course, our favorite holiday!
2. Saalumarada Thimmakka
Saalumarada, a name given to her by locals, is how you’ll find her in a Google search. The name Saalumarada in Kannada language means “row of trees.” She is also known as Aala, or simply Thimmakka.
Aala had a challenging upbringing in Southeastern India and lived a hard life. However, she has found a great purpose in life by planting trees.
In her 20s she and her husband discovered they couldn't have children. This circumstance became a catalyst for her spiritual journey of planting trees. Now in her 100s, Saalumarada advocates for a better India and the world. In her lifetime, she’s responsible for over 8,000 tree plantings.
The area where Aala and her husband planted trees was once an arid desert and is now a thriving lush forest. This has earned her numerous awards and global recognition.
The planting process was no easy feat. The arid desert climate was not the most ideal environment to begin with, and because of this, each tree had to be hand-watered. This one step in the process was very involved, Aala hauled water several miles from local wells to the area where she planted the trees.
She and her husband consider all of the trees they’ve planted as their children. They’ve cared for and nurtured them just so. Thus, the other nickname India gave her, is “The Mother of Trees.”
3. Solan Parkes
Solan Parkes was a tree surgeon who originated the idea of honoring moms on Mother’s Day by planting a tree. In 1923, Solan planted a white birch in honor of his late mother. This simple act of love and posterity caught wind and became a national movement inspiring tree plantings throughout the United States. The following year, Solan was invited to The White House to plant a Mother’s Tree for President Calvin Coolidge.
A commemorative plaque reads,
4. Queen Elizabeth II
Since she was a child, the late Queen Elizabeth II was a tree enthusiast. She planted over 1,500 trees throughout her reign as the Queen of England.
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At age 93 the Queen attended a tree planting event celebrating 100 years of research at the National Institute of Agricultural Botany. During a ceremonial tree planting of a hornbeam tree, she was offered help, and to this she admirably replied, "No, no. I'm still perfectly capable of planting a tree."
For the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022, marking her 70th year on the throne, Her Majesty initiated a movement across the UK, The Queens Green Canopy (QGC). The QGC program provides training for young adults looking to enter the world of environmentalism. The program is geared specifically toward planting and maintaining the UK’s green canopy. In addition, it advocates for elementary-aged children to work toward earning their Junior Forester Award.
Between 2022 and shortly after her passing in 2023, around 3 million trees have been planted in her honor through the QGC program.
5. Wangari Maathai
Wangari Maathai grew up in rural Kenya and would eventually become the first female to earn a doctorate in Central and East Africa. Passionate about helping to end poverty and increase conservation efforts, Wangari founded the Green Belt Movement in the 1970s. The organization is specifically geared toward improving the lives of women in Africa. She chose tree planting because trees are critical in improving livelihood and local ecology.
Through the Green Belt Movement women in the poverty-stricken areas are encouraged to plant trees, which in turn provides food, firewood, and other critical resources all while earning a small income for their efforts.
Her grassroots movement spread to many other countries throughout Africa. Her organization is responsible for the planting of over 20 million trees.
6. Jadav Payeng
Jadav Payeng lives his life restoring a desolate island in India. He spends his early mornings making an incomprehensible trek from his home to the island each day to tend to and plant trees.
What was once a barren island in India, covered in sand, caused by extreme heat, a dried-up river, and dead snakes is now full of over a hundred thousand trees, and notably, vibrant wildlife. All of which was single-handedly nurtured by Jadav. He planted bamboo, teak, and cottonwood. From there, the trees began to self-seed. Now, the once-dry sandy island is a rich habitat full of tigers, elephants, deer, monkeys, and birds.
His reason for taking on this mission— the snakes. Seeing the dead snakes in the scorching heat struck a deep chord with Jadav, and he felt a profound sadness. He saw the snakes and realized that humans could ultimately have the same fate. He understood the assignment and began to passionately plant trees.
"First with bamboo trees, then with cotton trees. I kept planting all different kinds of trees."
Jadav, once considered insane by locals, has received one of India’s highest civilian honors, the Padma Shri, and is considered a renowned conservationist, and rightfully so.
