Why we’re planting trees to #CoolOffArewa

I had just returned to Nigeria after a trip to Stellenbosch, South Africa when Twitter notifications informed me that other users had tagged me. I’m not much of a Twitter user, and all I wanted at that time was a big rest; so I ignored the notifications. By the time I checked them, the mentions had increased.

The tweets were about tree planting. Those who know about our efforts with 200MillionTrees then tagged us.

When I investigated how it all started, I discovered it was @BigBadReni who reacted to the report about how much forest cover we have lost. She said: “So Nigeria has lost 96% of her forests, and nobody is saying anything?”

In reaction to this tweet, Thurayyah Ahmad (@thurayyah_Ahmad) asked: “Why isn’t tree planting part of our national strategy? We should budget for tree planting given the massive deforestation the country is going through. Are there any tree-planting charities we can donate to and promote?”

My former student, Maryam Tanimu Yusuf (@Maryamm_T), then replied to her, “Contact 200MillionTrees @dooba123.”

But by far, those who popularized the tree-planting movement in Arewa this week were Muhammad Tukur and Fatima Dan-Musa.

Tukur (@emtukur) mentioned the following Hadith of the Prophet and then asked, “Can we do something about this, please, in a coordinated fashion?”

Here’s the Hadith that he shared:

“No Muslim plants a tree but whatever is eaten from it will be counted for him as

charity, and whatever is stolen from it will be counted as charity for him, and whatever is taken from it will be counted as charity for him.”

Then Fatima Dan-Musa (@hiskindustadha) echoed the sentiment, saying “I want to do this, but I can’t do it alone. I want to plant at least a thousand trees or more seff. When I’m ready, I’ll set up a fundraiser.“

It was Fatima to whom I responded: “Let’s do it together,” I said. “That’s what I’ve devoted my life to now.”

Other users then joined in. For example, @SMahmoud wrote: “The weather up north is practically begging us to plant more trees.”

Then we continued the conversation with direct messages and phone calls.

These people were responsible for energizing the movement that I struggled with for years to get traction on social media. Indeed, those who tagged me did so because they knew that I wanted to plant one tree for every Nigerian hence 200MillionTrees.

So it was the heatwave in Northern Nigeria that pushed our tree-planting initiative through the tipping point.

But how did Muhammad Tukur (an oil and gas expert) and Arewa Twitter know that trees cool cities? I had just read a paper from the University of Surrey stating that botanical gardens and other models of planting trees could lower city temperatures by up to 5 degrees Celsius.

Before discovering this paper, I was using the same science to convince people to plant trees, which I got from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or IPCC, which is the global authority on climate science.

But while we’re grateful for the validation by the scientists from these institutions, the idea that trees cool our dwellings is common sense.

Here are a few examples.

A couple of weeks before I travelled, I gave a talk to some secondary school students about the benefits of tree planting. The sun was high, and the day was scorching but interestingly, we were seated outside the classrooms but didn’t feel any discomfort. Why? Because we were seated under two giant mango trees. I pointed at the trees and mentioned this reality to the students as one of the benefits.

Secondly, I have a neighbour whose wife likes to come to my house and sit under the trees for the breeze. She would drag her husband and the kids along. While the children feed my rabbits, she enjoys the cool air from the trees.

The third example was repeated by Arewa’s Twitter, reminding us that our past political leaders and grandparents planted trees in every home and lined major roads with trees but those trees have been destroyed.

This may be part of the reason we continue to experience hotter weather and lose crops to drought and floods. Because trees, especially forests, act as special sieves to moderate floods and also stabilize rainfall. It’s the reason we call forested areas rainforests and why deserts get little rain.

So Arewa Twitter asked what hashtag to use. I thought of something that would summarize the sentiment of all concerned and therefore get support from everyone. In other words, something to which no one can say no.

So I shared Project #CoolOffArewa. This is how it works. We’ll plant 100 trees in 100 schools in every Arewa city. The design is that with the group of trees dotting the city landscape, we would have fulfilled the requirements of the University of Surrey and IPCC and made our cities cooler.

I then tweeted: “Retweet and join us if you agree. Arewa is hot! #CoolOffArewa because IPCC reports that planting trees in cities lowers temp by up to 5 degrees Celsius. Let’s plant trees in 100 schools in every city. City coordinators needed @Hiskindustadha @Realoilsheikh @PenAbdull @dawisu @emtukur.”

Tagging Gimba Kakanda, Dr Abubakar Abubakar Umar, and Pen Abdul gave the campaign a further boost. Then many others such as Asiya Rodrigo, Abdulberqy, Auwal Evuti, and Yaman also reposted.

This coincided with my project for IDEAL WOMAN. So I tweeted the model we’re using so that we could use it Arewawide:

“We started Project #CoolOffArewa today in Minna in partnership with the Association of Model Islamic Schools (AMIS).

– We’re planting 1,000 fruit trees in 10 schools

– Before the end of Ramadan

– 800 trees sponsored by IDEAL WOMAN

– We’ll plant in more schools after Ramadan

– Targeting 100 schools in every city in Arewa

– Schools because students will nurture them

– Cities because IPCC said trees lower city temperatures

Let us know if you want to sponsor; 1 tree = N1K.”

Our people didn’t disappoint. Within a couple of days of the campaign, we had gathered hundreds of volunteers and had raised N2 million. Indeed, in the past, I’ve always found it very easy to raise money for tree-planting projects. For the sake of transparency, I was publishing the names of the donors and the amount, but they baulked at it, and I stopped. This means they didn’t do it for the praise but for God.

Mufti Menk said that the reward from the trees you planted will live as long as 10 times the time you spent on Earth. If you lived for 80 years, your trees/rewards will live for 800 years. Who doesn’t want that?

The loss of our trees and climate change have caused and are causing a lot of damage to our environment. I’m happy that we’re doing something about it now.

Take, for example, my wife told me this week that many lost consciousness in Minna due to the excessive heat. A day later, a friend told me that his mother in Gombe told him that people died due to the same problem.

Therefore, this is an urgent and present danger. So if you’re still on the fence, join us and #CoolOffArewa.

Imagine how Arewa will look and feel in two years if we plant 100 forests in every city today.