Friday, April 26, 2024

Trees vs. climate change for Arbor Day, a Flashback Friday holiday special

Happy Arbor Day and Flashback Friday! I'm celebrating the original environmental holiday during Earth Month with two videos from PBS Digital about the effectiveness of planting trees to fight climate change followed by a retrospective of the most saved posts on Pinterest. Trust me, the two topics connect.

The first PBS Digital video is Be Smart asking If We Plant 1 TRILLION Trees Can We Stop Climate Change?

Can trees really save us from climate change? For eons, nature has relied on photosynthesis as a big way to keep carbon dioxide levels from getting out of control. But as we have put more carbon into the air, we’ve also cut down many of the forests we need to suck that carbon up. So big tree-planting initiatives like #TeamTrees to the rescue, right? Actually, we need to think bigger. Here’s three ways trees really can help us solve climate change, from a guy who wants to plant a TRILLION trees, to how we might save the forests we’ve got, to scientists hacking biology to make trees even better.
The answer to the question is no, it won't stop climate change by itself, but it will certainly help, along with conserving the trees we still have. As for genetically engineering a more efficient pathway to fix carbon, that's a new one on me, but it fits with the theme of yesterday's Be Smart asks 'Can AI Help Us Talk to Whales?' for Throwback Thursday, using technology to advance science.

That was the optimistic outlook. PBS Terra explaining Why Tree Planting Campaigns Don’t Work takes a more pessimistic perspective.

In 2019, a Turkey tree planting campaign set a world record. Three months later, 90% of those saplings were dead. Planting trees to replace old-growth forests is a common solution, but it typically does not solve the problem. With deforestation causing climate-related disasters, it’s time to take a hard look at reforestation and what we can do to save our forests.
The video's opening serves as an update on deforestation of the Amazon rainforest with news both good and bad. The video also pointed out flaws in the most common methods of reforestation and ways to do it correctly. I hope people pay attention to the suggestions.

Searching for previous posts about Amazon deforestation retrieved 'The Territory' leads nominees for Exceptional Merit In Documentary Filmmaking at the 2023 Emmy Awards, which reminded me that I'd never mentioned its Emmy Award.


I wrote "I'm confident about 'The Territory' winning this category" and it did. Congratulations! May it keep the cause of preserving the Amazon rainforest in people's minds.

Follow over the jump for Crazy Eddie's Motie News' year on Pinterest.



The connection between Arbor Day and Pinterest is that Arbor Day is a holiday and holidays were the number one topic of last year's top posts on Pinterest, followed by animals and pirates, just like the year before, and Pinterest itself. Two of the top three are about both pirates and holidays!

The top post on Pinterest two years in a row was Higher oil prices because of attack on Saudi facility plus driving update for Pearl on Talk Like A Pirate Day with 16 total saves. It was the most saved during August, September, October, and December 2023 and tied for first during June 2023.

Crazy Eddie's Motie News's year on Pinterest for Flashback Friday was new to the top posts on Pinterest with eleven total saves, tying it with Talk like a Japanese space pirate for second. The former was the most active on Pinterest during October 2023. It tied for second most saved during September and December 2023. The latter was the most saved pin during July 2023 and tied for second most saved during October and December 2023.

Three posts tied for fourth most saved pins with eight saves each, FiveThirtyEight asks what the Democratic candidates should be thankful for, Happy Autumnal Equinox 2014!, and Happy Persian New Year and Happy Birthday to Twitter and this blog. The first earned the most saves on Pinterest during November 2023 and tied for second during October 2023. The second tied for second most active during September and October 2023 and tied for first and last during April 2023. The last was the most saved during March 2023, tied for first and last during April 2023, and was the second most saved during November 2023. Happy Persian New Year and Happy Birthday to Twitter and this blog rose from a tie for fifth last year to a tie for fourth this year, while the rest are new to the top ten.

Two entries tied for seventh with six saves each, Star Wars Drinks for Star Wars Day and Snow Leopards: Student Sustainability Video Festival 55. Both were in the top ten last year, with Star Wars Drinks for Star Wars Day falling from a tie for fifth while Snow Leopards: Student Sustainability Video Festival 55 slipped from a tie for second. The former tied for first during May 2023 and first and last during April 2023 with one save and was the second most saved during March 2023. The latter tied for first during April, May, and June 2023.

Three posts tied for ninth with four saves each, Driving update for June 2017: Pearl plus Tesla worth more than GM or Ford, Great Lakes cities and their roles in the regional economy, and 'Grizzy & the Lemmings' explain social distancing and masking for a late Norther. Driving update for June 2017: Pearl plus Tesla worth more than GM or Ford continued its slide down the rankings from fourth to a tie for ninth, while the other two rose from outside the top ten. The first tied for first during June 2023 with two saves each. The second tied for the second most active on Pinterest during October 2023. The last never made the top three, but other Pinterest users saved it during four months, June, September, October, and November 2023.

Three posts tied for twelfth with three saves each, Commercial spaceflight crews announced and testing for return to Moon as NASA celebrates its 60th anniversary, Pins, comments, shares, and likes for the seventh year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News and Emmy and EMA Awards for 'Abbott Elementary' on World Television Day. The first tied for first during April and June 2023. The second was the second most active pin on Pinterest during August 2023. The third never made the top three, but other Pinterest users saved it during three months, May, July, and November 2023. All three were new to the top twelve

Other Pinterest users saved only one pin of an entry posted during the 13th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News, U.S. birthrate resumes its decline for World Population Day 2023 from July 2023.

This will almost certainly be the final post about the blog's year on Pinterest because Pinterest ceased its notifications of other users saving pins during the first week of December 2023. That's why I listed no 2024 monthly rankings. Sic transit gloria mundi. Fortunately, I have retrospectives or Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads still to post next month and almost certainly in future years.

Watch for this series to resume either Tuesday or Wednesday. In the meantime, stay tuned for a couple of posts that will still be good to share next month and a Sunday entertainment feature for National Superhero Day.

Previous posts in this series Previous retrospectives about Pinterest Previous retrospectives about the back catalog. Previous retrospectives about entertainment Previous posts about the 2023 Primetime and Creative Arts Emmy Awards
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