Trees are magicians with carbon, pulling it out of the air at remarkable rates to store it in their bodies. They are so good at removing this greenhouse gas that “planting trees” is often synonymous with doing environmental good.

And lots of people are planting trees. The number of tree-planting organizations has grown by almost 300 percent in the past 30 years, according to a 2021 paper in the journal Biological Conservation. But while tree planting can capture a great amount of carbon, it is hardly a silver bullet for the climate crisis — express estimate that even if we maximized our available lands for trees, this alone would not be enough to counteract carbon emissions caused by humans. Plus, many plantations grow the same few species in monocultures, which can hurt local biodiversity.

The minority of tree plantations are set up with carbon capture solely, or even primarily in mind, says Jacob Bukoski, a forestry scientist at Oregon State University. Most trees are planted with the goal of harvesting timber or wood pulp (木浆) for paper. Tree-planting organizations are more likely to create plantations for commercial reasons, the authors of the 2021 paper also note, rather than for biodiversity or carbon capture.

In forestry, there’s a saying that you have to plant “the right tree in the right place, for the right reason.” But when many tree plantations are established for commercial purposes, the tree that is planted is often not the “right” tree, says Jesús Aguirre-Gutiérrez, an ecologist at the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford.

In a paper published recently in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Aguirre-Gutiérrez and colleagues argue that focusing on the goal of carbon removal by natural process causes organizations to ignore the importance of restoring balanced ecosystems. The result is a collection of trees that do not support local organisms or promote biodiversity in the way native plant species would have. These problems deserve particular notice in tropical areas where land is vast, and conditions such as stable temperatures and high humidity promote tree growth, as ignoring them while planting trees is damaging. When plantations increased the woody cover of the Brazilian savannah by 40 percent, this “resulted in an about 30 percent reduction in the diversity of plants and ants,” Aguirre-Gutiérrez and his co-authors write in the new paper.

Aguirre-Gutiérrez doesn’t want to discourage people from growing more trees, he says. Rather, we need a better way to protect the natural ecosystems and species there, like encouraging the restoration of native forest tree species. Local plants will be “better adapted to the conditions” in these environments, he says, which means they, and nearby species, are more likely to thrive. “If we go in that direction, that will bring us the added value of capturing carbon, but also this sustainability.”

Climate change is a growing threat and many businesses are looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint. According to Forbes, going green isn’t just good for the planet and it’s also good for businesses because 80% of customers respect eco-friendly businesses!

One of the best ways to make the change to environmentally friendly business practices is to listen to the experts. They can tell you which changes are the most influential and which are unimportant.

If you want to create a more energy-saving office, look at your lighting. First, replace your incandescent bulbs (白炽灯) with energy-saving bulbs. Though they may cost a bit more, they use less energy while they burn and they last longer, which will save you money in the long run. Second, don’t leave your lights on after hours. Many businesses leave their offices and parking garages lit after everyone has clocked out and gone home for the day or even the weekend. It’s time to start flipping all of those light switches before you head out!

When you have a long-distance business, consider limiting your travel, including your car travel and in particular your plane travel as much as possible. Keep in mind that train travel is a more environmentally friendly way to get around. The most ideal (理想的) choice is to hold virtual meetings, because there are tons of free or low-cost online resources that make video meeting a breeze (轻而易举的事) and you can start closing deals right from your own office without spending days on the trip.

We’ve provided a few ideas for eco-friendly business practices that can be achieved in a short amount of time. However, if you want to get serious about environmental friendliness, you’ll need to set some long-term goals.

In the past few weeks Richard Eckersley has noticed a change in people who come into his shop. The previous (以前的) Manchester United footballer, who turned his back on the game to set up the UK’s first “zero waste” store on Totnes High Street in Devon, says it is no longer only environmentalists who came in, looking for a cleaner way to shop. “A lot of new people are coming in. We are getting calls every week from around the country from people wanting to set up something similar in their towns,” says Eckersley, who set up the Earth.Food.Love shop with his wife Nicola in March 2017.

More than 200 miles away, Ingrid Caldironi shares the enthusiasm. She set up the plastic-free (无塑料的) Bulk Market in east London. “We have had an amazing response,” she says. Eckersley and Caldironi are at the head of an anti-plastic movement in the UK that has been fuelled by newspaper investigations including The Guardian’s Bottling It series and The Blue Planet television series.

But their enthusiasm is not shared by big supermarkets, which have no interest in reducing their plastic waste. “For a nation of shopkeepers we are falling behind in this race,” says Sian Sutherland, founder of the campaign A Plastic Planet which led the calls for plastic-free goods shelves. Wandering through supermarkets where everything is covered in plastic, Sutherland says action rather than words is needed. Her co-founder Frederikke Magnussen explains the origins of their campaign. “It started with two unreasonable women who wanted choice — and supermarkets are all about choice, right? I can buy sugar-free, fat-free, African food, Asian food, yet if I want to buy plastic-free it is impossible for me to do so.”

Eckersley says, “After Willow, my daughter, was born, it made me think about what future lies ahead for her. I wanted to say that I at least tried, and I wanted to make a difference.”