YouTubers are teaming up to plant 20 million trees

YouTube stars are pulling together to plant 20 million trees.

It’s a simple idea that demonstrates how social media’s power can be harnessed for good - and they’re already more than halfway there. More than 600 YouTubers are rallying their followers to raise $20 million for the Arbor Day Foundation, a US charity that plants trees and teaches conservation.

For every dollar donated, Arbor Day will fund the planting of a tree, many of them in state and national forests managed by government agencies. The goal is to plant a variety of species on every continent except Antarctica.

The #TeamTrees fundraiser started when Jimmy Donaldson, who posts on YouTube under the name MrBeast, was challenged to commemorate hitting 20 million subscribers. He called on other influencers to make the idea a reality, claiming a new fundraising record for the site.

Creative tactics have encouraged donations. Jackscepticeye hosted an eight-hour livestream of him planting trees in video game Minecraft. One online gamer donated $10 for each kill in a Fortnite tournament, and domino artist #Hevesh5 created a giant tree out of dominoes. Tesla CEO Elon Musk donated a million trees, changing his Twitter name to Treelon.

By flooding YouTube with fundraising clips, the aim is to push videos about climate change and the environment higher up the platform’s recommended lists, and ultimately to a broader audience.

Engaging people in conservation is important, since the WWF estimates we’re losing the equivalent of 27 soccer fields of trees every minute, mainly through expansion of agriculture and illegal logging. Forests play a critical role in managing climate change, soaking up carbon dioxide that would otherwise be in the atmosphere. They are also crucial to biodiversity.

Announcing the initiative, MrBeast said: "People just keep making fun of our generation for 'retweet activism' and not actually doing something.

"This is your chance to make a difference ... this is our chance to show the world we care."