We interrupt your scroll to notify you that the last three individuals on this list began their ascent into the heroic tree-planting championship ring as elementary-aged children. It's one thing to live a long rewarding life and come to the conclusion that something must be done about climate change. It's a whole other level of awesomeness to grasp the concept as a kid, these young adults are making climate change waves, baby.
7. Ellyanne Wanjiku Chlystun
At the young age of 11, Ellyanne was recognized for her work to preserve the earth’s environment by advocating to end plastic pollution, and for her work planting trees. She is East Africa’s youngest ambassador for climate change. Now a teenager, Ellyanne has helped to plant over one million trees and there is no slowing her down.
In the fall of 2023, she created a child-led summit, Children for Global Climate Change. “... I’m glad to be carrying the global environment flag, to represent the whole world. My target is to plant at least one trillion trees before I reach adulthood.”
8. Evan Nied
As a teen, Evan Nied once claimed to be the real-life version of Dr. Seuss' The Lorax in his Instagram bio. It read, "Literal and Figurative Embodiment of the Lorax."
Ah, The Lorax. The great protector of trees.
After experiencing Hurricane Florence, Evan saw firsthand the impact of climate change. In turn, Evan founded a nonprofit organization, Planting Shade to help slow it down.
Planting Shade is geared toward working with young adults to provide resources for tree planting in their communities. From there, the organization partners with schools, parks, and communities to plant trees. His foundation has since formed ten other chapters throughout the US.
What started as a goal of planting 1,000 trees with his high-school club, has ended up being a tree-planting initiative that stretches across the globe with over 15,000 trees planted in the US, Israel, and Costa Rica.
More recently he won a national award for his environmental efforts, the Teen Tikkun Olam Award.
9. Felix Finkbeiner
At the young age of nine years old Felix was inspired by environmentalist Wangari Maathai. He proclaimed to his fourth-grade class that he would plant one million trees. 15 years later, this dream became a reality.
Felix is now the founder and CEO of Plant for the Planet. A nonprofit organization that’s youth-based, encouraging young adults to become ambassadors for climate change. In 2011 when Wangari Maathai passed away, he took over the Billion Trees Campaign and upped the initiative's goal to one TRILLION trees.
The reason behind this number, if you can even fathom it 🤯, is climate change scientists have estimated that one trillion trees is the amount of trees needed to offset climate change.
More recently, Felix became the 2019 National Geographic Young Explorer Grant recipient.
Tree planting can be a big celebratory event or a small act. It can be just one tree or a multitude. Either way, it’s apparent to us that it’s an inspiring and instinctively altruistic act.
Many communities, businesses, colleges & schools advocate for tree planting through programs such as Tree City® USA and Tree Campus® USA.
However, you do not have to be part of these programs to make a difference. You can simply plant one tree in your yard, leaving a living legacy behind.
Tree planting is one thing worth catching on and going viral.
"The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second-best time is now." — Anonymous
Resources:
The Arbor Day Foundation | The History of Arbor Day
CNN World | India's 105-year-old Mother of Trees
Reading Eagle | A Growing Tribute to Mother's Everywhere
Royal | The Queen's Green Canopy
Capital Gardens | The Princess Who Went Up a Tree and Came Back Down a Queen
Independent | Queen Insists She's Perfectly Capable of Planting a Tree Aged 93
The Nobel Prize | Wangari Maathai
The Green Belt Movement | Wangari Maathai
NPR | A Lifetime of Planting Trees on a Remote River Island: Meet India's Forest Man
Rotary Club | Ellyanne Wanjiku Young Ambassador
Nation | Ellyanne Wanjiku, the 13-year-old Environmental Champion with Big Dreams
Planting Shade | Our International Leaders
AP News | Teen Wins National Award for His Tree-Planting Non-profit
NPR | Virginia Beach Teenager Who's Planted Thousands of Trees Wins National Recognition
National Geographic | Teenager is on Track to Plant a Trillion Trees
CNN US | It's Plant A Tree Day This PhD Student is on a Mission to Give Back a Trillion Trees
