Fierce as David against Goliath, 13-year-old Felix Finkbeiner electrifies audiences around the world. His message is simple: adults have been talking about environmental threats for more than 20 years, and now it is time to stop talking and start planting millions of trees in order to reduce the excess carbon dioxide that is warming the planet.
It started as a school project in his native Germany. In 2007, at just 9 years of age, Felix explained to his classmates about the climate crisis. He highlighted how heat-trapping gases, such as CO2, are warming the Earth, glaciers are melting, and the sea level is rising. He argued that the consequences are threatening children’s lives, since they expect to live 70-80 years. Following the lead of Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai, the late environmentalist and founder of the Green Belt Movement in Africa, he decided to take action regarding climate change, and he started planting trees. The Plant-for-the-Planet Foundation was established.
I met Felix at the 2011 Greenaccord Media Forum in Cuneo, Italy. “Together we children want to show that everyone can do something for our future, and together as a world family, we can solve global problems,” he said in his address. He added that since each tree can capture three tons of CO2 during its lifetime, the tree is a symbol of climatic justice.
Mastering the figures with the certainty of a scientist and the disarming simplicity of his age, he conveys his message powerfully. Today Felix’s idea has united thousands of children all over the world, planting 3 million trees to save their future. Last February, he addressed the United Nations, and many world leaders embraced his challenge.
At the last Climate Conference in Durban, South Africa, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) handed over the well-established “Billion Tree Campaign” to the Plant-for-the-Planet Children Initiative. So far, more than 12.5 billion trees have been planted within UNEP’s program. The new goal is now to plant a trillion trees worldwide by 2020.
Felix is at ease in the limelight and has traveled the world. Like his peers, he attends school regularly and tackles his homework. His parents allow him to bring ahead his campaign once every two weeks on the weekends. His father told me that Felix and his friends had organized a press conference to publicize their project. Five-hundred journalists packed the hall and more were waiting outside. “As parents,” he said, “we wondered if we shouldn’t stop all this. We thought it might be harmful for Felix to be always in the limelight.” They then decided to help him engage other children in the project. Their son was the spark that ignited a fire engulfing the world.
The Plant-for-the-Planet Foundation is governed by a council of children and supported by adults. It is active in 70 countries. It also runs academies for informing children about the climate crisis and empowers them to be ambassadors for climate justice.
When asked hard questions, Felix doesn’t lose his confidence. At the Greenaccord Forum, a Chinese journalist, Gao He Ran, questioned the efficiency of this massive tree planting, since many die after a while. Felix answered that before they plant trees, they consult with forest engineers to ensure that the species planted have the best chance of survival.
Felix’s mission is definitely underway!
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