The Brief: MrBeast is a popular YouTuber who started the #teamtrees movement in collaboration with other YouTube creators and the Arbor Day Foundation to plant 20 million trees by the end of the year.

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DEEP DIVE

MrBeast is the online alias of YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson, who is best known for his attempt to make the Instagram egg the most liked video on YouTube, trying to move heavy objects using only sound, and his campaign to help PewDiePie beat T-Series in a battle for the most YouTube subscribers.

In May of 2019, MrBeast’s YouTube channel reached 20 million subscribers, and his fans spammed Twitter, Reddit, and his YouTube comments suggesting he celebrate by planting 20 million trees to save the environment.

Inspired by the opportunity to combat climate change and show that, contrary to what boomers may believe, the younger generation is capable of more than just “retweet activism,”  MrBeast set his sights on this seemingly impossible goal.

On October 25th, MrBeast posted a YouTube video titled “Planting 20,000,000 Trees, My Biggest Project Ever!” in which he announced his ambitions and planted 1,700 trees with the help of his Twitter followers. To plant the other 19,998,300 million, he partnered with the Arbor Day Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to inspiring people to plant and nurture trees, to plant a tree for every dollar donated.

MrBeast also teamed up with massive YouTube creators such as PewDiePie, iJustine, Jacksepticeye, and many more, who all posted videos with #teamtress on October 25 to spread awareness and amass donations, for which YouTube covered all transaction fees.

In just one day, over 4 million trees were pledged to be planted thanks to donations to the #teamtrees movement, with the number growing every second. To make a donation, visit https://www.teamtrees.org/.

Of course, the irony of a YouTuber known for outrageous videos and absurd pranks organizing a movement to save the environment was not lost on the meme world:

Stolen meme about the trees. Praise Mr Beast! from PewdiepieSubmissions

Teamtrees from PewdiepieSubmissions

Mrbeast from memes

Thank You MrBeast from dankmemes

I love MrBeast and all but c’mon guys, lets give everyone else some recognition from PewdiepieSubmissions

I planted 1 tree from PewdiepieSubmissions

Trees good from memes

Planting trees good, climate change bad. from memes

Plated 5 trees#teamtrees from memes

Me. After Mrbeast plants 20 million trees from thanosdidnothingwrong

Tree time bois from dankmemes

I like trees from PewdiepieSubmissions

Team trees is only the beginning… from dankmemes