Tree Credits - an idea that can save the world!

In my previous article, I put forth before you ‘Scenario 2030’ – a target date for us to adhere to. We discussed how food shortages would plague our land and decided to act immediately on this.  In another one of my article ‘What if you were paid money for every tree you plant?’ – I introduced a new concept of paying royalties to individuals who would plant and nurture trees. This was more on the lines of our obligation to save mother earth.

A lot of interested earthizens came back to me after reading these articles. A few explained their inability to find adequate land around their apartment complexes to plant a tree. A few more praised the novel idea of encouraging plantations through the payment of royalties. In this article, I will combine both these concepts into one single idea – ‘Tree Credits’.

Climate change has reached an inflection point today. It cannot be reversed, but can be reduced. The primary reason for global warming (which is causing climate change) is greenhouse gas emissions mainly from electricity generation, industries and automobile emissions. The main carbon sink to reduce the percentage of carbon di oxide (the main greenhouse gas) are the forests of the earth. Unfortunately this strategic tree cover is decreasing by the day.

The basic idea and the driving force behind ‘Tree Credits’ is to create more food, employment and simultaneously increase the green cover of the earth. This idea was conceptualized in 2009 by Ferdinand Swart, a Dutch designer and environmentalist. His intention was to extend a smaller more practical version of carbon credits to every Earthizen. Ferdinand even initiated a pilot project in India in the year 2011 in association with PSA, an NGO based out of Trichi.

Tree Credits is a unique idea that gives every Earthizen a chance to give back to nature – may be through direct planting of trees or may be through funding the project. It offers us all a great opportunity to reduce our carbon footprint and help resuscitate our ailing mother earth. Before going into the specific details of this idea, let me first brief present before you the advantages of this concept.

• ·         Increase local food production – by practicing agroforestry.
• ·         Increase local source of fodder.
• ·         Improve soil fertility -decrease reliability on chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
• ·         Create employment opportunities – particularly amongst rural women.
• ·         Create an additional source of income in the form of royalties.
• ·        Create a good investment which can be used as a guarantee against micro-finance loans.
• ·         Increase density of green cover and thus avail the associated benefits.

The ultimate goal of Tree Credits is to double the tree cover and exponentially increase food production throughout the world (taking 2015 as the base year for estimation) by 2050.

My next article would detail the implementation plan of the tree credit idea. But, before we go ahead and do that – I would like to assess your support for the same. If you would in the near future come forward to participate (through monetary support or volunteering) please do leave a comment below.

The next big idea to change the world is here!