Felix started planting trees at the age of 9 and now he wants to reach a trillion

It all began in his school garden in Germany. The Plant-for-the-Planet network spans every continent.

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the child of the trees

FELIX FINKBEINER

At 9 years old, after a lesson on photosynthesis, Felix Finkbeiner decides to plant a small tree in the school garden, on March 28, 2007.  It is the beginning of a story that will last 15 million trees worldwide, one million in Germany alone, his native country.

And Felix's story is yet to be written, as for now he has only decided on his next goal: to plant one trillion trees around the world through the Plan-for-the-planet platform.

ALSO READ:Hongyi: China's Greta fighting for the climate. Seventeen years old and full of courage.

A pioneer of environmental struggles, more than a decade before the more famous Greta Thunberg, Felix created a movement to plant as many trees as possible to combat global warming and the harmful effects of carbon dioxide, starting with something as simple as planting a tree in a garden. Following his example, within a year, young people, families, and schools had already planted 150 trees across Germany.

Further inspiring him was a documentary on Wangari Maathai, the “tree woman,” Kenyan scientist and activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, who emerged in 2011, founded the Green Belt Movement with the aim of planting over 30 million trees across Africa. After being granted the opportunity to present her initiative at the United Nations General Assembly in 2008, Plant for the Planet - Trees for climate justice, and its creator Felix Finkbeiner, planted the millionth tree in 2011 in the presence of the environment ministers of 45 nations, transforming the movement into a foundation, which he directed for over two years.

At just 13 years old, Felix found himself president of Plant for planet, an association that at the time had representatives in 70 countries and involved 132 young men and women. Their primary goal was to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions and promote reforestation, focusing on trees as a medicine for our ailing planet.

TO KNOW MORE: Plant for the Planet, the most powerful engine for planting trees worldwide. Up to a trillion trees.

FELIX FINKBEINER

The young Bavarian activist is now 21 years old, and his creation includes 81,000 young people from 73 countries around the world, plus a widespread network of collaborations with governments, institutions, companies, and associations. The target for planting trees has been raised to the exorbitant figure of 1,000 million, in an effort to absorb a quarter of the CO2 produced by humanity. Visionary, yet also practical and pragmatic, the Bavarian activist, born in Munich in 1997, began taking his first steps in the world of environmentalism when climate change and Fridays for Future were not yet on the global political agenda. And, in fact, as he explains in an interview with Wise Society, the desire to save the world began at the age of 5, along with a stuffed polar bear: "It all started when, at the age of 5, I was given a huge stuffed polar bear, which became my favorite animal. So much so that, four years later, when at school the teacher asked me to do a research on the global warming and then explained it in class, I learned how my beloved polar bear was treated. I also learned that humans are threatened by global warming».

the child of the trees
Felix Finkbeiner has a solid and supportive family behind him who believes in environmental protection and who has instilled in him the ability to dream and believe in his ideas. Consequently, he has convinced others. His latest effort Plant-for-the-Planet It is the creation of over 1.200 academies where participants, all between the ages of 10 and 14, learn about global warming and the importance of trees, train in public speaking, and make plans to address climate change. Essentially, just like in an academy, activists "study" to become climate ambassadors. Planting trees to combat climate disaster seems like the most appropriate solution: a study by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich explains how reforesting an area the size of the United States would be necessary to absorb most of the harmful emissions. For this reason, Plant for the Planet has developed an app that allows you to record the trees planted by every inhabitant of the world and make donations for new ones. plantings around the globe.

This is precisely the former child prodigy's approach: actions, not words. So much so that it has become the slogan of his movement, on a global scale: “Stop talking, start planting”.

(Featured image accompanying the text taken from Felix Finkbeiner's Facebook page)

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