Felix Finkbeiner – Plant-for-the-Planet

Felix Finkbeiner, born in 1997, is a German environmentalist and and the founder of an international tree-planting organization called Plant-for-the-Planet. As of September 2018, he is a PhD student of environmental sciences at the Crowther Lab of ETH Zurich, where he has been studying the most effective approaches to forest restoration. Plant-for-the-Planet began when Felix was nine years old and suggested to his classmates that children should plant one million trees in each country of the world. Some classmates joined him in planting the first tree in January 2007. Three years later, the initiative planted its millionth tree. Felix went on to speak in the European Parliament at age 10 and the UN General Assembly at age 13.

Now, Finkbeiner is the leader of an organization with 130 employees internationally and 70,000 members in 67 countries. The company has hosted over 1,200 Academies in which the participants (usually children) learn about global warming and the importance of trees, practice public speaking, and come up with ways to potentially solve the issue of global warming. Right now, Plant-for-the-Planet is restoring 22,500 hectares of forest on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. One tree is estimated to be planted every fifteen seconds. Felix’s company also produces chocolate bars known as “The Change Chocolate.” The profits go directly to the efforts in Yucatan.

Felix Finkbeiner was personally awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany by President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier in 2018 for his efforts.