What's more dangerous, a city or a forest? Depends on if you're a tree.
It's a fake story about a fake tree, but the problem is real.
Once upon a time, there was a lonely tree in the rainforest.
He was lonely because many of his tree friends were being cut down. Just how many?
The range is anywhere from 40 to 62 football fields of trees being leveled on Earth EVERY MINUTE.
Clear eyes full hearts ... no trees. Image (altered) of football stadium via Wikimedia Commons.
The Rainforest Foundation says, "The current rate of destruction is about 1 acre each second, which is a bit less than a U.S. football field. Expanded, that amounts to 60 acres/min., 3,600/hour, 86,400/day, 2.6 million/month, and 31.5 million acres per year."
Ouch.
So this tree decided to go to the only place he felt safe: the nearest city.
Yes, that's a tree on a bridge.
(And yes, this tree has feet. Stay with me here.)
What does it say about Earth that a tree is safer in a city than in its original home?
Well, it says that we as humans aren't paying attention.
At a time when even aliens could tell us that we're kinda going a bit heavy on the whole "chopping down the rainforest" thing, maybe this tree visitor is just what we need.
It's hard to place a number on how valuable trees really are to Earth.
I'm sharing this because when you add up what trees do for Earth's magical ecosystem, each one is worth our personal attention.
And none of them should be lonely.
So here it is, just what we humans need — a visit from a tree to remind us to pay attention — in this goofy, adorable little video below: