# Team Trees

Team Trees (stylized as #TEAMTREES) is a collaborative fundraiser that raised 20 million U.S. dollars before the start of 2020 to plant 20 million trees. The initiative was started by American YouTubers MrBeast and Mark Rober, and was mostly supported by YouTubers. All donations go to the Arbor Day Foundation, a tree planting organization that pledges to plant one tree for every U.S. dollar donated. The Arbor Day Foundation began planting in January 2020 with plans to end "no later than December 2022". It is estimated that 23 million trees would take up 210 km$^2$ (81 sq mi) of land, absorb around 1.6 million tons of carbon and remove 116 thousand tons of pollutants from the atmosphere.

## Background

The idea started on May 24, 2019, when a fan suggested on Reddit that MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson) should plant 20 million trees to celebrate reaching 20 million subscribers on YouTube. The idea spread across YouTube, Reddit, and Twitter, mostly in the form of memes. The idea may have been related to the 2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires. American YouTuber, engineer, and inventor Mark Rober partnered directly with Donaldson to launch the fundraiser. On October 25, 2019, Donaldson uploaded a YouTube video explaining his plan, which claimed the top spot on YouTube's trending page, and caused numerous YouTubers to join the movement.
The trees will be planted "in a variety of forests on public and private lands in areas of great need" starting in January 2020. The goal is to have them planted "no later than December 2022".
As of September 5, 2024, the project has raised over $24,779,606 exceeding the fundraiser's goal to plant 20 million trees. As anticipated, more than 20 million trees have been planted.

## Responses

Many YouTubers created content to capitalize on the growing trend of Team Trees; despite the Arbor Day Foundation reaching out to only a few hundred creators, Team Trees is now featured in over 80,000 videos from over 4200 global creators. Across Instagram and Twitter over 556,001 posts have garnered more than 4.6 billion views.
Discovery Channel made a documentary called #TeamTrees about the campaign which aired on December 3, 2019, coupled with a donation of USD $100,203 the next day.
Eike Lüdeling, the department head of horticultural sciences at the University of Bonn, stated, "It turns out that many of these seedlings, if you don't do this well or if people do it who don’t really care about those trees, then they all just die quickly. Sometimes it’s probably a better idea to plant fewer trees and really take care of them." Danny Cohn, the director of public relations for the Arbor Day Foundation, addressed these concerns, stating that "the partners who work with the organization are all required to have plans to help their trees thrive."

## Planting projects

Planting locations of Team Trees include:
| Location | Country | Continent | Number of Trees | Status |
| Andes | Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru | South America | 300,000 | Completed |
| Central and Northern Victoria | Australia | Oceania | 75,000 | Completed |
| Eastern Queensland | Australia | Oceania | 300,000 | Completed |
| Amazon rainforest | Brazil | South America | 600,000 | Completed |
| Atlantic Forest | Brazil | South America | 170,000 | Completed |
| | Burundi | Africa | 100,000 | Completed |
| Area of 2017 Elephant Hill Fire, British Columbia | Canada | North America | 170,000 | Completed |
| Area of 2017 Hanceville Fire, British Columbia | Canada | North America | 150,000 | Completed |
| The Great Green Wall | Chad, Mali, Senegal | Africa | 3,840,000 | Completed |
| Minqin County, Gansu Province | China | Asia | 25,000 | Completed |
| Gaizhou, Liaoning Province | China | Asia | 45,000 | Completed |
| | Dominican Republic | North America | 200,000 | Completed |
| | France | Europe | 150,000 | Completed |
| | Haiti | North America | 1,050,000 | Completed |
| Cauvery River Basin | India | Asia | 905,439 | Completed |
| West Papua Province | Indonesia | Asia | 450,000 | Completed |
| | Ireland | Europe | 100,000 | Completed |
| Kijabe Forest | Kenya | Africa | 950,000 | Completed |
| Xe Sap and Xe Pian National Protected Areas | Laos | Asia | 30,000 | |
| Kianjavato Mountain Range | Madagascar | Africa | 400,000 | Completed |
| | Madagascar | Africa | 600,000 | Completed |
| | Mozambique | Africa | 1,252,007 | Completed |
| Chitwan National Park | Nepal | Asia | 885,000 | Completed |
| Auckland | New Zealand | Oceania | 28,789 | Completed |
| Maitai valley | New Zealand | Oceania | 32,590 | Completed |
| | Nicaragua | North America | 975,000 | Completed |
| | Peru | South America | 235,800 | Completed |
| | Portugal | Europe | 10,000 | Completed |
| Freetown Peninsula | Sierra Leone | Africa | 80,000 | Completed |
| Palencia | Spain | Europe | 4,200 | Completed |
| Mae Hong Son Province | Thailand | Asia | 50,000 | Completed |
| Adana Province | Turkey | Asia | 60,000 | Completed |
| İzmir Province | Turkey | Asia | 50,000 | Completed |
| | United Kingdom | Europe | 24,000 | Completed |
| | United Kingdom | Europe | 50,000 | Completed |
| Mersey Forest | United Kingdom | Europe | 270,000 | Completed |
| Southeastern United States | United States | North America | 1,000,000 | Completed |
| Mississippi River Valley in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi | United States | North America | 1,000,000 | |
| Butte County, California | United States | North America | 100,000 | Completed |
| Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida | United States | North America | 983,000 | Completed |
| Watersheds in Georgia | United States | North America | 450,000 | Completed |
| Michigan State Forests | United States | North America | 2,207,067 | Completed |
| Bitterroot National Forest, Montana | United States | North America | 63,800 | Completed |
| Flathead and Kootenai National Forests, Montana | United States | North America | 281,132 | Completed |
| Gallatin National Forest, Montana | United States | North America | 275,000 | Completed |
| Nebraska National Forest, Nebraska | United States | North America | 40,000 | Completed |
| Bladen Lakes State Forest, North Carolina | United States | North America | 197,555 | Completed |
| Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, Oregon | United States | North America | 23,100 | Completed |
| Willamette River Basin, Oregon | United States | North America | 500,000 | Completed |
| South Carolina | United States | North America | 1,350,000 | Completed |
| Rappahannock River Watershed, Virginia | United States | North America | 50,000 | Completed |
| Washington | United States | North America | 650,000 | Completed |

## Team Seas

On October 29, 2021, MrBeast and Mark Rober teamed up again to launch Team Seas, a successor to the project that aimed to help clean up marine debris. As with the Team Trees campaign, many influencers had also joined in spreading the message to help the project be a success. While the project is international, MrBeast and Mark Rober traveled to the Dominican Republic to help clean up there and address issues with trash collection in underdeveloped and underserved areas.