As climate change quickens and Covid-19 lockdowns threaten to resume, the new Reforest our Future campaign from women-led reforestation charity TreeSisters highlights the vital role reforestation plays in slowing climate change and preventing further zoonotic disease outbreaks.

https://youtu.be/i3zwT1Y5bmI

As part of the campaign, TreeSisters, who have planted almost 13 million trees worldwide, releases _The Year it All Changed _animation today, Monday 19 October, sharing their powerful vision for how we can restore the health of our planet. Looking back from the future in 2070 to 2020, the video lays bare the consequences of the abuse of power by “those who cared more about profit than life”: the fires and deforestation in the Amazon and Australia, crazy weather, extinctions and the increasing risk of disease, which all threaten our livelihoods, safety and life as we know it.

Project Greenhands India receives funding from Treesisters

Yet the video also offers a clear road map for bringing our planet back to thriving life, as we witness humanity waking up to the reality that human health and the health of the planet are the same.“We see the people starting to realise that deforestation is causing diseases to pass from animals to humans, and that without the forests they can’**t breathe,” explains Pollyanna Darling, acting CEO of TreeSisters. “So they take their power back, start planting trees to restore the forests in ways that support all life to flourish, and the health of the planet returns.**”

Recently evacuated from her home during the wildfires in California, Clare Dubois, Founder of TreeSisters, says:

The devastating fires scorched an undeniable message: Life as it has been here is over. We’ve entered a whole new stage of climate uncertainty. As the basics Nature has provided so bountifully are wiped away, we’re faced with the stark reality that we’ve created this desolation. When will we learn that what we do to Nature we do to ourselves?

“**Our new animation shows us a way out of the quagmire,**” she adds. “I believe we have the capacity for vast compassion, creativity and growth to pull it off. There is everything to play for, because right now there\_’**s everything to lose and that cannot be the legacy our children inherit. They need to know that we gave it everything, so will we?**”_

Clare Dubois will host the TreeSisters Reforest our Future online panel discussion on Tuesday 27 October (11am Pacific, 2pm Eastern and 6pm UK), examining how the health of our planet impacts our own human health. Bringing together some of the world’s brightest visionary minds, including biochemist Diana Beresford-Kroeger; Jayne Sterland, Managing Director of Weleda (UK & Ireland); Osprey Orielle Lake, Founder of WECAN (Women’s Earth & Climate Action Network); Najavo peace activist Pat McCabe; and rainforest regeneration advocate Dr Kinari Webb, the event will also explore the vital role reforestation can play in creating a healthy future.

Clare Dubois says: “TreeSisters gives back to Nature with everything we do, and this panel is no exception! Attendance is by donation which will support the reforestation of our world. Growing a forest is socially and ecologically beneficial in more ways than many of us could ever imagine. If we can give Nature a chance, through real care and genuine reciprocity, then life does come back, water does return and critically endangered species can continue to grace our world. That is the legacy TreeSisters offers and you’re invited to be part of it. The future of our planet is in your hands.”

For more information about the Reforest our Future campaign, visit: https://treesisters.org/reforest-our-future