The 13-year-old who Has the World Planting Trees

By Good News Network Friday, September 07, 2012

Earth - Science

While some adolescent boys can induce hysterical adulation in young girls, Felix, 13, is no Justin Bieber. And yet, on a wet Sunday afternoon in southern Germany, he finds himself besieged by a gaggle of young female devotees.

Felix Finkbeiner is an environmental superstar and author of the book Tree by Tree who is at the helm of a global network of child activists whose aim is to mitigate climate change by reforesting the planet.

The boy's initiative, Plant-for-the-Planet, is a campaign for kids created in 2007 when he was just nine.

According to Wikipedia:

It was when Felix’s teacher set the assignment to prepare a school report about the issue of climate change, that Felix was first inspired. While conducting his research he came across the story of Wangari Maathai, the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate from Kenya who had worked to plant over 30 million trees across Africa as part of her 'Green Belt Movement'. At the end of Felix's presentation he shared the idea that the children of the world could plant 1 million trees in every country on Earth.

Planting the first tree at his school marked the official launch his campaign. Students in Bavaria and across Germany also got involved and continued to plant trees under the Plant-for-the-Planet name. After one year 150,000 trees had already been planted. During the following year the organization effectively developed into a worldwide movement  after Felix was elected to the United Nations Environment Programme children’s board during the group's conference in Norway.

By the start of 2011 there were children participating in more than 93 countries.

(WATCH the video below and READ the story in the Telegraph)