Daily Times

Forests cover about 30 percent of our planet’s land mass, but ever since humans started cutting down trees, the “lungs of the world” have been disappearing at an alarming rate. Deforestation has had a devastating effect on the habitats of wildlife, weather patterns, and even climate change. Although human impact is to blame, people all over the world are now taking action, with a shared goal to restore their local forests and landscapes. On July 29, 2019 in Ethiopia, humanitarians, students, government officials, and environmentalists gathered in over 1,000 sites across the country with a goal to plant 200 million sapling trees. In just 12 hours, officials claimed they had planted over 350 million trees, almost doubling their original goal. Although it’s not yet officially confirmed, Ethiopia’s astounding effort is believed to have broken the current world record of 50 million trees planted in one day, held by Uttar Pradesh, India.