The Trillion Tree Initiative

Grow trees, reduce temperatures, sequester CO2, provide habitat and sustainable income

The Trillion Tree Initiative

Grow trees, reduce temperatures, sequester CO2, provide habitat and sustainable income

TTI article on NPR, Dec 3-2034

“ Hi, this is Ailsa Chang, with Mary Louise Kelly, and this is All Things Considered...."

“Hi, this is Ailsa Chang, with Mary Louise Kelly, and this is All Things Considered for Friday, December third, 2034.

Today we start our program with some good news: The Trillion Tree Initiative, or TTI, announced yesterday they have achieved their goal of planting a trillion trees in the Sahel and Sahara Desert. For more details on this milestone and its implications, let’s turn to Ofeibea Quist-Arcton in Dakar, Senegal. Hi, Ofeibea. Tell us what's going on in Dakar right now, we understand there is a big celebration?”

Yes, Elsa I am about 50 miles north-east of the Dakar in the Sahara Desert or what used to be the Sahara Desert. Right now, all I see is trees where there used to be sand! It's incredible the transformation that has taken place in the landscape. It seems like only a few years ago when we saw new billboards in town, advertising the trillion-tree initiative. TTI promised free phones and, by local standards, a generous income for those who participate. And now, not only has the desert been transformed, but so have the people. The standard of living has shot up with this new infusion of money, and where there used to be talk of migration to the North, now there is a local landgrab taking place in the hopes of riches through tree planting.

“Thank you Ofeibia; can you give us some background and how the TTI became so successful in such a short time?”

“Of course, Eilsa, just a decade ago COP-28 ended here in Africa with the feeling that once again the world had come together and failed to take the tough measures needed to stop climate change and the problem of deforestation with its devastating effect on biodiversity.

At the time there were many efforts ongoing that promised to sequester co2 either through tree planting or mechanical removal. But the sheer scope of the problem and the top-down approach made all these efforts seem inconsequential and worse, were viewed with suspicion as to how effective they were.

Then came TTI. Their premise was simple; by paying people to plant and maintain trees in the desert, it would interrupt the heat transfer from the Sahara to the north pole while providing income for the local population and habitat for wildlife. TTI came to Senegal and started by handing out free phones and providing workshops on how to use the TTI app, yes Ailsa, it turns out there is an app for that! And they were right! The app turns out to be a huge success with millions of users worldwide and a trillion trees planted in just a decade.

“And has the climate improved?”

“Just this last year we saw the first drop in global temperatures in half a century and we have seen rain here in North Africa for the first time in decades, so yes, experts say TTI has made a difference.”

“Thank you Ofeibia. That was Ofeibea Quist-Arcton reporting from Dakar, Senegal. And now for a more in-depth look at The Trillion Tree Initiative we spoke with one of the founders of TTI, using the pseudonym of Fabio, of who like the two other founders of TTI, wishes to remain anonymous.”

“Fabio, congratulation on the success of the TTI app, can you give us some insights as to how you came about providing the financing for this massive tree planting initiative?”

“Yes Eilse, we knew that this idea of payments for planting and continued verification could possibly be a success. Not only would it allow for the decentralized transfer of wealth directly to those doing the work, but it would be done in a verifiable way. But first we needed about 500K to build out the app and make it exceptionally robust. We couldn’t allow any glitches from the start since confidence is such large part of the equation. We needed a special type of investor, obviously an environmentalist, but also a visionist, someone that could see past the prevailing malaise and wanted to move forward. We had several candidates and interviewed quite a few trying to find the right fit. We had to be careful about any tendency of greenwashing on the investment side. We eventually chose a crowdfunding method, something that spoke to our core principle of decentralization, that would keep us independent and free to develop our vision.”

“Yes Fabio, and as it turned out, the crowdfunding campaign was very successful, with over $600000 raised, well over the projections of 500k. But tell us how you planned to fund TTI itself? At last check, 20 billion has been paid out to tree planters and verifiers and you have another 5 billion available.”

“Well, Eilse, that was the big question. Initially we thought that if we build it, they will come, meaning the funding. Of course, this was wishful thinking. But we also knew that crypto would play a role in making payments to planters, but what cryptos bigger role would be, was still unknown.”

“Initially, we played with the idea of creating a separate currency, specifically tailored to this project. But ultimately decided against this in favor of using Bitcoin. We figured that bitcoin would give us more legitimacy when it came to payouts because of its universal use and value. We also knew that this project, if successful, would be one of the largest in the world and could propel Bitcoin to a whole other level. This brought us to the next logical realization: we needed crypto whales to fund the project initially until we accumulated enough carbon credits for it to be self-perpetuating. Initial funding by the crypto community would give it legit status as a force for good. If crypto was meant to save the world than here was its chance!

“So how did you approach these whales in the crypto world, were they hard to find?”

“Through initial round of crowdfunding, we had created some notoriety regarding this idea of afforestation of the desert. We had put together a small video presentation that ultimately went viral and was noticed by the crypto crowd. Someone stepped up and provided the first 5 million in Bitcoin to get us started, and the rest is history so to speak.”

“That was Fabio, one of the founders of the Trillion Tree Initiative who this week, celebrated its milestone of planting a trillion trees.”

The Trillion Tree Initiative

The Trillion Tree Initiative