Day 13

Forests

What do forests offer us and what can we do for them?

OVERVIEW

Forests are not merely a collection of trees or source of lumber, but rather an ecosystem teeming with life — from microscopic bacteria to ancient skyscraping trees. Forests are crucial for many reasons, as they are often hotspots for biodiversity and sources for medicine, hosting thousands of undiscovered species and providing medicinal herbs and minerals, those we know and have yet to discover. For example, Quinine from a Cinchona tree is used to treat Malaria, as it has long been by the Quechua peoples in Peru and Bolivia. Some of the properties of medicinal herbs sourced from forests are used to treat cancer, for anesthesia, to address anxiety, for relaxation. and more, though hard work needs to be done to ensure sustainable harvesting and the prevention of deforestation.  

The importance of forests does not stop there. Forests act like the lungs of our planet by storing large amounts of carbon in both their soil and biomass (plants, fungi, animals) while releasing oxygen into the atmosphere; just like lungs inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, only in reverse. By storing more carbon than they produce, rainforests like the Amazon and the Congo act as carbon sinks. Terrestrial (land-based) carbon sinks remove about 30% of human carbon emissions from the atmosphere each year. Among other benefits, forests are also important for the movement of nitrogen, soil conservation, cleaning water, the livelihoods of over a billion people, and the prevention of large-scale natural disasters like mudslides, floods, and extreme wildfires.

However, all these ecosystem services – or the array of benefits an ecosystem provides – are threatened by global deforestation. Forests that were once carbon sinks are now carbon sources, the mismanagement of forests has resulted in deadly fires, and biodiversity loss has resulted in the loss of livelihoods and invaluable sources of medicines.

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CHALLENGE

Green

20 POINTS

THINK

Over 2 billion people rely on forests for their livelihoods, food, shelter, and more. Humans attain immense and multifaceted benefits from forest areas, however, these ecosystem services are not limited to what is bought and sold.


CHALLENGE

Take some time to research what valuable ecosystem services forests provide. Research at least five benefits. Challenge yourself to look at a few that you had not considered before today. Here’s an article from WWF that describes a few benefits that humans gain from forests.

Create an attention-grabbing visual to teach people about one of the vast benefits of forests. Post in on Instagram with an informative caption. Remember to tag @TurningGreenOrg and @BoxedWater, as well as #PGC2023!


DELIVERABLES

Upload your results and responses in a PDF document including a screenshot of your social post. Include your name (or team name), username, and school on your upload.

Submission Guidelines

  • Submit all entries as PDFs; no Word or Pages documents.
  • Include the following content for your submission in one document:
    • Your answers to all questions asked in the challenge 
    • An image of any work that you’ve created 
    • A clear photo of each page of your Instagram post 
    • A link to your Instagram post 
    • Your name or team name, username, and the school you attend.
  • If you choose to answer a challenge question in the caption section of your Instagram post, we ask that you submit the written response separately in the PDF submission as either a separate document or a screenshot of the caption. 
  • Save file names using the following format:
    • firstname_lastname_challengeday_challengelevel_year.pdf (ex: kasie_jones_day13_green_2023.pdf) 
  • Do not include symbols (including #) or spaces in file names.
  • Do not upload a file larger than 5 MB.
  • You will see a confirmation in green that your submission was uploaded correctly; if you do not see this confirmation, please try again.
  • You can see your points by going to the edit profile tab on the bottom navigation bar. Your points are at the top of the page.
  • If your point total does not change, your submission did not upload correctly; please try again.
  • Send any questions to info@turninggreen.org.
  • Don’t forget to post about the challenge and your responses on social media and tag us on Instagram @TurningGreenOrg, Facebook @Turning Green, and use #PGC2023.
The deadline for entering this challenge has past.

Greener

40 POINTS

THINK

Indigenous communities have been caring for land for thousands of years, developing shared knowledge on how best to tend it. Modern governments, leading organizations and western scientists are only just beginning to formally recognize the importance of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and center it in strategies to care for forests.


CHALLENGE

Look into forest management and restoration methods, and examples of each. Pick one innovative technique involving TEK and research the forest management that came before it. Compare the two management techniques and create an infographic that explains how traditional knowledge made that specific management technique more effective. 

Next, write a caption for your infographic answering the following:

  • What management/restoration method/example did you choose?
  • What specific forest issue does this method address?
  • What does the method/example involve?
  • Is there an example of where this method has been used? Tell us!
  • Does this method use scientific knowledge, TEK or both? How so?

Post your infographic on Instagram with a brief caption from your above answer. Tag @TurningGreenOrg, any other relevant accounts you discovered, and #PGC2023.


DELIVERABLES 

Upload your responses in a PDF document including a screenshot of your social post. Include your name (or team name), username, and school on your upload to be eligible to win.

Submission Guidelines

  • Submit all entries as PDFs; no Word or Pages documents.
  • Include the following content for your submission in one document:
    • Your answers to all questions asked in the challenge 
    • An image of any work that you’ve created 
    • A clear photo of each page of your Instagram post 
    • A link to your Instagram post 
    • Your name or team name, username, and the school you attend.
  • If you choose to answer a challenge question in the caption section of your Instagram post, we ask that you submit the written response separately in the PDF submission as either a separate document or a screenshot of the caption. 
  • Save file names using the following format:
    • firstname_lastname_challengeday_challengelevel_year.pdf (ex: kasie_jones_day13_greener_2023.pdf) 
  • Do not include symbols (including #) or spaces in file names.
  • Do not upload a file larger than 5 MB.
  • You will see a confirmation in green that your submission was uploaded correctly; if you do not see this confirmation, please try again.
  • You can see your points by going to the edit profile tab on the bottom navigation bar. Your points are at the top of the page.
  • If your point total does not change, your submission did not upload correctly; please try again.
  • Send any questions to info@turninggreen.org.
  • Don’t forget to post about the challenge and your responses on social media and tag us on Instagram @TurningGreenOrg, Facebook @Turning Green, and use #PGC2023.
The deadline for entering this challenge has past.

Greenest

60 POINTS

THINK

Indigenous Peoples who live in and around forests have a very different relationship to these sacred spaces than other people. For many Indigenous communities, land is not owned, but rather borrowed from the Earth, which will one day reclaim the land. We’ve looked into the specific land management practices that Indigenous communities have honed over thousands of years of stewardship, but there is so much more that Indigenous Peoples can teach us about the forest. 


CHALLENGE

Research an Indigenous community with cultural roots in the forests and answer the following questions:

  • How does this community value the forest culturally?
  • How does this community demonstrate the cultural significance of the forests in which they live?
  • What ecological knowledge does the community hold about the forests that others can learn from (medicines, resources, preservation techniques, etc.)?
  • How can we incorporate both the cultural and ecological lessons that we learn from this group into our own way of relating to forests?

Next, create an infographic that presents how this Indigenous group values the forests in which they live. Discuss examples of both the ecological relationships they have formed with the forests, including the services they have found in the forests (medicines, resources, etc.) as well as their cultural relationship, which includes the ways in which they value and celebrate the forests. In your caption, identify the specific ways in which your own culture and society can benefit from the lessons and beliefs of the Indigenous community that you looked at.

Tag any accounts associated with the Indigenous Peoples you looked into, as well as @TurningGreen and #PGC2023.


DELIVERABLES 

Upload your responses in a PDF document including a screenshot of your social post. Include your name (or team name), username, and school on your upload to be eligible to win.

Submission Guidelines

  • Submit all entries as PDFs; no Word or Pages documents.
  • Include the following content for your submission in one document:
    • Your answers to all questions asked in the challenge 
    • An image of any work that you’ve created 
    • A clear photo of each page of your Instagram post 
    • A link to your Instagram post 
    • Your name or team name, username, and the school you attend.
  • If you choose to answer a challenge question in the caption section of your Instagram post, we ask that you submit the written response separately in the PDF submission as either a separate document or a screenshot of the caption. 
  • Save file names using the following format:
    • firstname_lastname_challengeday_challengelevel_year.pdf (ex: kasie_jones_day13_greenest_2023.pdf) 
  • Do not include symbols (including #) or spaces in file names.
  • Do not upload a file larger than 5 MB.
  • You will see a confirmation in green that your submission was uploaded correctly; if you do not see this confirmation, please try again.
  • You can see your points by going to the edit profile tab on the bottom navigation bar. Your points are at the top of the page.
  • If your point total does not change, your submission did not upload correctly; please try again.
  • Send any questions to info@turninggreen.org.
  • Don’t forget to post about the challenge and your responses on social media and tag us on Instagram @TurningGreenOrg, Facebook @Turning Green, and use #PGC2023.
The deadline for entering this challenge has past.

PARTNERS

Guayaki
The Story of Stuff Project

PRIZES

Up to 10 Greener and 10 Greenest outstanding submissions will be selected as winners.

Each Greener Winner will receive:

  • Two-month water subscription and Stainless Steel EcoLunchbox from our partner, Boxed Water, a company whose boxes are made of paper-based cartons that are FSC certified, 92% renewable, and 100% recyclable. And for each box posted on social media, Boxed Water plants trees in the US National Forests; 1 million and counting.
  • A pair of socks from Happy Earth, a Certified B Corp and 1% for the Planet member committed to sustainable business practices and on a mission to create positive environmental change.

Each Greenest Winner will receive:

  • Three-month water subscription and a Parkland Recycled Backpack from our partner, Boxed Water, a company whose boxes are made of paper-based cartons that are FSC certified, 92% renewable, and 100% recyclable. And for each box posted on social media, Boxed Water plants trees in the US National Forests; 1 million and counting.
  • The book Ever Green by John Reid and Thomas Lovejoy. Ever Green is an inspiring call to action to conserve Earth’s irreplaceable wild woods, counteract climate change, and save the planet.
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