What forest restoration is finally learning about survival, scale, and humility Photo credit congerdesign / Pixabay Most tree planting campaigns celebrate how many trees are planted. Ecology cares about how many stay alive. Most tree-planting stories start with a number. A million trees planted. Ten million pledged. A billion promised. The numbers are clean, optimistic, and easy to repeat. They fit neatly into headlines and annual reports. But forests, as it turns out, do not

As 2026 begins, the climate conversation feels predictably crowded: new targets, new technologies, and new commitments to plant millions of trees. But beneath the headlines lies a quieter truth emerging from soil science, ecology, and community-led restoration worldwide. The success of climate action doesn’t hinge on any single intervention. It depends on how well people, trees, and soil function together as a living system. This is what we tend to overlook. And it’s why many

I was recently invited to give a guest lecture at the University of Iceland’s Ocean Sustainability class, where I discussed the profound...

I’m a true believer in nature-based solutions. Coming from the tech world I see a huge potential in incorporating technology in the...