Learn from Kids

Two students are proving that individual actions can make a difference for the environment. Connor Hoff of York, Pennsylvania, and Alyssa Maristela of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, became concerned about our stewardship of the environment after researching class projects. Both turned their newfound knowledge into tangible action that’s having an impact on the environment. READ MORE

Trash Junk Mail

Less junk in the box sounds like heaven, right? 41pounds (www.41pounds.org) will reduce your junk mail by 80 to 95 percent for 5 years—and donate $15 of the $41 fee—to plant trees. That’s a win for all involved—it takes more than 100 million trees each year to produce all that junk mail—and its production, disposal, and transportation creates more greenhouse gas emissions than 2.8 million cars and wastes 28 billion gallons of water. READ MORE

Ring Up a Tree

If a tree is planted in the forest, can you hear it on your cell phone? A new website, www.conservationcalling.com, is hoping you can. That’s because downloads from the website--which sells ringtones of bird calls and the sounds of domestic animals and those that live in the forest, jungle, and underwater--help plant trees. READ MORE

Travel Carbon-Neutral

Travel tour company founder Rick Steves will offset the CO2 generated by its projected 13,000 travelers in 2008 by planting trees with American Forests’ Global ReLeaf Forests program. In a letter to tour members, Steves praised the wide-ranging benefits of trave but pointed out that jet fuel releases climate-changing CO2 into the atmosphere. The company—Rick Steves’ Europe Through the Back Door—he says, wanted travelers’ trips to be as carbon-neutral as possible. READ MORE

Join Our Global ReLeaf₂ Campaign
American Forests launches Global ReLeaf₂ campaign with goal to plant 100 million trees by 2020. GET INVOLVED

Ask The Tree Doctor
Tree questions? Ask American Forests' experts. E-mail treedoc@amfor.org or treedoctor@amfor.org

ConocoPhillips Settlement Brings California 2.8 Million Trees

ConocoPhillips Settlement Brings California 2.8 Million Trees The September settlement between ConocoPhillips and the state of California will mean an additional 2.8 million trees to restore wildfire-burned areas of that state. Attorney General Jerry Brown stipulated that $2.8 million of the $10 million settlement would be donated to American Forests to plant trees through its Wildfire ReLeaf program. The settlement is designed to offset emissions caused by an expansion of a ConocoPhillips refinery. READ MORE

Ash Pest Found in Pennsylvania
The summer was a busy one for those waging war against the emerald ash borer, an invasive pest that threatens not only ash trees but a key component of our national pastime. READ MORE

Cornell Links Pollution Deaths

A Cornell researcher says pollution is responsible for about 40 percent of deaths worldwide, giving tree planters another worrisome statistic in their arsenal of why we need more trees. Cornell’s David Pimentel blames water, air and soil pollution and the growth in human population for the rapid increase in human diseases and malnourishment. “Global warming—and the resulting environmental disasters—are no longer in dispute,” executive director Deborah Gangloff says. “Science has documented the healing effect trees can have on the environment by cleaning our air and water, filtering out particulates, and slowing stormwater runoff and erosion. Cornell’s study is yet another argument for planting millions more trees worldwide.” READ MORE

Will Olympics Harm Environment?

The home for the 2014 winter Olympics has been chosen, and the location has some environmentalists alarmed. Suchi, Russia, located on the coast of the Black Sea near the Caucasus Mountains, can boast natural snow cover for the events, there is something it doesn't have: a venue to host them. To build up the area for the games, the city will need to endanger protected wilderness located in the Western Caucasus World Nature Heritage Site. This area is home to brown bears, red deer, and a complex mountain ecosystem, which environmentalists fear will be damaged or removed in the construction process.READ MORE

100,000 Trees Richer

As the summer wound to a close, American Forests was gearing up to plant 100,000 trees, thanks to its top 5 finish in an American Express online members contest that invited members to submit and then vote for projects to improve the earth. The winning entry received $2 million to fulfill the project goals. American Forests was chosen to carry out the idea of one of the five finalists—a proposal to Plant a Million Trees—Global Reforestation; each of the four runners-up received $100,000 from American Express. The idea came from Amy Walker of Georgia, who said she was inspired both by the wildfires that were burning trees in her home state and by the idea that trees offer life-giving properties and we need more of them. READ MORE

Timber! Heard Underwater

Coming soon to a website near you: waterlogged timber that's actually good for the environment. An estimated 200 billion board-feet of high-quality timber are thought to be standing on reservoir floors behind the world's 45,000 major dams-more than six times the amount of timber harvested each year in the U.S. To get at this new source of architectural-grade, old-growth lumber, Triton Logging Inc. has been using a 12-foot-long submersible, powered by a 40-horsepower electric motor and equipped with a 55-inch chain saw. READ MORE READ MORE

Clinton Plants in Buffalo

American Forests executive director Deborah Gangloff joined presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and others at a June ceremony in Buffalo to launch efforts to regreen that city after a devastating winter snowstorm. American Forests donated two trees from its Historic Tree collection—an Eleanor Roosevelt White Ash and a FDR Tulip Poplar—for the planting. Clinton announced that each Buffalo 4th grader—a total of 2,300—would receive a sapling to plant at home plus tree-planting educational materials from American Forests. READ MORE READ MORE

More Trees For Midwest

American Forests will be helping plant 100,000 trees in Wisconsin and Illinois, thanks to a grant from The Ceres Trust to the Global ReLeaf program. The Ceres Trust is a privately administered charitable trust based in the Midwest. READ MORE

Own a one-of-a-kind Steinway piano

While helping Walden Woods and American Forests READ MORE