Trees are good for the environment. They absorb carbon dioxide and they breathe out oxygen (that we need). This project started with the idea of linking younger children to trees so that they would have a greater understanding of the environmental benefits of trees and the importance to take action to reduce carbon emissions.

MyPetTree will encourage children of primary school age to plant trees from seed, to grow them and to look after them, rather like they might keep a pet. If they were creative, they could even construct a small trolley, and take their pet tree out for a walk!

CIVA has teamed up with Trees for Cities www.treesforcities.org to help make this idea happen. A pilot was developed in Kenya in 2011, and plans are being developed to scale this up.

PS. Since conceiving this project, Robert and Brenda Vale have written an important book on carbon emissions entitled “Time to Eat the Dog?”. One chapter looks at the carbon emissions of keeping pets, and suggests that people downsize from large meat-eating dogs to smaller pets which preferably are vegetarian, which would have a much smaller impact on the environment. And better still, to consider keeping edible pets! This is not  a crazy idea, since pet populations are huge, and they make a significant contribution to global warming. In the USA, for example, there are an estimated 75 million cats and 60 million dogs. A pet tree could be the perfect alternative for a rapidly warming world!