CCCNews Plants 100 Trees in Oregon for International Forest Day
A One Tree Planted representative planting ponderosa pines in Oregon. Photo courtesy of One Tree Planted.
By Columbia Community Connection News
Happy International Forest Day from Columbia Community Connection News!
We are proud to announce that we have planted 100 trees in celebration of International Forest Day this March 21st, 2023!
The trees have been purchased through a donation to OneTreePlanted.org who will soon plant the trees in a deforested area of Oregon where they will play a crucial role in maintaining the health and well-being of the planet.
According to One Tree Planted, the global non-profit organization which will plant the trees in CCCNews name, CCCNews donation couldn’t come at a more timely moment in the state’s history as Oregon’s forests are shrinking on state and private land in Oregon. And an estimated 522,000 acres of forest cover have disappeared since 2000.
“That's an area six times larger than the city of Portland, equal to more than half of Oregon's designated state forests,” says One Tree Planted.
“These one hundred trees represent our commitment to making our communities and our world a better place,” says Cole Goodwin, Co-Founder of CCCNews, “These one hundred trees represent our participation in the generational work of land stewardship, and our honoring of the sacred dignity of the lands and waters that all life on this planet depends upon to survive.
Ensuring the survival of this world is a human tradition, and it is how we honor our ancestors and our children. We as a species do not have to be just a source of damage to the environment, we can also be a source of its repair.”
“Planting trees is a great way to repair ecological damage,” says Goodwin.
Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and produce oxygen, which is essential for human survival. In addition, they filter the water we drink, prevent soil erosion, regenerate the soil, and provide habitat for a diverse range of plant and animal species.
While trees play many parts in our eco-system’s soil regeneration, in particular was at the top of Goodwin’s mind.
“In 2014 the UN Food and Agriculture Organization alerted the public that at the (then) current rate of soil degeneration, they estimated humanity had only 60 more good food harvests left. Meaning that desertification will have rendered many landscapes on our planet completely fallow and unfarmable by 2074,” says Goodwin.
“Unfortunately the print news industry is a significant contributor to deforestation,” says Goodwin. “And it’s one of the reasons CCCNews has chosen to be an all digital news source.”
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, around 10 million hectares of forest are lost every year due to deforestation, with newsprint publications being a significant contributor.
According to 8billiontrees.com approximately 1,071,000,000 (one billion seventy-one million) trees are cut down and turned into newsprint every year.
“To me, that is unacceptable,” says Goodwin, Co-Founder of CCCNews “We need to lead the charge in setting new industry standards to reduce waste, deforestation, and environmental impact to ensure a livable and hopeful future for our planet.”
CCCNews is a digital only platform that has made being carbon neutral a part of their mission and vision for their business. In the past CCCNews has purchased and accepted gifts of carbon offsets in order to achieve this goal.
“I want to be clear that CCCNews planting 100 trees today is not going to save the world. It’s not going to stop climate change, and it’s not going to stop the worldwide printing industry from cutting down 4 to 8 billion trees for paper every year,” says Goodwin.
“But the good news is, that saving the world is not up to CCCNews alone. Land stewardship and climate crisis aversion is intergenerational work that requires everyone, from billionaire to small business to do what they can.”
Today I am proud to say that we are doing what we can do, right now, today, at this exact moment. And it may be small but we are still doing it because we can, and we believe that humanity can be more than a force of destruction, we believe in the human spirit’s capacity for creativity,” says Goodwin.
Goodwin says that they hope the donation will also give local youth hope.
“Eco-anxiety and depression is real, it’s on the rise, and it has devastating effects on the youth of today, especially indigenous and other marginalized youth in our communities. If you are one of these youths I just want to say to you: I am so sorry about the mess you are inheriting. You are not alone. We and others like us are going to keep planting trees for your future. I know it can be hard. But we are not giving up on you, so please, don’t give up on yourselves or on this beautiful planet that is your inheritance and our collective legacy,” says Goodwin.
CCCNews is committed to minimizing our impact on the environment and promoting sustainable practices. Our decision to plant trees is just one of the many steps we are taking to reduce our carbon footprint and create a healthier planet for future generations. In addition to environmentalism we place a focus on providing accessibility to local news in both English and Spanish and work to promote solutions minded journalism to tackle issues of accessibility, diversity, equity and inclusion in the news landscape.
We encourage other businesses to follow our lead and make a commitment to sustainability. Together, we can make a positive impact on the world around us and create a more sustainable future for all.
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