The project was launched in 2008 after 4-H member Laura Webber saw Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth." At the end, the documentary suggests ways viewers can help ease the dire consequences of global warming. One was, "Plant a tree." Webber decided to plant one million.
Even as she went off to college, trees continued to be planted around the world and tallied on the 4-H Million Trees website. Many 4-H members coordinated tree planting projects in their local communities to take part in 4-H Million Trees. One of those was Julien Lévy of the Belmont 4-H Club, who created "The Reforesting San Bruno Project" after the September 2010 natural gas pipeline explosion. In Louisiana, a 4-H member coordinated the planting of 150,000 trees to replace those lost in Hurricane Katrina. In Mariposa County, a 4-H member planted trees to reforest an area ravaged by wildfire.
Webber, now an international studies major starting her senior year at Vassar College, and her father will join current 4-H members at Huddart County Park in Woodside to plant the millionth tree.
Other media:
ABC Eyewitness News interviewed Webber at the site of the very first tree planted as part of the project for a story on the evening news.