If you’ve opened Instagram within the last 24 hours, you’ve undoubtedly come across a multitude of pet pictures.
Shared via the platform’s ‘Stories’ function, the sweet snaps range from cute cats and pups to farm animals and even throwback pics of exotic creatures from safaris. But despite seeing animals of all breeds, shapes and sizes, each of these pictures have one thing in common: they’re accompanied with a stamp stating, “We’ll plant one tree for every pet picture”.
The sticker single-handedly created the perfect storm for viral-ness. Perhaps it was the cute dog emoji at the end of the request that sold you, or the fact that your own floof deserves an extra bit of attention, or the simple fact that planting trees is definitely a good thing—more than 2 million users (at the time of writing) have now contributed their best pet pics.
But of course we’re now naturally left wondering who is behind the whole thing, and how these trees actually be planted.
Who is planting the trees from the Instagram trend?
Right now, it’s unclear who created the now-viral sticker. When a user joins the trend by adding their own pet picture within Instagram Stories, they’ll only be able to view which of their friends have also shared an animal picture.
And while it might feel a little disheartening to not know who, if anyone, is behind this whole thing, there’s nothing to say this won’t all be for nothing.
For example, any major brand could come forward right now and commit to planting a bunch of the trees promised in the Instagram trend. To be honest, we wouldn’t be surprised if they did so ASAP—imagine the publicity they’d get!
To add, the reality of planting hundreds of thousands of trees (let alone millions) is difficult to comprehend, but it is possible.
Is it actually possible to plant more than 2 million trees?
Per Outland Resources, a commercial tree planting company based in Australia, it’s possible for a single person to plant 1,500 to 8,000 trees per day depending on the conditions.
If these stats are accurate, and if any given tree planter averages, say, 5,000 trees in a day, that means we would only need 400 people to make up the Instagram target over the course of 24 hours.
Funnily enough, that doesn’t seem so far-fetched after all.
Of course, another thing to consider is exactly where all these trees are going to go—but who’s to say all the trees in the Instagram sticker have to go in the same place? There are plenty of locations around the world that need trees.
Tree planting is also a popular summer job among travellers who want to earn some extra money while they explore other parts of the world. In Australia, more than 70 million trees are planted each year according to the Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment.
Youtuber MrBeast had the right idea two years ago when he shared a video of his quest to plant 20 million trees. As you’ll see in the clip below, he raised a bunch of money and got a working bee together to help him achieve the goal, which was in collaboration with the tree planting organisation, Team Trees. So far, they’ve planted more than 23 million trees.
How much does it cost to plant a tree?
According to not-for-profit One Tree Planted, costs can range between AUD 20 cents to 35 cents per tree. This includes the growth of the original tree sapling at a nursery.
Labour costs and equipment also play into this, as well as maintenance of the tree itself.
With this in mind, the idea of planting millions of trees might at first seem completely unrealistic. But with some solid organisation and involvement from the right organisations, it’s absolutely possible.
That’s why despite the Instagram tree planting trend not yet having any dedicated person or business behind it, there’s every reason to believe the two million (and growing) pledge could still happen.
And regardless of sharing pet pictures, perhaps we could take our own action—either by joining or donating to a tree planting organisation here in Australia to show our support.
For those that are New South Wales-based, the NSW Government is even running a whole campaign to encourage everyone to plant trees. Called Everyone Plant One, the initiative invites residents to simply plant one tree anywhere on their property and register it here. So far, more than 600,000 trees have been planted across the state—and there’s a goal to make it to 1 million by the end of the year.
If you don’t have anywhere on your property to plant a tree, or if you would simply like to help from afar, see below four tree planting not-for-profits you can donate to right now:
