Jersey City Man Plants 30K Trees — And He's Just Getting Started

JERSEY CITY, NJ — Ford Seeman has planted about 30,000 trees in 18 months. And he's just getting started.

A Jersey City resident, Seeman is the founder of Forest Founders, a nonprofit he launched last year. Its mission is to help negate, and potentially reverse, humanity's carbon footprint and global warming by planting trees.

"We want to create the tools for individuals and businesses become carbon accountable," Seeman said. "Through planting trees, businesses can attract more environmentally-conscious consumers."

Forest Founders offers people and businesses a subscription-based service. Every month, members' contributions will be used to plant 16 trees on their behalf, which is the number of trees needed to negate the average American's annual carbon emissions, Seeman said.

Trees are planted in national forests and in Africa through partnerships with the National Forest Foundation and Trees For The Future.

"According to scientists," Seeman said, "if we want to reverse global warming, we're going to have to plant 1 trillion trees. We have the space and the inventory, we need the people, and we think we can do it."

Members can earn points toward the planting of more trees. For every new member an existing member refers, Forest Founders will plant a tree each month the new person joins.

Seeman understands that the only way carbon footprints to be negated and the greenhouse effect reversed is through commitment by individuals and businesses.

"We want a corporation's culture to be as environmentally conscious as possible," Seeman said. "It has to start with commitment and the understanding that economics and the environment don't mix. We need to find more ways to have businesses and nature have a symbiotic relationship. We're all in this together and every bit helps."

For more information about Forest Founders, click here.

Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com