UPDATE Dec 20, 2021: Thank you to all who purchased this holiday season! We committed to planting a tree for every Modern Shibori order this holiday season.
As a sustainable fashion brand, we are so glad for the opportunity to give back; both to our community and to our environment.
Let’s talk about the One Tree Planted program and why we’re so excited about our partnership with them. We’ll explore how planted trees can make a real impact in climate change, and how we're working with the program to make every Modern Shibori purchase count.
Photo credit: One Tree Planted
Will planting trees really make a difference to the environment?
To put it simply, yes. According to study published by the journal Science, we could reduce atmospheric carbon by about 25% if we planted about half a trillion trees globally.
“That’s enough to negate about 20 years of human-produced carbon emissions at the current rate, or about half of all carbon emitted by humans since 1960.”1
On the other side of the coin, deforestation has wreaked havoc on our planet.
As the earth warms up, climate conditions have become hazardous to the earth’s diverse ecosystems. And this practice has ramped up in recent history. Nearly half of all tropical forests worldwide have been cleared, and 90% of the original forests in the USA no longer exist.
Photo credit: Redwood grove at Sea Ranch, CA by Jenny Fong.
Certainly planting trees is not the only solution, and should not be considered an initiative in isolation. Reduction of fossil fuels and greenhouse gases is of the utmost importance.
“It’s definitely not a solution by itself to addressing current climate change. To do that, we need to reduce human emissions of greenhouse gases. But it could still have some partial impact on our ability to reduce climate change.”2
What’s being done about reforestation around the world?
Nonetheless, tree planting on a massive scale can make a real impact. And it’s an initiative supported by nearly all Americans, regardless of political affiliation.
“In order to reduce the effects of global climate change, 90% of Americans favor planting about a trillion trees around the world to absorb carbon emissions in the atmosphere.”3
Not only do Americans support the initiative, reforestation has received worldwide support as recently as the UN Climate Change Conference UK 2021. At least 141 countries signed the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration of Forest and Land Use, and renewed their commitment to halt deforestation and land loss.
“(We) Reaffirm our respective commitments to sustainable land use, and to the conservation, protection, sustainable management and restoration of forests, and other terrestrial ecosystems.”4
How is Modern Shibori contributing to a solution?
Thanks to you, our wonderful community of customers, Modern Shibori will be part of the solution this holiday season. For every purchase made, starting on November 7 until December 19th, we will commit to planting one tree through our partnership with the organization One Tree Planted. We’ll update our progress here every Monday, so be sure to check in, and look out for the final tally on December 19th! That day we will donate to One Tree Planted.
We believe in giving back to our community by committing to planting trees in our home state, California.
One Tree Planted is a tax-exempt organization that plants trees in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Their projects are focused on forest fire recovery, wildlife conservation, and carbon emissions offsets. Since they began in 2014, they have doubled the number of trees planted every year. We’re so excited to be a part of this effort!
Our focus is local. California’s forests have recently been devastated by wildfire. We believe in giving back to our community by committing to planting trees in our home state. Most of all, we are giving back to the environment as we contribute to reforesting the planet.
What are some other, real ways we can combat climate change every day? Leave your comment below!
Resources:
4 https://ukcop26.org/glasgow-leaders-declaration-on-forests-and-land-use/
