Plant a billion trees? That astonishing number is the goal of the ever-ambitious Nature Conservancy's new effort launching this month. The Plant a Billion Trees Campaign to preserve and restore Brazil's Atlantic Forest sets the bar at an unprecedented height—but the threat is dire. "No tropical forest on earth has come closer to total destruction," says Claudia Picone, an information resource coordinator for The Nature Conservancy. The Atlantic Forest is a spectacularly complex and biologically diverse expanse of tropical rainforest on the coast of Brazil. Once twice the size of Texas, only 7 percent of the original forest remains—it has been ravaged by ranching, illegal logging, agriculture, and other pressures.

The campaign to plant one billion trees in the Atlantic Forest continues The Nature Conservancy's mighty efforts to preserve the very special ecosystem. According to Picone, "We've finally turned the corner, and people are starting to realize that there are economic benefits to leaving the forest standing instead of cutting it down."

The Nature Conservancy is the leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. Since its founding in 1951, it has protected more than 117 million acres of land and 5,000 miles of rivers around the world. The group has more than a million members and works in all 50 states and more than 30 countries.

If you want to lend a hand…
Give to the Conservancy's Plant a Billion Trees campaign (www.plantabillion.org).
Buy the Nature Conservancy Bouquet from Organic Style which donates 5% of the purchase price to The Nature Conservancy. That means each bouquet purchase will plant at least three trees.

Now through April 30, 2008, buy The Nature Conservancy's bouquet and our 5% donation will plant three trees!