SAN FRANCISCO, CA – September 6, 2018 – (HISPANICIZE WIRE) – American Forests, the nation’s first and oldest national conservation organization, will celebrate its commitment to the U.S. Climate Alliance’s new Natural and Working Lands Challenge by planting trees at the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco on September 11, 2018.
“For residents of the 17 Climate Alliance states where we will plant these trees, this commitment means American Forests is supporting their access to cleaner air and drinking water, reduced flooding, cooler cities, and improved health,” said Jad Daley, President and CEO of American Forests. “The trees we will plant in San Francisco on September 11 are a symbolic first step in progress to slow climate change through trees and forests.”
Daley announced last week that his organization was the first nonprofit to commit to two major initiatives:
Helping the U.S. Climate Alliance states deliver on-the-ground climate solutions by planting at least 10 million trees in those states over the next five years.
Deepening and expanding American Forests’ pro bono technical assistance to the U.S. Climate Alliance to help Alliance member states develop ambitious plans and policies to capture and store carbon in forests and other lands.
Starting with the trees planted in San Francisco, ten million trees will deliver an estimated carbon reduction of 4.6 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent over fifty years, offsetting the carbon emissions from burning five billion pounds of coal.
American Forests’ technical support for the Climate Alliance builds on the unprecedented Natural and Working Lands Learning Lab that it hosted in July 2018, with generous support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and in partnership with the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science, Michigan State University, The Nature Conservancy, World Resources Institute, The Trust for Public Land, American Farmland Trust, and the Coalition on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases.
The Learning Lab brought together delegations of state officials from all the U.S. states in the Alliance with more than 60 experts in the science, policy, and finance of land sector climate mitigation. As part of meeting the challenge, American Forests has committed to the U.S. Climate Alliance to convene additional Learning Labs and provide other related technical support through 2020.
“States hold our future climate in their hands,” said Daley, “In the absence of strong federal leadership, we urgently need states to reduce greenhouse gases in every way possible. American Forests is thrilled that the Climate Alliance’s Natural and Working Lands Challenge commits its member states to use forests and other lands as a major pathway for climate action.”
The Climate Alliance States include: California | Colorado | Connecticut | Delaware | Hawaii | Maryland | Massachusetts | Minnesota |New Jersey | New York | North Carolina | Oregon | Puerto Rico | Rhode Island | Vermont | Virginia | Washington
American Forests inspires and advances the conservation of forests, by restoring damaged forest ecosystems, expanding urban forests, and promoting public understanding of the importance of forests. Founded in 1875, American Forests has served as a catalyst for many key milestones in the conservation movement, including the founding of the U.S. Forest Service, the national forest system and thousands of forest ecosystem restoration projects and public education efforts. Since 1990, American Forests has planted 60 million trees in all 50 states and nearly 50 countries, resulting in cleaner air and drinking water, restored habitat for wildlife and fish, and the removal of millions of tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Learn more at http://www.americanforests.org.