Can trees stop climate change?

Drought, forest fires and increasingly frequent storms. Climate change is destroying our forests. All over the world, people are looking for ways to keep them from dying out. Yet nature itself knows best what forests need to thrive. Reforestation works not only in the countryside, but also in the city. In urban areas, planting trees can help combat climate change, restore ecosystems and keep cities cooler — as forest scientist Stefan Scharfe well knows. He’s already planted 14 ‘tiny forests’ in Germany and Poland. The concept of planting dense, fast-growing woodland in urban wastelands was originally developed by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki.

The trees that survived the bombing of Hiroshima

When an atomic bomb was detonated over the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945, hundreds of thousands of people were killed and injured.

Despite many survivors believing nothing would grow in the city for decades, 170 trees survived and are still growing 75 years later.

Green Legacy Hiroshima is a project that sends seedlings from those trees around the world, spreading a message of hope.