🌅 Today’s stat: 48 pounds

SOURCE

Arbor Day Foundation

WHAT TO KNOW

• While trees are great carbon sponges, they’re not up for the task alone, as there’s more carbon in the atmosphere today than the weight of all plants on earth combined.

WHY IT MATTERS

• Experts say restoring and improving the biodiversity of trees—and all plants—represents just one part of humanity’s fight against climate change, along with strategies to reduce emissions, integrate climate measures into national policies, and adapt and build resilience to living through climate change.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• Trees’ ability to suck carbon from the atmosphere helps explain why the Amazon rainforest—with its 390 billion trees—acts as a vital “carbon sink.” It also underscores the urgency of the U.N.’s recent finding that more than one-third of tree species currently face extinction.