The most important goal for everyone in 2020
Planting these little seeds now will make the biggest difference to the future
So here we are: the Twenties. Are you ready? Will they be roaring, like the last lot? It seems unlikely… the prevailing mood of the moment is quite the opposite. “Worried” might sum it up better. Be it the social, political, technological, health or environmental woes occupying the world’s stage on a rapid rotation, pick up a paper or plug in a podcast and it’s clear we’re not so much roaring as overwrought. So as we welcome in a year whose very numerical defines perfect vision, then… is there hope?
Yes there is. And over the next decade the plan needs to be to plant more and more and more of it. Literally, in the form of trees, and figuratively, in the form of clearer communication.
Planting billions — even trillions — of trees across the world is one of the most effective and efficient ways of taking CO2 out of the atmosphere and tackling the climate crisis, according to scientists, who have made the first calculation of how many more trees could be planted without encroaching on crop land or urban areas and found 1.7bn hectares of treeless land on which over a trillion native tree saplings would naturally grow. That area is equivalent to the size of China and the US combined: tropical areas could have 100% tree cover but on average about half the area would be under tree canopy. The research, by the Swiss university ETH Zürich, estimates that a worldwide planting programme could remove two-thirds of all the emissions from human activities that remain in the atmosphere today, a figure that is nothing short of mind-blowing, even to the scientists who came up with it. “This new quantitative evaluation shows [forest] restoration isn’t just one of our climate change solutions, it is overwhelmingly the top one,” Prof Tom Crowther at ETH told The Guardian. “It is overwhelmingly more powerful than all of the other climate change solutions proposed.”
The Billion Tree Campaign, launched by the UN in 2006, raised its objective to 7 billion trees when it achieved its goal in a matter of months. By the time more than 12 billion trees had been planted in 2011, management of handed management of the program had been over to the youth-led not-for-profit Plant-for-the-Planet Foundation, who have since overseen the planting of more than 14.2 billion trees, and counting. At the end of 2017, following the discovery that there are more than three trillion trees on Earth, the target was revised again, and the Billion Tree Campaign became the Trillion Tree Campaign, an amount of trees that would cancel out the last 10 years of CO2 emissions and sequester 160 billion tons of carbon.
So, the rainforests are burning, but that’s something encouraging. If everyone gets involved: individuals, countries and companies alike, and the campaign — which accepts all contributions — has 40,000 young ambassadors spreading the message in over 100 countries, we’ve got something very positive to look forward to. Meanwhile exciting new developments in tree-planting technology (John Lewis might not be selling many drones any more but they do have their uses elsewhere) are looking to speed up the programme still further.
As any business leader will well know, it’s an important shift when we “stop talking about problems and start thinking about solutions”. But perhaps the next evolution of this trope for the 2020s should be to start talking about those solutions and stop faffing around. Everyone needs to know what to do an how to get involved in a way that’s more real than signing an online petition.
Georgia Fendley is founder of Construct, a global branding and design agency best renowned for its work for desirable luxury brands such as Net a Porter, Aman, Claridge’s and Selfridges. Though not-for-profit work has always featured in Construct’s portfolio, she says, these and purpose-driven or charity projects are now a mainstay — taking up a dedicated and significant proportion of the studio’s time. “Over the last couple of years these have included Free Arts New York with first Taryn Simon and then Lawrence Weiner, The Front Row Club for Jason Leonards Atlas Foundation, a sustainable and ethical luxury fashion brand start up, Nomadissem, a brand identity and communications for a documentary about food production and the environment and charitable projects for commercial clients like our Christmas collaboration with Corinthia London.” Consumer priorities are changing all across the world and brand communications naturally have to shift alongside them.
“Despite the doom and gloom of the world’s headlines more and more people, and especially younger people, do understand, take time to educate themselves and care passionately about these issues,” says Fendley. “Better still, they take action not just by protesting and vocalising concern but by changing their own behaviours. This means more change, more quickly and with a longer term impact is possible to achieve than ever before.” She acknowledges that activism of every sort is no longer seem as alternative: “It is mainstream, informed, inclusive and can also be aspirational — that’s what is new and powerful and it makes the possibility for substantial change real.”
Which is where brand can make an enormous difference: doing the right thing is no longer a niche pursuit, so it has to be communicated with a level of sophistication reflective of context. “Consumers across every demographic question more and expect more transparency and are aware of multiple credible sources of information to support or challenge their understanding and choices,” says Fendley.
What is perhaps surprising is that the very specific communication skills involved at the highest levels of the luxury market can also be extraordinarily effective when it comes to mobilising the masses. For those using communications to create a connection and ultimately influence understanding and behaviour, the time is now to put these skills to work to genuinely make a difference beyond any commercial impact.
For the next decade, purpose should be a ‘boiled in’ part of the ever-growing brand, advertising, design and communications industry, says Fendley. “Not a CSR afterthought but a central part of every creative brief we consider. We should be looking for opportunities to reduce waste, positively promote sustainable behaviour, responsible business practice and perhaps most important of all make these decisions aspirational, satisfying and a great experience not a guilt driven compromise.” As the bar is raised, this will challenge the depressing temptation to greenwash consumers. And if we do our job well as communicators, we will have made a huge difference, our legacy being not only the quality of our creative work but also the impact it has on the world.
The original Billion Tree Campaign was inspired by Nobel Peace Prize laureate angari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement. “It’s the little things citizens do,” he once observed. “That’s what will make the difference. My little thing is planting trees.” His little thing is a 2020 vision worth getting involved in.
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