HECK YEAH REFORESTATION

 

(Note: This is the first post I'm writing with the new Blogger interface, if anything looks weird, it's because of that!)

We don't necessarily have a full update in Animal Jam (Classic), but we got some awesome news that's even better, in my opinion! 

Maybe it's a coincidence, or maybe some person at AJHQ read one of the many posts on my blog where I wonder aloud about why we haven't got more information about Wildworks' tree planting initiative (like the post right before this one). Either way, this is really cool and I'm really happy to know this initiative is legitimate!

If you read my last post, you'll know that one of the Playing-for-the-Planet pledges Wildworks made around September was to plant trees for every membership.

As you might remember, in May there were a couple weeks where part of the proceeds from memberships purchased would go towards the important mission of planting trees... actually, no, it was April! Part of April and part of May:

This appeared like a test-run of Wildworks' pledge, as it only applied to memberships purchased within the two weeks before the next update.

I was super happy when this happened! Although, AJHQ didn't really hype up the tree-planting initiative– all the information about it was just at that little sentence at the bottom of this older Jamaa Journal page. 

Maybe it's because they didn't want too many people getting memberships at this time and diverting money away from the game itself-- but I'm just guessing.

Also, there never was any information about where the trees would be planted, what organization/s would be involved, so it seemed kind of fishy at the time. Like the donation box in the Conservation Museum that doesn't go anywhere anymore.

Thankfully though, this initiative is legitimate! The organization Wildworks partnered with is called WeForest, we got an exact number of the amount of trees planted (16,000) and the exact location of the Luanshya district of Zambia! 

I went to the WeForest website and you can see Wildworks on its list of corporate sponsors:

And even more than that, you can find so many great details about the actual project they helped support! Even a map!!! 

Even actual updates of the project!!

The whole reforestation project for the Luanshya district seems to center around reforestation through changing the way farmers manage their land:

Agroforestry is a way to rethink how human agriculture is usually done, to include and preserve trees in the landscape instead of killing them. You might be used to seeing vast expanses of uniform farmland... but that's the sign of a deeply hurt ecosystem. 

Trees are vital members of ecosystems, holding soil together and preventing erosion, along with providing food and shelter for countless species. They are the vital anchors of life on this planet, and when vast acres of trees continue to be killed for the production of crops or grazing land... there's only bad things that come of that. Not just for trees, but for the crops and people themselves.

I mentioned that trees hold soil together, preventing erosion (erosion is the soil nutrients washing away in storms or in wind). Trees also prevent the soil's water from evaporating too fast, AND actually add nutrients to the soil through networks of fungi! All of these things are important for growing crops, so why isn't more farmland managed this way?

You see... "normal" farming techniques are not actually the best techniques for crops or for the ecosystems they destroy. They're not the only way, either.

This is how tropical deforestation works (with crops/grazing land):

1. Huge areas of tropical forest are burned to the ground or chopped down. The soil remaining is fairly nutritious for farming... but surprisingly very shallow. 

2. For a while, crops can be grown in this soil.

3. However, the soil no longer has the trees and layers of undergrowth to protect it from erosion or keep it hydrated, so it quickly becomes completely barren. Dust.

4. But instead of rethinking how to farm, so many corporations just decide to cut down more tropical forest and start the process over because they don't care. Deforestation isn't just turning trees into farmland... it's turning whole ecosystems into dust. 

I hope you can see why things need to change now, and preserving/restoring trees in the places where they're being cut down the most rapidly is a great step in the right direction. 

Okay, I kind of went on a tangent there, but I hope you find that at least a little interesting! I'm passionate about this kind of stuff. c:

Anyway, WeForest seems really cool and reputable. Especially the fact that it's community-run:

I'm really happy Wildworks chose to support them, and I'm hoping they will continue working with them at some point. 

I hope what happened in April can be a regular thing! Maybe for two weeks every two months, the membership proceeds can go towards initiatives like this. 

Alright, that's all I got for now... see you in Jamaa!