There are certain things in nature we take for granted. We wake up and the sun is shining, or temporarily blurred by clouds. We pour a glass of water and trust it’s safe to drink. We take a deep breath of fresh air, not spending a minute worrying whether it will harm us.

But some pockets of the world don’t have this luxury today, and many experts predict more and more people across the globe won’t either as we move forward into the 21st century.

Clean air. Clean water. A livable climate. All at risk.

Trees Help Restore Our Planet

To preserve our planet for our children and future generations, we no longer have the luxury to take any of this for granted. So today, on Arbor Day, we want to put forth one word, a powerful solution to re-balance our planet: trees.

Is anything more miraculous than the simplicity and perfection of trees?

Trees are nature’s original life preserver. They’re a simple solution for a global environment increasingly at risk. Without the great cleansing of the atmosphere that trees provide; without the great purification of our soil, rivers, and aquifers that trees make possible; without trees, life on Earth wouldn’t exist.

Sadly, at the very time we need them most, trees are under assault.

• There are wildfires, nearly 65,000 wildfires in 2024, that burned almost 9 million acres across the U.S., above both the five- and ten-year averages.
• Taken together, U.S. wildfires consumed more than 75 million acres over the past decade — an area larger than the entire state of Colorado — according to annual statistics compiled by the National Interagency Coordination Center at the National Interagency Fire Center.
• There are droughts, the extended dry spells that have killed hundreds of millions of trees across California and the broader West over the past decade.
• There are insect infestations, which claim more than 6 million acres of land across the U.S. every year.
• And finally, there is human-caused deforestation; we continue to lose more than 15 billion trees around the world every year.

Human behavior contributes to many of these tragedies. So, it’s our profound responsibility to plant trees. It’s hugely important, with our planet hanging in the balance.

Plant A Million Trees

We cannot take trees for granted. Trees are not a “nice to have”; they’re a “must have.” As a nation, as a world — as people who need a survivable future — we must plant more trees now.

This year’s Arbor Day, on Friday, April 24, 2026, arrives with a double milestone. The Arbor Day Foundation is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Tree City USA, its landmark urban forestry recognition program, as it also launches the Million Trees Project, a campaign to plant 1 million new trees and assemble the world’s largest collection of personal tree stories.

Since 1976, Tree City USA has grown from 42 recognized communities to more than 3,500 cities and towns across all 50 states. Those communities plant nearly 1 million trees annually and collectively invested $2 billion in trees in their most recent reporting year. That’s what sustained civic commitment looks like; it’s the foundation on which the Million Trees Project is building.

Trees are one thing we can all agree on. In a contentious and fractured world, they cross the technology divide, the political divide, the equality divide, and the culture divide. If ever there was a time to plant trees, now is that time.

Let’s Plant Trees Together

Everyone can be part of the Million Trees Project. The campaign runs through National Arbor Day and beyond, with three ways to participate:

• Plant a tree — then share your story. Individuals can plant at least one tree and submit a photo or short narrative at org/celebrate, documenting what was planted, where, and why.
• Schools and classrooms can register a tree-planting event, log trees planted, and submit student stories to the campaign database.
• Communities and municipalities — especially Tree City USA designees — can register mass planting events, with every tree counted toward the million-tree goal.

Together, let’s restore our forests, build healthier communities, improve quality of life, and put our simplest and best solution to climate change into action. Let’s pave the way for future generations and their health and well-being.

A tree planted today will always make our lives better tomorrow. Today, on Arbor Day, and every day from here on out, take a moment to look at trees differently — as a life source, as a well of joy and natural beauty, as humanity’s life saver and preserver.

Together, let’s get this job done.

If you don’t have space or time to plant a tree yourself, you can plant a tree virtually through these organizations.

Editor’s Note: Originally published on April 24, 2019, this article was most recently updated with current  in April 2026. Feature image by Tien Vu from Pixabay

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