YouTubers Tree Planting Initiative Hits 20 Million Goal In Just Two Months

A bunch of YouTubers who joined forces to kick start the Team Trees initiative have hit their 20 million tree planting goal in just two months.

The whole thing was started by MrBeast (real name Jimmy Donaldson) back in May when he hit 20 million subscribers and asked his fans what he should do mark the achievement. It turns out his fans were pretty keen on him making the world a little bit greener.

So, MrBeast set about encouraging his fellow YouTubers, including Mark Rober, Ninja and Jacksepticeye, to help out.

Team Trees

And, in October this year, it was announced that they would collectively call on their hundreds of millions of subscribers to donate to the Arbor Day Foundation - a charity that plants trees in the US - and the Team Trees movement was born.

Support came in thick and fast, with Tesla CEO Elon Musk changing his Twitter handle to Treelon Musk and donating a whopping $1 million dollars.

Not to be outdone, Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke, donated $1 million and then chucked in an extra dollar, to celebrate reaching one million customers.

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki donated $200,000 and created a video with Rober to raise awareness of the campaign, while Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey looked to make two $150,000 donations.

And of course, as well as those rich folk, lots and lots and lots of 'ordinary' people also dug deep and now the total raised has topped $20 million.

Sharing the good news, the official Team Tree Instagram account wrote: "Twenty million trees - in less than two months - is an incredible accomplishment and it belongs to all of us. ⁣
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"Whether you donated, created content, or simply told your friends about #TeamTrees, this win is yours.⁣
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"Remember this feeling when you have a goal that people tell you isn't realistic. Remember this when you're in need of some hope. Remember that #TeamTrees started from zero.⁣ ⁣

Right now, celebrate! 20 million more trees will live on the earth because of us, #TeamTrees. @arbordayfoundation will plant and care for them. Each of those trees is a step forward.⁣
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"If you're just hearing about #TeamTrees now, as we hit 20 million, you're not too late to join the team. $1 plants one tree at TeamTrees.org Let's keep going!⁣"

You can find out more about the campaign, or donate, here.

Topics: Viral, climate change, Celebrity, YouTube

Claire Reid

Claire is a journalist at LADbible who, after dossing around for a few years, went to Liverpool John Moores University. She graduated with a degree in Journalism and a whole load of debt. When not writing words in exchange for money she is usually at home watching serial killer documentaries surrounded by cats. You can contact Claire at [email protected]

@ClaireReid19