All About #TeamTrees
In this day and age, we have proved time and time again that worldwide movements can come out of a simple post on social media. The same applies for how MrBeast began his famous #TeamTrees campaign. MrBeast is a popular Youtuber known for performing stunts and donating money to different charitable organizations. His latest venture has led to his partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation, a large non-profit organization dedicated to planting trees and saving the environment, to create the #TeamTrees campaign. The idea for the campaign first came from a fan of MrBeast who posted a meme on Reddit in the summer of 2019. The meme includes a text stating:
“Petition for MrBeast to plant 20 million trees for 20 million subscribers, special and single handedly save earth
~ Sincerely the 9 year old army”
It was posted on the subreddit, PewdiepieSubmissions, quickly gaining popularity, acquiring over 56.4k upvotes and spreading across other platforms like YouTube and Twitter. MrBeast took notice and shortly after the meme was posted, MrBeast posted a Youtube video titled, “Planting 20,000,000 Trees, My Biggest Project Ever!”on October 25, 2019. In the video, Mr. Beast explained his plans for the project, along with his partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation. The project has gained considerable support since its announcement.
The website, teamtrees.org, plants a tree for every donation made to the project. The website was created on the same day that MrBeast posted his viral video. One dollar is the equivalent of one tree being planted, but the site allows users to donate as much as they would like. The donor can choose to use their name or remain anonymous, and can leave comments along with their donations.
Multiple celebrities and influencers have shown their support of the project. Youtubers like Pewdiepie, Theodd1sout, and Jeffree Star have contributed significantly to the #TeamTrees organization. Pewdiepie donated 69,420 trees, the odd1sout donated 33,333 trees and Jeffree Star contributed with 50,000 trees. The CEO of Youtube, Susan Wojiciki, made a donation of 200,000 trees and the CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, made a donation of 150,000 trees. The top two donors of the entire campaign are the two famous entrepreneurs, Tobi Lutke and Elon Musk. Elon Musk made a donation of over 1,000,000 trees and a day later, Tobi Lutke became the top donor by donating $1,000,001 to the organization.
Since the beginning of the campaign, over seventeen million trees have been planted worldwide. However, the campaign is scheduled to come to an end on January 1st, 2020. Every day, people from all over the world are donating money for new trees to be planted. The concern for nature has been growing for years now, and the campaign has shown that it takes little to get involved and make a difference before it is too late. The #TeamTrees campaign is further proof of the influence and power of social media.
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